About

URM  principle, Don Menzies, has spent 25 years working in livestock production after graduating university with agricultural science qualifications. His practical knowledge of 'hands dirty' agriculture comes from his childhood growing up on a mixed farming and grazing enterprise in central west NSW.  He maintains strong ties to grass roots agriculture and values it as a diverse career option that provides challenges on a daily basis.

Don has been involved in many agricultural technology (AgTech) innovations. His career has involved experience in numerous ground-breaking projects including: 

• the early use of RFID to capture animal identity to determine net feed efficiency in a research feedlot, 
• the preliminary work on meat quality that led to the introduction of the Meat Standards Australia grading scheme, 
• the determination of red meat yield that has resulted in value based marketing technologies such as VIAscan & DEXA, 
• the assessment of and possibly the earliest use of rugged laptops and RFID panel readers on remote cattle stations to record animal management data at commercial speeds, 
• Whole of supply chain management with data recording from birth to processing enabling benchmarking on management, genetics, finishing regimes and overall enterprise profitability
• the use of paddock-based autonomous weighing technologies to determine calving dates and maternal parentage in extensive breeder operations and liveweight production in backgrounding and finishing enterprises.
• the use of radiolocation technologies to provide data on calving location and grazing patterns to assist with determining early calf loss and grazing areas. 

"When setting up the electronic livestock recording system provided by Don Menzies’s company, Don went above and beyond in tailoring the system to suit my requirements, providing reports and analysing the data. His focus is on the individual, not one size fits all."

Roger G Landsberg

Trafalgar Pastoral Company

“Australian agriculture has a long history of innovation and critical to its success has always been small groups of individuals that have been able to turn new ideas into practical solutions. Dr Don Menzies, through URM, brings together a unique background and skill set that combines a practical understanding of the needs of the food and fibre industries with technical skills on managing data through the supply chain. As Australian agriculture embraces the digital transformation Don will be one of the key individuals that will lead the industry to ensure digital innovations make a difference”

Dave Swain 

Professor of Agriculture at CQUniversity and Technical Lead at TerraCipher