Grassbrook Pastoral isn’t your typical agricultural venture – it’s a vibrant family affair bustling with innovation. The Russell family started in the poultry industry with a few cattle on the side. But in recent years, they have grown a thriving beef and cropping enterprise, all while maintaining a scaled-down poultry operation and breeding horses. That transition has been made a whole lot easier thanks to the adoption of AgriWebb’s livestock management platform.

Embracing AgriWebb to streamline record keeping

As the Russells’ endeavours expanded to several properties around Manilla in northern NSW, so did the challenges. One problem was keeping track of a breeding herd of some 4000 cattle, especially with two generations of family members and multiple employees involved in the operation.

Records were compiled a little haphazardly through a combination of Google Docs, notebooks and text messages. Hannah Russell remembers her father’s frustration with the chaos: “He said we need to find an app that we can use to track all of our data.”

Hannah, who is responsible for tech adoption on the farm, found a solution with AgriWebb. “The platform allows users to input data through their mobile devices, recording treatments or livestock movements as they happen”. This data is synced through the cloud, so users across the system clearly understand what’s happening on the farm in real time.

Initially adopted for its streamlined record-keeping, AgriWebb soon became central to Grassbrook Pastoral’s operations, transforming how they managed tasks, planned future operations, and stayed audit-ready.

Navigating Audits with Ease

Since implementing AgriWebb, Grassbrook Pastoral can easily maintain up-to-date records that are more accurate and extensive than ever before. Rather than spending hours in the office collating records from various sources, everything is available at the touch of a button.

As they expanded their cattle operation, the family quickly realised the value of this AgriWebb feature. “In the chicken industry, there are a lot of compliance programs and requirements,” Hannah explains. “We anticipated that the beef industry would be the same before too long, so we went looking for a solution to get ahead of it.”

Grassbrook Pastoral has been audited several times since they started using Agriwebb, and the process has been smooth sailing. “Now our records are so extensive that they say we have too much information for them,” Hannah jokes.

Planning for Success

AgriWebb wasn’t just a winner for its ability to create reliable records; it also became a powerful tool for planning the family’s farm activities. Every Monday morning starts with a kickoff meeting where tasks for the week are assigned through AgriWebb, ensuring everyone is on the same page with what needs to be done.

Hannah says AgriWebb helps team members stay on track, and has improved efficiency through clearer communication. “Throughout the week things may change, and additional tasks will get added, but AgriWebb stays our source of truth. When we first signed up to AgriWebb someone told us, ‘if it isn’t in AgriWebb, it didn’t happen’, and we’ve really stuck to that.” The platform allows each team member to take ownership of their role, enhancing collaboration and accountability across the board.

“Dad and I are racing each other to check off the tasks,” Hannah says. “It’s like a little game, it makes us so happy when we can see things are getting done.”

A Platform for the Future

Another thing Hannah loves about AgriWebb is its capabilities can grow with the business. When the Russell family first joined AgriWebb in 2021, they signed up on the Essentials subscription; now, three years later, they have grown into AgriWebb’s most extensive subscription type, the Performance plan. The Performance plan has given them access to more extensive weight and fertility insights, allowing them to make more informed decisions on their livestock performance. “We can definitely say we have increased our stocking rate thanks to AgriWebb. Being able to see our under and over performers is huge for our productivity.” The Russell’s have also taken advantage of several of the AgriWebb Marketplace integrations that are available such as Farmbot water monitoring systems and the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), meaning that AgriWebb takes care of everything that matters to the farm, all in one place. “The support team is always there to help, and as we’ve grown we’ve found bringing on Pip as our dedicated customer support manager has really helped ensure we’re staying on track and working towards the goals we have set for the business.”

Hannah herself has gone beyond being an AgriWebb user and turned into a proud ambassador for the platform. “Anyone that will listen to my family, we tell them to get onto AgriWebb,” she says. “We even say ‘we will help you set it up’, that’s how much we believe in it.”

If you’re interested in getting started with AgriWebb, you can start a free 14 day trial today and our team will be in touch.