Episode 11: Talking to Mark "Ferg" Ferguson about Optiewe and working with farmers

Episode 11: Talking to Mark "Ferg" Ferguson about Optiewe and working with farmers

From The Sheep Geeks by Liz Genever and Nerys Wright

September 13, 2025 · 56 min

About this episode

Mark "Ferg" Ferguson discusses his work with sheep farmers and the Optiewe programme.

Mark "Ferg" Ferguson is a consultant who works with sheep farmers and breeders in New Zealand and Australia. He is CEO of neXtgen Agri who runs consultants in most places with sheep in New Zealand and Australia. He was involved in the science behind Lifetime Wool, which was very influential in the development of Challenge Sheep - AHDB-funded project that Nerys and Liz worked on. We talk about how their Optiewe programme is being brought to the UK, with Nerys and Liz currently collecting...

People in this episode

Hosts: Nerys Wright, Liz Genever

Guest: Mark "Ferg" Ferguson

Topics covered

  • sheep farming
  • consulting
  • agriculture
  • Optiewe programme
  • New Zealand
  • Australia

Keywords

  • sheep farmers
  • consultant
  • agriculture
  • Optiewe
  • New Zealand
  • Australia
  • Lifetime Wool
  • Challenge Sheep

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: neXtgen Agri, Lifetime Wool, Challenge Sheep, AHDB

More episodes of The Sheep Geeks

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Sheep Geeks podcast page.