ABOUT US
Over 50 years experience
Australis White Dorper Stud was established in 2002 by Bronte Mawson as a derivative of Axis White Dorper Stud. Axis imported embryos from South Africa as part of the Saltbush syndicate in 1997 and with further importations in 1998 established a breeding operation with a diverse genetic pool. The South African bloodlines included, Floors Brand, Piet Cilliers, and Hennie Jacobs.
The stud was relocated to our current home in the Dawsley Valley in the Eastern Adelaide Hills. During 2012 Bronte, together with Annabel Mangal purchased Genelink White Dorper Stud following the dispersal of the Parilla livestock operations.
Recognising strong demand for Dorper rams from our pastoral clients and regional sales Annabel set up Genelink Dorper Stud with stud ewes purchased at the DSSA national sale in 2005. ET programs rapidly increased numbers and with a lot of culling a 150 ewe breeding flock was established. Rams have been sourced from proven genetics sorted out by the harsh conditions at Glen Park via Wentworth NSW.
For the last 4 years we have been slowly introducing Ultra White genetics into a specially selected flock of Australis and Genelink ewes. Early impressive results culminated in 2019 with the use of Glenn Park 1416, an impressive cleanskin ram bred by Brendon and Maureen Duncan who have been very generous sharing their outstanding station bred rams. Having seen their progeny at Glen Park we were very excited about their potential. From 2016 until now we have been breeding a composite flock selected for high growth rates, mobility, good feet, full early shedding .
2020/21 we purchased Stud Ultra White ewes and embryos from Hilcroft farms to focus on development of the stud via embryo transfer. Both Annabel and Bronte are committed to “Breeding cleanskin easy care ewes and rams that produce and perform in low rainfall grazing country.”
Bronte Mawson
Practical use of Artificial Breeding technology in our sheep studs has been a natural evolution and together with long term clients, who are always searching for ways to improve on farm productivity, a key outcome has been innovation. Stud livestock producers who routinely use AB embrace experimentation and pushing past traditional boundaries – the interaction producing results.
Current:
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Director / Manager of Tennyson Bay Pty Ltd. ACN. 061 203 030.
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Director SYNC Innovations Pty Ltd.
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Principal / Manager and embryologist for Advanced Breeding Services.
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Principal / Manager Australis and Genelink White Dorper Studs.
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Co – Principal / Manager Genelink Ultra White Sheep Stud.
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Director of the Dorper Sheep Society of Australia.
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Member of the Dorper Sheep Society of Australia.
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Member of the Australian Dorper and White Dorper Society of Australia.
Highlights – 2008 to the Present
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Consolidation and growth of the Australis and Genelink White Dorper studs on my partner’s family farm “Colchis” in the Dawsley valley of the western Mt Lofty ranges.
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Establishment of Genelink Dorper Stud.
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Early trials of UltraWhite sheep genetics and the foundation of Genelink UltraWhite Stud.
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The foundation of SYNC Innovations Pty Ltd set up to explore the commercial value of jointly developed AB techniques.
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SYNC achieving notice of certification of an Australian Innovation Patent, 2020104306, Method of Enhancing Assisted Breeding Techniques.
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Preliminary work with Andrew and Ange Freshwater, Clearview Ag Pty Ltd Pastoral, supporting a shared vision of a large scale paddock to plate prime lamb production business.
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Commercial pastoral recognition of our sheep breeding direction with rams selling to $4,800 and averaging $3,800 at the recent annual Nutrien Ivanhoe sale.
Annabel Mangal
I grew up helping in our on farm ET surgery, prepping animals and flushing eggs etc. In1982 I made my year 12 Biology Report was titled, “How rainfall affects the rate of embryo production in angora goats” pretty unique. Apart from being fantastic to grow up amongst all of this it meant that our farm was set up with many holding pens and portable sheds and yards to facilitate the 1000’s of animals that passed through the property every year after when our whole embryo transfer project went commercial.
Ultimately what this meant was that 15 years later when I returned home from travelling Europe and then living and working in the Caribbean in the Yacht Charter Industry, I had ready- made small animal infrastructure suitable for an intensive calf rearing enterprise.
In 2002 I became the South Australian rep for Dairy Beef Alliance, a closed, fully integrated Wagyu beef operation working with dairy farms to produce a Wagyu cross calf which is then hand reared and grown within a feedlot system until point of slaughter at 24 months. By 2004 I was rearing between 1000 and 2000 calves taking them from 1 week to 10 months of age. Since 2002 I have successfully reared about 30,000 calves and continue to rear about 1000 per year.
I was introduced to China Agribusiness Limited (CA) early in March 2006 following a farm visit to our property by Bronte Mawson who recognised that my operation had much to offer animal husbandry business projects in China in specialist calf rearing technology and the production of elite beef products. I produced the document titled “Southern Trades Management – Calf Rearing Specialists” in June 2006.Subtitled “A PROPOSAL FOR A CHINA / AUSTRALIA HOLSTIEN FRIESIAN BREEDING PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SOUTHERN TRADES MANAGEMENT, CHINA AGRIBUSINESS AND SHANDONG SAINCOM AGRICULTURE DEVELOPING CO” the document extensively covered my farming background and expertise in calf rearing and applicability to the burgeoning China dairy industry.
Following two business trips to Chengdu Sichuan Province, I presented a paper titled “STM – Holstein Friesian Wagyu Developments” in September 2009 outlining the benefits of introducing Wagyu genetics into established dairy breeding programs to produce calves suited to elite feedlot Wagyu meat production.
During Chinese delegation visits to our farm a Wagyu meat trading business was canvassed. In 2011 with CA and CA’s China representative Lewis Lee (principal of Beijing Ranger Agriculture Pty Ltd) planned a high quality Wagyu meat marketing operation in Beijing China. Meat was distributed in Beijing however we deemed it too difficult to work with the Chinese and wound it up focusing on our Australis and Genelink Sheep Studs and busy Calf Rearing Enterprise.
My calf rearing business only uses 20 hectares of our 400 hectare property. Until 2005 I ran 50 breeding cows and 200 first cross ewes on the balance producing prime lambs for local butchers. Bronte Mawson introduced White Dorpers to me and my love of these shedding meat sheep began. Bronte brought Australis WD stud to the property and together we continued developing this stud and added Genelink White Dorpers with we purchased from Denis Russell in 2007. Over the last couple of years we have developed Genelink UltraWhite Stud.