Ben Lane - Managing Operations at Historic Uardry

Passionate about the sheep industry, Ben Lane directed his career to sheep production and after graduating in 2002 with a Diploma in Agribusiness he returned to Koonwarra a Stud Manager. In February 2006 he was appointed Manager of Livestock Operations at Uardry Merino stud in NSW. Ben trained as a jackaroo at Uardry in the late 90s, before being employed as Overseer at the Koonwarra Stud, Canowindra NSW in 2000.

Uardry is a 33,600ha (83,000 acre) property on the Murrumbidgee river near Hay in the Riverina running 25,000 sheep and 200 cattle. This area of the Riverina grasslandsconsists mainly of sparsely timbered plains, with a mixture of heavy clay soils near the river and medium to lighter soils on the plains. Uardry comprises a good mixture of heavy red gum river country, red sandy loams and heavier cotton bush country. The average annual rainfall for the area is 325mm.

Ben finds it a very exciting property to manage with many resources available including 3,000 megalitres of bore water and 3,000 megalitres of river water (depending on available allocation percentage) to irrigate 900 hectares of pasture irrigation, barley and faba beans.  [A further 800 ha of other irrigated crops is managed by the Farming Division.]

Uardry livestock operations consists of four enterprises; stud Merinos, stud Dohnes, commercial Dohnes and a commercial Hereford herd.

The stud Merino operation includes three studs, Uardry (est. 1864), Sims Uardry (est. 1998) and Sims Poll (est. 2008), all with different breeding objectives spreading industry risk and to offer clients diversity. A total of 1,100 rams plus per annum are sold to stud and commercial sheep producers across Australia.

Over the past four years Uardry has enjoyed extremely successful show seasons winning the Australian All-Purpose Merino at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, Bendigo four years in a row; Riverina Ram of the Year three years in a row; and the Australian Champion Hogget Ram two years running.

The latest expansion is the formation of the Sims Uardry Poll Merino stud. Ben sees the Poll Merino as a growing market within the Australian sheep industry. Demand for Poll genetics is going to be a natural progression; the more registered Poll studs there are the more rapid genetic development of the Poll gene to enter the commercial market. The Sims Uardry Poll Merino is a plainer modern-day type Merino.

Wether lambs are marketed depending on season. In drier years lambs are sold off at weaning as store lambs for around $50/head. The buoyant lamb market has created many opportunities. In April 2010, a 900 head feedlot was designed to finish 1,600 wether lambs. They were able to add value to the lambs by utilising the additional grain on hand.

Handling and managing the drought has been a huge challenge for Ben since starting as Livestock Manager at Uardry. The first four years of well below rainfall has produced many management challenges and has been very character building.

Ben feels strongly that you need practical experience and a work ethic before studying at Marcus Oldham. It is imperative to have at least two years in the work force under your belt, giving you a better understanding of the direction and career path you take in life. This can then be applied to your studies at Marcus.

S ince Ben started managing at Uardry, ten Jackeroos have gone on to attend Marcus Oldham studying either Farm Business Management or Agribusiness. Currently at Uardry there are four employees heading to Marcus over the next two years.

When Ben participated in the Corporate Management course in February 2009 he was impressed with the new lecture rooms and dining facilities upgrading at the College.

The Dohne stud was established in 2000. Since Ben became Manager in 2006, the stud has grown from 1,200 breeding ewes to 2,200 pure bred breeding ewes. The Dohnes have been a revolution at Uardry with demand growing every year for the dual purpose, self-replacing breed. Developed in South Africa, the Dohne has been measured through performance and progeny testing since 1970 with the aim of producing a 70% carcass and 30% wool ratio — a meat sheep with a white fine fleece free of contaminated fibres.

Historically, Uardry has bred large numbers of rams. This enables the Company to give client superior selection for quality, and numbers for large pastoral and corporate clients.

Uardry continues to uphold this reputation for the Dohne ram sales as Australia’s largest Dohne Stud.

Uardry runs a commercial Dohne flock of 3,500 ewes. These consist of F1, F2 and F3 Dohne breeding ewes. The commercial Dohne is a growing enterprise with a five year flock projection forecast to run 5,500 commercial breeders.