Jack Cresswell - making more informed decisions with Mobble
The interviewer becomes the interviewee! We’re turning the tables on Farms Advise podcast host and full-time legend, Jack Cresswell to find out more about his Dubbo-based property, learnings from the podcast and how he uses livestock farm management software Mobble to make day-to-day life easier.
Originally hailing from Wilcannia, Jack now calls Central West Dubbo home - where he runs Annalara White Dorper Stud alongside his dad Steve and partner Isabel.
“We loved it out there at Wilcannia. It was probably in our blood more so than the dirt here, as a lot of farmers sort of know. But we're learning to love it here. It's a bit more intense but slowly but surely improving how it goes.”
Originally a Facebook Group, Jack’s Ag passion project morphed into a podcast when he was living over in London in (2017-2020), helping him feel connected to Agriculture back home. Now coming up to 160 episodes and nearly 13,000 listeners per month, every week Jack sits down with interesting and passionate people across the farming landscape to share their insights, opportunities and tell stories of how we can improve farms collectively.
“Probably one of the biggest things I’ve learnt from doing the podcast is the importance of ‘acting now’.”
"Whether that’s learning about that piece of technology that could improve our farm, or going to that event that will take you away from work but also might improve your day’s work further down the line. That's the general consensus with the brains of the industry I talk to.”
Taking on the ‘act now’ advice, Jack turned to Mobble on his hunt to digitise his farm records. Starting off with Mobble’s free 21 day trial gave Jack time to bring the whole farming team on board and decide that Mobble was the right fit for their operation.
Top 3 Mobble features making a difference at Jack’s place:
Jack realised the power of Mobble once he started using it day to day, discovering features that generally make life easier. Read on to learn what Jack had to say about his most notable Mobble features; communication, grazing management and record keeping.
Communication:
The way that Mobble helps the farming team work together has been a big help for Jack’s operation - from communicating rainy day tasks to general transparency, communication is key.
“I was just recently over in Spain and I was able to check if they were inputting data into Mobble as they went through the yards - so I didn’t have to give them a call for that.
“We use property chat a fair bit just to see what people are doing or leave a task for rainy days. Whether it’s just to go clean up the property or let people know about safety hazards. Generally, Mobble has just allowed us to know what’s going on. Chances are not everyone’s going to be working on the same job, or somebody is going to be away so everyone having access to info is great.”
Grazing Management:
With a few years of Mobble data behind him, Jack is beginning to see handy trends for paddock performance and make real strides with livestock forecasting and planning.
“Now we’ve got the average of how long a paddock has been used recorded over the years - I really think that will help us analyse why a paddock has been performing better or worse. Maybe it’s been overstocked for longer than other paddocks have been, or they’ve been spared for half a year or whatever.
“That grazing management helps us align with livestock - putting out sheep that need to do a little better in the better paddocks etc.”
Record Keeping:
From audits to recording casualties and saving time mustering paddocks, Mobble’s ability to record accurate livestock numbers has been a game-changer for Jack.
“Knowing our numbers before we muster has meant we can be confident without having to waste time mustering. It’s just the ability to save time without everyone chasing data around with the one notebook on-farm.
“Mobble actually helped us with an audit we just had. Just a random audit and we could give them all the information they needed on the spot - drenches, chemicals etc..”
Jack’s message to farmers about Mobble:
“It’s pretty easy to use! It works for us but farmers don't really know until it works on their own farm, so I’d definitely recommend a free trial. But it’s important to get on top of converting your notebook into digital form before it’s too late and you’ve left too much data behind. And Mobble’s a simple way to do that."
More info on Mobble here.