Meet Alistair and Lexie

Lexie and Alistair Leonard, a Western District, Vic couple passionate about farming, embarked on their agricultural journey about nine years ago. Their Merino enterprise spans three properties in the Western District, and they specialize in breeding ewes sourced from Western Australia. With a commitment to high stocking rates, input efficiency, and a focus on wool and prime lamb production, Alistair and Lexie have steered their farm from a modest 230 sheep to a thriving enterprise carrying 9,000 breeders.

The Journey

Alistair, raised on a cattle and cropping property in Tasmania, and Lexie, a city girl turned vet, met unexpectedly at the ultimate place of romance - Sheepvention field days in Hamilton of course! Both shared a dream of owning their own farm. They started the business while working full-time jobs off-farm, gradually growing from 230 to 9,000 sheep across owned and leased properties.

Challenges and Milestones

As with all farming journeys, there were a few bumps in the road, including labor shortages and the demands of raising two daughters alongside farm responsibilities. "A few sleepless nights for sure! We had everything come at us at once, and I suppose it just made everything stronger and made the vision more clear of what we wanted," Alistair reflects. Their way forward involved hard work, strategic risk-taking, and a willingness to adapt. They successfully scaled up just ahead of industry trends, making industry pressure easier to handle.

Introduction to Mobble

Around four years ago, Alistair and Lexie recognized the need for efficient record-keeping as their business expanded. Alistair initially managed details in his head, but as the complexity increased, they started looking for a solution. "What I wanted from an app was just something simple and really easy to use from a technology perspective and also not super expensive," Alistair recalls. Mobble caught their attention due to its simplicity, ease of use, and offline functionality—critical for their remote property with dodgy phone service.

How Mobble's offline feature simplifies farming

Over the years, Alistair and Lexie have seen Mobble grow alongside their own business. The offline functionality has been a game-changer for them, especially in areas with poor connectivity. "I can tell you the fact that it works offline is really helpful. There's really unreliable phone service at the yards, so that’s always really useful," Alistair says. 

Farmer friendly customer support

Alistair loves the ability to call Mobble’s support team directly, ensuring issues are resolved quickly by people who just ‘get’ farming. Alistair recently had a positive experience with Mobble’s customer support team, emphasizing the importance of timely assistance when facing challenges on the farm.

“It's always good to be able to phone up and deal with it straight away as opposed to having to send an email or send a ticket item and then get a phone call back. I love the fact that you can just call up, the phone gets diverted to whoever's answering and you can talk to whoever is on that day.”

To learn more about how Mobble can help your farming business, visit www.mobble.io.