Ben Whiteley begins Angus stud with record-breaking genetics

Thirty herd females, 10 Bald Blair cows and one Bowman bull has led to a new Angus stud for Ben Whiteley. This is his story.

Ben Whiteley, "Dryburgh", Neerim Junction, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Thirty herd females, 10 Bald Blair cows and one Bowman bull has led to a new Angus stud at Neerim Junction.

Dryburgh Agriculture grazier and now-stud principal Ben Whiteley has started his own stud alongside 750 commercial cattle on 323ha, after he looked to diversify and produce his own bulls.

He used condition scoring and analysed weight gain to choose 30 females from his commercial herd to begin the stud, joined with his best Bowman bull. Ben also chose 10 Bald Blair cows and bought straws from the Cluden Newry Uppercut U15 bull, which set a new Tasmanian record in March when it sold for $275,000 at auction.

“July 15 is the start of our calving target. About 12 months to two years’ from now we’ll be selling our first bulls,” he said.

Ben Whiteley, Dryburgh Agriculture, Neerim Junction. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Ben first started as a dairy farmer and stayed in the industry for 30 years before he decided to move to commercial beef.

“When we were getting paid 20 cents a litre for milk we really needed to sell export heifers to survive,” he said. “Now in beef it’s getting paid 400c/kg for meat, I had to look at other areas to survive. I thought I’d head down the genetic world and start a stud, and also for the reason so I can produce bulls.”

Ben said his herd would go through winter after he harvested enough silage, ready for spring calving. He sold 100 steers last week at the Victorian Livestock Exchange, Koonwarra, and topped the market with 430c/kg.

“To get that recognition was nice, that people were bidding over our steers, so we’re obviously on the right track I suppose,” he said.

He had already designed a stud logo with two swords based on the Dryburgh farm name, a Scottish town where knight William Wallace hailed. Dryburgh was the original farm name which Ben adopted when he purchased the property.

“Hopefully over the next few years people start getting used to seeing those two swords pop up in the stud world,” he said.

“Knowing myself if I’m going down this (stud) path I’ll launch in 120 per cent. And the sky is the limit.”