Friday, March 29, 2024

New boss sees pastoral potential

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The vast grassland expanses of South America offer some exciting opportunities for Gallagher’s new general manager Darrell Jones.
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Jones is a couple of months into his new role but almost 20 years into working for the agri-tech company. 

Formerly the company’s national sales manager he is excited by what his recent business excursion to South America revealed.

“We have had a presence in South America for some time but everything sold over there is basically from behind the counter. 

“We want to really work on what our point of difference is for electric fence systems there and a big part of that is farmer education. 

“It is fair to say they have practices that could be further supported by our technology. There’s a lack of awareness that’s holding farmers back.” 

What particularly excites Jones is the scale of livestock numbers requiring containment. Half the operations are grassland and half feedlot systems and he sees opportunities in both.

“Fencing, obviously, but animal performance recording is also becoming more prevalent with weight and growth-rate monitoring for which our equipment is well proven.”

There is great opportunity for Gallagher to help South American farmers understand the benefits of using electric fencing for stock control and electronic weighing and tagging systems for their animals.

“They’re essentially just managing mobs of cattle with most farmers not carrying out full animal recording. 

“They are also buying cheaper, lower-quality products, which is costing them money in the long run.”

He acknowledges the continent’s sheer scale makes it a tough one to get enough feet on the ground to resource farmer and dealer education. 

However, the company’s Chile-based business development manager Gonzalo Anderson has a deep level of understanding of the region’s farming practices and of Gallagher’s technology so he will play a key role in the coming years in aiding that expansion. 

In New Zealand the market has been dominated by the impact of Mycoplasma bovis on farmer herd data and recording, pushing a greater-than-ever uptake of scanning equipment.

“But we are also finding farmers recognise that just having a scanner may help meet compliance but it is the complete system you can incorporate into it, including weigh technology, that will bring ultimate value.” 

That comes at a time when stock values have never been greater with the incremental gains to be made providing a high rate of return for equipment spend to measure those gains.

Jones says farmers always risk being left behind by the flood of new technology washing through agriculture but thanks to the usual innovative early adopters the rest of the farmers ultimately pick up the tech proved to be most effective.

“It is an old adage but it’s still true that farmers sell to farmers. 

“If you can get your early adopters engaged, they will drive it forward and drag more farmers with them.”

With the evolution of Internet of Things and cloud data storage the days of simply selling a piece of kit and guaranteeing it will work are gone. 

They are replaced instead by a need for companies to better understand how their equipment fits into that networked ecosystem that is now farm data collection, storage and analysis.

“It also comes down to knowing how to best support the reseller on their understanding of the value our technology can deliver. 

“As much as the farmer, resellers are such a valuable part of our business.”

Gallagher’s animal management focuses on research and development as well as local production with its key products continuing to be made in NZ.

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