Pure Angus · Gippsland · Est. 2017

Angus

Neerim Junction West Gippsland Victoria

An emerging stud built on red soil country, mountain rainfall, and a relentless pursuit of quality Angus genetics.

750head Angus Breeders
324ha Operating Country
488m Above Sea Level
1200mm Average Rainfall
I.
Section One — Origins

From a hundred hectares to a dream herd.

Dryburgh Angus traces back to 2017, when manager Ben Whiteley took the reins of Dryburgh Agriculture six months after Simon and Anna Purcell purchased a 113-hectare holding at Neerim Junction, near Noojee in West Gippsland. What began as a modest mixed-breed operation has grown into one of the region's most ambitious emerging Angus enterprises.

Whiteley initially ran the herd as twin breeding programs — pure Speckle Park alongside pure Angus, kept separate while he weighed up which direction the country was best suited to. As market signals firmed and the country expanded, Angus came to the fore.

My cows are spoilt. I feed them before I feed myself. Ben Whiteley · Stud Principal

In 2024 the operation took its most significant step yet. Drawing the best 30 heifers from a draft of 110, Whiteley established the Dryburgh Angus stud — a registered enterprise founded on the discipline of culling hard, breeding for figures, and building a reputation animal by animal.

Today the stud runs alongside the broader commercial herd of 750 Angus breeders, with foundation females sourced from some of Australia's most respected Angus programs and a deepening partnership with neighbouring Bowman Performance Genetics.

II.
Section Two — The Country

Some say it's God's country.

Latitude
37.97°S

Neerim Junction, West Gippsland — between Noojee and the Baw Baw plateau.

Elevation
488m

Cool-temperate altitude that drives reliable pasture growth and pristine carcase finish.

Annual Rainfall
1200mm

Six consecutive seasons of rain at the right times. Country and cattle have flourished.

Soil Profile
Red·

Prime, gently undulating red soil country — the calling card of the Strzelecki foothills.

Operating Area
324ha

Up from 113 hectares in 2017. Tripled in size over seven years of considered expansion.

Aspect
Undulating·

Gentle gradients that drain well, hold pasture, and let cattle move with ease across the run.

Region
Gippsland·

A storied beef country in Victoria's south-east — temperate, green, and famously productive.

Stocking Rate
High·

A high stocking rate sustained by the rainfall, the altitude, and the soil beneath them.

For the past six years it has come at the perfect times. The cattle and country are faring well. — On the Gippsland seasons
III.
Section Three — The Herd

A herd built on discipline, data and quiet bulls.

Dryburgh's commercial herd runs at 750 Angus breeders, with the registered stud carved from the very top of that population. Selection is unsentimental: any female with bad feet, structural issues or temperament concerns is culled before her genetics enter the breeding pool.

Bull selection is the same story. Fourteen Bowman Angus sires currently work the herd at a ratio of one bull to thirty cows, sourced as same-age contemporaries who have grown up together. The result speaks for itself — last season the team calved down 400 cows without a single calving issue.

The Bowmans handle their bulls quietly from a young age, and that work carries through. When new sires arrive at Dryburgh they settle in without fighting, without fuss, and without the calving drama that high-performance genetics can sometimes bring with them.

Steers are turned off at 350 to 450 kg at twelve months of age, with the spring calving pattern timed to suit Gippsland's reliable winter–spring rainfall.

Oct 7

Joining Begins

Bulls enter the breeders for a tight seven-week joining window.

Late Nov

Joining Closes

Seven weeks complete. Bulls drafted off; pregnancy testing follows.

Jul 15

Calving

A defined July calving window — 400+ head dropped without intervention last season.

Year 1

Steers Turned Off

Sold at 350–450 kg at twelve months — finished on the home country.

Annual

Heifer Selection

The very best replacement heifers retained; structural and genetic culls fall to the commercial herd.

IV.
Section Four — Genetics

Foundation females, top-percentile sires.

Since founding the stud, Dryburgh has gone to market with a clear brief: secure breeding-age females from proven Australian programs, and underwrite the herd with bulls that perform on paper as well as in the paddock. Recent acquisitions tell the story.

Lot 14 · Bowman Performance Genetics $16,000

Bowman Recharge V137

A Dunoon Recharge R102 son · top-priced bull at the Bowman on-property sale, Neerim South

Eighteen months of age and built like the next decade of the Dryburgh herd. A new Dunoon bloodline introduced through Agri-Gene semen, this sire's growth and carcase figures place him at the very top of the breed.

Angus Breeding Index top 2% 600-Day Growth +167 kg · top 1% Carcase Weight +122 kg · top 1%
KO Angus 2025 · Heifer Draft $13,000

KO Dream V125

By Teleporter T243 · first of five females secured from KO Angus by Dryburgh

The equal top-priced heifer of the sale and a foundation female for the stud's pedigree program. Strong fertility figures backed by a balanced carcase profile.

Days to Calving −7.3 · top 8% Retail Beef Yield +1.1 · top 13% Calving Ease top 25%
KO Angus 2025 · Heifer Draft $13,000

KO Vicky V159

By Teleporter T243 · from a Murdeduke Quarterback daughter

A twelve-month-old heifer ranking in the top of the breed across nearly every economic index — the kind of female a young stud is built around.

Days to Calving top 4% Gestation Length top 3% Intramuscular Fat top 16% All $Indexes top 7%
XLBeef · Dungowan, NSW $13,000

XLBeef Princess U111

By Ellington Prolific · PTIC to Dunoon Sunstone · top selling female of the sale

Top-priced female from XLBeef's thirtieth-anniversary sale, secured online to anchor a new pedigree line. Part of a six-head purchase including two cow-and-calf units and four heifers PTIC, averaging $8,166 across the draft.

Sire Line Ellington Prolific Service Sire Dunoon Sunstone

Genetic partnerships

Bowman Performance Genetics
Neerim South · Victoria
KO Angus
Victoria
XLBeef
Dungowan · New South Wales

Talk to us about
Dryburgh genetics.

Stud Principal
Ben Whiteley
Property
Neerim Junction
West Gippsland · Victoria
Owners
Simon & Anna Purcell
Enquiries
Contact via the property