Lachie Seears

Brief Biography

I am a 3rd Generation farmer and manage our 6,000Ha mixed livestock, irrigation and cropping farm Boonderoo Pastoral Company in the Lower South East of SA. I farm with my wife Rebecca and children Hugh and Anneliese along with my parents Peter and Helen. We also have 3 full time staff and a number of casual staff during busy periods. We join 6,500 composite ewes, building a cow herd to calve 2000+ cows and currently crop 1,400 Ha of Wheat, Canola, and Broad Beans.

After schooling, I began working on our farm before studying Farm Business Management at Marcus Oldham College, doing my prac year working over in the UK. I have worked alongside my father during my early career, where he was very fortunate to have a proactive father giving me a go and allowing me to implement a number of changes and developments. Over the last 10 years, he has taken a step back from managing and setting the direction of the farm.

Between 2011-2021, we have developed irrigation on our farm and currently utilizing 7 centre pivots for grazing and fodder production, which has helped us increase stocking rates and spread the risk of adverse seasons.

In 2021, we were successful in purchasing a large ex blue gum plantation; this doubled the size of the business overnight, and we have made a significant investment and have been working very hard to revert this back into livestock grazing property. We have developed this block, dealing with over 3,000,000 tree stumps, sowing pastures, increasing soil fertility, building yards, fences, and water infrastructure, and currently breeding our way to calve down over a 2,000-cow herd.