How three brothers launched their Vic-WA sheep stud

The Hardwick family, formerly of Kyneton’s Hardwicks Meats, have started their own interstate Dorper stud, after selling their meatworks. See their story.

Brady Bowen of Deepdale Dorpers at Merrinee with some Dorper and White Dorper rams.

In just three years short years Deepdale Dorpers has established itself as a leading seedstock producer.

And while the Hardwick family have five generations of experience in the sheep and beef industries, it was only in 2021 that they turned their attention to breeding and started investing heavily in Dorpers and White Dorpers.

They have already had huge success, selling 124 rams at their first sale in 2023 and then winning the supreme exhibit title at the breed’s national show in 2024.

Brothers Luke, Patrick and James Hardwick started Deepdale Dorpers at Toodyay in Western Australia in 2021, buying Burrawang genetics as their foundation.

The brothers were drawn to Dorpers after witnessing the carcass traits and yield data they saw through the family’s former Hardwicks Meats processing plant at Kyneton.

Luke and James took over the Hardwicks Meats plant from their father, Gary, and built it up to process 38,000 sheep and lambs and 4000 cattle a week, before they sold the business to Kilcoy Global Foods in July 2021, after 50 years of ownership.

EASTWARD PUSH

It was after the sale of the meatworks the brothers shifted their focus from processing to breeding.

They established the stud at their 1618ha property, Deepdale at Toodyay, in the West Australian wheatbelt, with the aim of bringing top Dorper genetics to the west.

Brady Bowen, James Hardwick and Wicus Cronje of Deepdale Dorpers with their supreme exhibit at the national show in Dubbo NSW, and Dorper Sheep Society Of Australia 2024 Show with judge David Curtis.

However, since then they have expanded their operations into Victoria on the 3237ha property Willah, at Merrinee, south of Mildura.

The Victorian property means they can service the major western NSW market more easily.

The Victorian enterprise is managed by Wicus Cronje as stud master and farm manager and business partner Brady Bowen.

Brady said the brothers took a keen interest in Dorpers as they had noticed the increase in the numbers of Dorpers through the meatworks in recent years. From there they realised they had some of the best yields and meat quality through the plant, and they achieved some of the highest boning yields. “Productivity and the low maintenance nature of the Dorpers were also factors,” Brady said.

The property at Merrinee is made up of sandy loam hills, with heavier flats and station country.

The average annual rainfall is 300mm, but variable. In 2022 it had 500mm and in 2023 they had 239mm.

Brady said they were upgrading fencing and were putting in blocks and laneways so they could do more of a cell grazing system.

“We really want to avoid over- grazing to avoid erosion and we want ground cover,” he said. “There’s been a lot of people doing containment feeding and that makes sense and something we will look at.”

QUEST FOR PERFECTION

The Deepdale Dorper brand seemed to come out of nowhere in 2022, when they bought a Burrawang White Dorper ram, Trump 191472, for a world record $62,000, smashing the previous record by $12,000.

They also bought a ram for $42,000 and another for $26,000 at the same sale.

With the goal to build up numbers quickly they have opted to buy top- priced rams and genetics to use in large-scale embryo transfer programs.

“ET allows us to build up numbers quickly and get the top-quality genetics we are after,” Brady said.

“We just had 350 Dorper lambs out of Merino ewes from an ET program. It is a quick way to build up numbers and we can use any ewe to carry a lamb with these top genetics.”

“If we had to wait it would take too long. There’s been a lot of money invested to get that quality genetic line.

“We will see the quality of the sheep step up again as the program continues and we

work toward our goal to produce the perfect ram.”

White Dorper and Dorper rams from Deepdale Dorpers.

By the end of this year Deepdale Dorpers will have 900 joinable stud ewes, with the

goal of getting to 2000 ewes.

“We are on track to get there in the next 18 months, which should give us the ability

to be able to have 200 rams on offer at the annual sale.”

Currently they sell 150 rams a year, half of which are Dorpers and the other half

White Dorpers.

“We breed both types of Dorpers to be able to supply both markets. There is a lot of

personal preference in if a producer wants a White Dorper or the traditional blackfaced Dorper,” Brady said.

While a lot of the differences in the white or black-faced Dorpers is anecdotal, the

main argument is the black points make the sheep slightly hardier, while Brady said

those who might move from breeding Merinos could find it easier to go with a White

Dorper.

COST SAVERS

Brady said the key traits of the Dorpers and White Dorpers were longevity, fertility,

structure and the ability to produce as many lambs as is possible.

“Their growth rate is much better than a standard first-cross lamb, so a sucker can

be turned off quicker,” he said.

Deepdale lambs are being turned off at five to six months old at 40kg-plus

liveweight with 45-50 per cent yield, with no shearing, crutching or flies.

“There seems to be a real lean towards shedding sheep, for the shearing factor, and

all costs have gone up and animal health costs too. So if you are paying $10 to $20 a

head for all of those management practices, it is a big cost and one that isn’t there

with Dorpers,” Brady said. “They generally have a lot less health issues and are very

easy care.”

Brady said the main cost was that fences needed to be up to scratch, but that was “no

secret”.

The Deepdale Dorper team and their ribbon haul at the recent national show, James Hardwick, Brady Bowen and Wicus Cronje.

“It only costs about $30 to $40 an acre to fence and it is $100 an acre added to your

asset,” he said.

Brady said Dorper ewes could be joined from eight months of age onwards and they

expected 70 per cent to get in lamb.

Joining was in early October then again at the start of April and they avoided lambing

in the summer months due to the heat.

“We join in October 10 for five weeks, they start lambing on March 10 and we put

rams back in on April 10 to start lambing on September 10,” Brady said.

“What doesn’t get in lamb the second time will be joined in October.”

“Pregnancy testing is crucial to stay on top of dry ewes.”

Another positive of the Dorpers was their high twinning rate. While it is still fairly

early days, Deepdale will start to record data through Australian Sheep Breeding

Values.

CHAMPION EFFORT

Rams are sold at 15 to 20 months, with this year’s sale rams averaging 92.5kg.

Deepdale will offer 150 Dorper and White Dorper rams at their sale on October 7.

At their inaugural sale last year, they sold 124 rams to $6800 and averaged $3001.

Brady said they started showing this year to help build up the stud’s reputation.

And it is paying off, with Deepdale taking out both the Dorper and White Dorper

supreme exhibit titles at the Dorper Sheep Society of Australia national show in

Dubbo, NSW, in September this year.

They also won junior, senior and grand champion ram for both breeds at the show.