SCENIC Campania lies just 30 kilometres from Hobart in Tasmania’s harsh south east.
Since the formation of the Coal Valley irrigation system the region has become home to pistachios, grape vines, orchards and an array of enticing fruit and vegetables.
But for the Moore family, it has always been about sheep.
Stud sheep have thrived on the family’s Campania property since 1952 when Kevin Moore – looking for a bit of a hobby bought six Southdown ewes.
In a few years that number expanded to 400.
Seeing the potential for a valuable sheepmeat industry the Moores set their sights on building up a seedstock operation that could provide not only Tasmania with highly productive terminal sires, but also the mainland.
In 1969 Kevin and father Basil set their sights on the impressive Poll Dorset Penrise stud (flock 53), buying the lot.
The high growth and muscling characteristics of the breed impressed the Moores, who since then have worked tirelessly at producing an even line of well muscled, easy care sheep that their clients can rely on to perform.
In 1982, identifying the potential that diversity could offer, Kevin’s son Dale founded Punchgrove stud.
Since then the two Poll Dorset studs have been run side by side under similar management principles: lambing in June to take advantage of good spring pasture growth, single mating, artifically inseminating 40 per cent of the top stud ewes and harsh culling practices with only 30pc of each year’s ewe base retained.
The father and son team acknowledge that they are sitting on some of Tasmania’s most fertile country because of the volcanic soil and temperate climate.
The Moores property today supports 300 ewes and their guiding aim is to produce the most profitable sheep.
When Stockscan was invented, the Moores were among the first to adopt the performance calculating program.
This was backed up in 2004 when Lambplan was also introduced.
In recent years, the emphasis has been on producing easy care sheep with high growth rates designed to meet the market.
