Denis owns Wycot and Whurlie stations approximately 70km Northwest of Pooncarie. The 47,000 Hectare combination has frontage on both the Darling and the Anabranch and incorporates the family’s meat sheep operation.

“I was one of the first to move to Dorpers in the early 90’s – we’re very happy with that enterprise, our location suits Dorpers and we run around 7500 ewes and send off around 9000 lambs in an average year”

Moving to the region from mid-North South Australia in 1982, Denis was looking to expand his interest in pastoralism and move away from the family farming operation near Burra.

“I was always more interested in stock. We arrived here right in the middle of a short, but nasty drought and moved onto a Merino operation which went well for a while, but took a big hit with the wool crash of the early nineties. We had to do a lot of fencing to fully convert to Dorpers of course, both boundary and internally, but that’s an ongoing operation, I don’t think I’ll ever see the end of it.”

Denis has been on the Anabranch Water Board for 3 years and enjoys having input into the organisation. He and his partner Narine live mostly in Mildura, spending about 1 week per month on the property.

“My Son-in-Law and Grandson are on the property now and we share duties so they can get away every now and then. But really I am mostly running the business side of the operation while they do the dusty work on farm – the young blokes can do the hard yards.”