Mumblebone Merinos
Mumblebone Merinos: How a five-generation merino stud got its whole team planning ahead.
When Josh Walter arrived at Mumblebone Merinos three years ago as the Operations Manager, his job was clear: get across a five-generation business fast, and build the link between what happened in the paddock and what it meant for the bottom line. The operation was already running well, around 3,000 stud merino ewes, a substantial commercial flock, four separate sheep enterprises across some of the best grazing country in central New South Wales. The question wasn’t whether the business was performing, it was whether Josh could see all of it, all at once, well enough to make the calls his role required.
“I’m the link man,” he says. “I link the finances and the operations out in the paddock, with all the people connected to that. If that doesn’t flow, how do we actually function?”
The information existed. It just lived in different places: spreadsheets, paper records and separate programs that didn’t talk to each other. Pulling a situation report for the owners or the bank meant office day after office day, chasing it down.
“It was laborious,” he says. “And it didn’t make it exciting.”
Linking the paddock to the bank account
The shift started with cleaning up what was already in AgriWebb: stocking rates, actual mob numbers, real paddock sizes.
“AgriWebb’s been fantastic for tidying everything up so that when we move forward, we’re quoting real numbers,” Josh says. “Live numbers. Actual evidence.”
From there, Josh worked with PrincipalFocus, an accounting and advisory firm based in Dubbo and Warren, to connect the production picture in AgriWebb with the financial picture in Figured. The point wasn’t more data. It was the right data so what came out the other end could drive decisions, not just reports.
“The connection of AgriWebb to Figured has really streamlined what we do. It made us go back through everything and ask: why are we recording that? We don’t need that anymore.”
What they kept was the data that actually mattered financially. What they cut was everything else. The result: four sheep enterprises, each tracked production-to-dollars, all the way through from paddock records to financial reporting, without double handling.
“We can now analyse which enterprise is most beneficial to run, at the drop of a hat. If markets move, or a season changes, we can change the percentages of those enterprises and project forward two years. Just like that.”
“Our quarterly meetings now compared to two years ago, are five minutes of looking back, and fifty minutes are looking forward. That has changed the whole mindset of our team.”
Decisions at smoko
The clearest sign things had changed came on an ordinary morning when the team were discussing a small mob of late-joined ewes that had just scanned pregnant. Did they need them? Was there enough feed? Should they go to sale?
“We sat down at smoko, plugged a couple of things into the system, and there was the answer: what that change makes financially over two years. These guys knew the outcome before we’d even made the decision.”
That’s the shift Josh describes most: from digging for information to already having it. Quarterly reviews that used to spend most of their time looking backward, reconciling, checking, catching up, now spend five minutes on the past and fifty on the future.
“There’s no fear about plugging information in and getting an answer in five seconds about where finances are heading in 12 months. Because the information’s already there. It flows so easily.”
When everyone sees the same picture
What Josh didn’t expect was what the system did to the people.
Before, staff entered data without knowing where it went or why it mattered. Now they know that what they record in AgriWebb flows through to Figured, and they can see the financial result at the other end. That’s changed how they show up.
“It’s empowered them to make better decisions, or come to the management team with ideas that are actually sound. The human connection in the business is solid. And the system is enabling that.”
Mumblebone gets audited regularly, for wool contracts and compliance, and it no longer concerns him.
“The information’s there, it’s in an easy spot to find, and everyone can pull those reports. There’s no stress. That’s because we’ve empowered everyone in the business, from the sheepyards to the office, to actually use AgriWebb properly. Simple as that. It’s not difficult. This hasn’t been a difficult process at all. I’m 51. I’m not that tech savvy. I’ve got younger people here that are way more tech savvy than me, but it hasn’t been difficult.”
The system is there to support the main game: breeding good sheep, managing good country, and making sound decisions. When it’s doing its job, it disappears into the background. The thinking gets clearer. The confidence grows.
Know your numbers before the next decision lands on your desk. Try AgriWebb for free today and see how digital record keeping can transform your operation from the office to the paddock.