For mature-age New Zealand student Boyd Gudex, Mary White College provided a welcoming home, new friendships and romance in the mid-2000s.
Boyd had completed his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science at Lincoln University when, at the age of 28, he crossed the ditch to do his PhD at UNE in agricultural animal breeding.
“I didn’t know anybody and Mary White’s block for mature-age students seemed like a good idea in the short term,” said Boyd, who ended up staying for four years. “I got sick of the sheep jokes, but there was always something going on or someone to talk to, and I got to meet people from a number of different countries.
“If I hadn’t gone to Mary White, I would have just got to know people in my field and that would have been it. Instead, I met people studying a whole range of disciplines and met my future wife Natasha Loi.”
Boyd had grown up on a sheep and cattle property in New Zealand and spent some time working as a “ranch hand” or “Kawasaki Cowboy” in Montana before embarking on his PhD. UNE was a natural choice.
“It is the place for animal breeding and genetics in the Southern Hemisphere,” Boyd said.
Despite, he says, being “distinctly untalented”, Boyd played a lot of college sport and enjoyed Mary White’s social activities throughout his studies.
Boyd with wife Natasha
Soon after delivering his thesis, he secured a position as a breeding program scientist in New Zealand, which saw him working with dairy cattle and deer, but impending marriage to Natasha soon saw him boomeranging back to Australia.
“Finding a job is a lot easier than finding a wife,” he said.
These days Boyd is a technical consultant with the Agricultural Business Research Institute’s BREEDPLAN, which provides evaluations of the genetic merit of beef cattle to assist livestock producers with their decision-making.
“Genetics is one of the pillars of production and BREEDPLAN is the world’s most popular beef cattle genetic evaluation system routinely analysing data from millions of cattle around the world,” he said. “In my role I contribute to both extension services/producer education and the BREEDPLAN analyses.”
Boyd’s experience working with cattle, sheep, goats and deer all comes in handy.
“It doesn’t matter what species you work on – whether it’s wheat or bee breeding – the methodologies we use to analyse genetics are very similar, so the skills are transferable,” Boyd said. “I’m a farm boy, born and bred, and it’s an opportunity for me to continue working in the industry and applying my education and experience to help benefit it.
“Producers are looking for anything that increases the profitability of their system, and genetics plays an important role in this. Additionally, it is one of the tools that can assist livestock producers to reduce methane production and help secure a social licence to operate.”
During his time at Mary White, Boyd coordinated the postgraduate and honours group, and remains on the Mary White College Senior Common Room. “I wanted to maintain my college connection and give back,” he said.
