It certainly paid dividends during last year's drought as he tried to restore condition on his ewes in the autumn when the rains came, and it is something he adopted again this year.
By conditioning scoring his sheep, the South Otago Meat and Wool New Zealand monitor farmer was able to ration feed, prioritise feeding and monitor performance.
In doing this, Mr Bennett told a recent field day that last year his 1170 ewes carrying the Inverdale gene went in to winter in light condition from which they struggled to recover.
Rationing feed included using sheep nuts and giving priority feed to those in lightest condition and it worked for most flocks, with a lambing percentage in the 2008 spring across all his ewes of 147%, up slightly on the 2007 lambing where he recorded 143%.
But he was disappointed in the performance of the Inverdale flock.
He told the field day that this was an example of how his farm management has grown and changed in the two years he has been a monitor farmer.
Other changes include greater care with feed planning for ewes and lambs, monitoring weight and condition and preparing for dry periods over summer.
In late January, when it looked like becoming dry, he split his ewes in to flocks according to the condition of their body, mouth and udder, so he had stock that could be quit, should it get too dry, or boost, should feed come away.
Last summer's rainfall was similar to a year earlier when it was dry, but Mr Bennett said it fell more evenly and regularly this year and he was ableto scrape through.
Even though there was more feed than a year earlier, Mr Bennett said he had little surplus.
"I haven't topped any grass because I haven't had any."
The threat of drought forced him to quit 20 rising 2-year-old cattle in mid-February, earlier than usual.
They killed out at 270kg, 30kg to 40kg lighter than planned.
Usually, he bought calves each year but has decided against that this autumn, given the fine feed balance going in to winter.
This summer he was helped by an opportunity to graze 350 hoggets off the farm, taking pressure off his home farm and allowing him to spread his triplet prime lambs over a greater area.
Mr Bennett said he was not satisfied with the performance of his Inverdale ewes, as ewes with other genetics were matching their fertility performance.
Last year his Waiwere ewes lambed 146%, with 86% of the lambs identified at scanning actually reared.
This compared to his Inverdale flock which lambed at 144% and lambs-reared to scanning percentage of only 67%.
Inverdale carrying ewes were being phased out this year, with no Inverdale rams being used and the Inverdale ewes put to a Suffolk-Texel cross ram.
He has bought some Kelso ewe lambs which he would compare as two-tooths with the performance of his Waiwere Romney ewes.
He would then decide the breeding line to be followed.
The Inverdale ewes were an insurance against dry summers, a flock of terminal sired lambs which could be quit early, should conditions become dry.
He was carrying more ewe hoggets than normal to rebuild ewe numbers after the dry summer last year, and was still to decide if any of the 795 would be mated.
In early April they averaged 37kg, too light to go to the ram and the result of a testing summer.
He said he was aiming to get them to an average of 40kg before he was happy to put them to a ram.
While summer was not as challenging as previous years, Mr Bennett said it was still dry enough to delay by six weeks the maturing of a paddock of summer rape for lamb finishing.
It was sprayed on November 11, direct drilled three days later and finally struck after Christmas.
But the crop arrived later than was ideal, and earlier this year they were worried the 8ha paddock could be out of commission until spring.
Feast ryegrass was direct drilled in late March and could be used for lambing ewes or dry hoggets in spring.
PGG Wrightson Seeds consultant Melissa Sowden told the field day that the days of sowing low endophyte grass in the south were over, given the build up of pests.
In the last year there had been a large infestation of stem weevil, due in part to the mild winter and dry season, she said, necessitating the use of high endophyte grass species such as AR1.
Looking ahead, Mr Bennett will this autumn put 2820 ewes to the ram and was targeting 151% lambing which would give him 4269 lambs.