However, things have changed in recent times on the 1575-hectare property, with Peter and Jenny Hall and their son Tim switching from Merinos to Dohnes.

For some Merino traditionalists this is probably sacrilege, but for the Halls it is a simple adjustment to achieve greater efficiency and profitability within their sheep enterprise, run in conjunction with cropping.

They believe they are still top wool producers, but are now also realistic players in the sheep meat industry; producing a product that can bring them lucrative returns from the wool and meat sectors.

While Tim was the primary instigator of the move into Dohnes early this century, he was strongly supported by Peter and Jenny, who saw margins continuing to decline for specialist wool producers.

The Halls are now running 2000 Dohne ewes from F1s to F4s and only have 200 Merino ewes left on the property which will be sold next year.

The move to bolster the income producing-capacity of the property was not done without significant research.

There were plenty of options available to them, from the vastly improved and long established meat breeds, right through to the latest imported breeds.

Their research involved consideration of the low-cost options, such as Dorpers, that do not require shearing.

However, to Peter they were comparable with goats in their grazing habits, as they tended to strip the country bare, which is not ecologically good for their land.

Dohnes offered a quality product in either area and seemed the best option.

"If we felt we'd made the wrong move, we could always go back to Merinos at any time without any problems," Peter said.

"Dohnes offered good carcase attributes, still had good wool, fitted into the self-replacing flock strategy of not having to run multiple breeds, plus they gave us flexibility."

In assessing their impact, he looked at all sides of the equation.

The traditional Carunna Vale wool was typical of the big SA type Merino, measuring out at 23-microns to 24M, but since the Dohne introduction this has been reduced 2M, increasing wool value.

"The wool weights are less, but a lot of that is because of relatively clean points on the Dohne, so a lot of the lower wool weight is in these low value wool cuts," Peter said.