Eye for quality at Penguin

In late August temperatures had fallen below zero, and Mr Day said the coats come in handy during winter.

He runs about 200 registered sheep on his farm at Penguin, including 120 Poll Dorset ewes and 80 White Suffolk ewes, alongside potatos crops that are grown on the elevated parts of his 80-hectare property and sold to the fresh market.

The combination of sheep and spuds work well together, because once the potatoes are harvested at the end of the year, the flock is run over the crop to clean up the waste.

"The sheep do really well on the potatoes," Mr Day said.

But they have also taken over the family's Faraday Park Poll Dorset stud since Paul's father retired five years ago.

The Faraday Park stud was established in 1960 by Mr Day's great-grandfather Peter.

Mr Day's sons Connor, 15, and Logan, 12, are also involved in the operation.

"Connor has a lot to do with the farm; he does a lot of junior judging gigs," he said.

The Poll Dorset ewes were joined in January, followed by the White Suffolks in March. Lambing starts in June and finishes in August.

"The split lambing suits us, because feed gets tight in winter," he said.

Artificial insemination is used to bring in new genetics, and Mr Day also uses LambPlan, but doesn't "wholly and solely" rely on figures to make breeding decisions.

"They have to be structurally correct rams and I would prefer not to use a sire without looking at him first," he said.

Being able to use AI has been of great benefit to the stud breeder, who said he'd been able to bring in some strong genetics to his flock.

"I've just used a Baringa White Suffolk (formerly Tattykeel White Suffolks) ram, Eclipse, and I'm rapt with the lambs," he said.

Mr Day initially saw the sire at the Bendigo Elite White Suffolk Show & Sale and leapt at the chance to use him in his breeding program.

In the Poll Dorsets, the main goal is to produce early-maturing lambs.

"You also need ease of lambing," he said.

"Most people want animals with nice, smooth shoulders, to get lambs on the ground."

And while Mr Day has put plenty of effort in selecting good sires, just as much prominence is placed on making sure the flock gets the right feed.

"If you have a flush of feed before the ram goes out, then the ewes tend to have more twins and triplets," he said.

"I make sure the ewes are in good condition, because it helps with fertility."

Apart from running on the spuds after harvest prior to joining, the sheep graze on ryegrass and clover.

Lambs are weaned in October and November – at three to four months-of-age.

"I'll keep 15 per cent of the ewes as replacements," he said.

The balance is sold at the Quoiba prime sale as suckers.

And about 40 rams are sold at auction in November each year.

More recently, Mr Day has experimented with embryo transfers (ETs) in his flock.

"I've selected four of my elite Poll Dorset ewes to flush," he said.

"They've been continually producing good lambs and I want to speed up the introduction of those genetics into the flock."

One of those ewes is Stephanie, a 2007-drop animal, who has won all the major ewe awards on the show circuit.

Using an ET program, the Sunnybanks stud has also partnered with Nigel and Diana Wade from the Capelands Stud, Wynyard, to establish a stud operation with the relatively unknown Charollais sheep breed, which originated from France and is known for its fertility and carcase attributes.

About 20 embryos were purchased and were placed into Poll Dorset recipients, with reasonable results.

"A few Tassie producers have started buying the genetics," he said.

"But there are no studs down here, so I thought it might be a good market opportunity.

"It's a slow process, but I will definitely continue to see what results we get."

IN AN area of Tasmania that is most known for its dairying and cropping pursuits, one sheep breeder says the show circuit is one of the best ways to get his name in the public eye.

Paul Day, who runs Sunnybanks White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets, attends the local shows in Tasmania, but also makes the trip across Bass Strait to the mainland to take part in the Australasian Poll Dorset Championships and Elite White Suffolk Show & Sale in Bendigo.

This year, he is mixing things up a bit - and is about to head across to South Australia for the Royal Adelaide Show in early September - where he'll show two White Suffolk rams.

"It's the first time I'll take my sheep there," he said.

He'll aim to sell rams at the sale to justify the cost of shipping his animals over, which is the equivalent of $1400 for a one trip to cart his ute and trailer.

The plan afterwards is to come back to Tasmania and then return to Bendigo two weeks' later with 10 rams, where he is aiming to continue his success on the show circuit - after winning the interbreed competition at Campbell Town in June with a White Suffolk ram.