Mr Quince sold his cattle and cereal grain to invest in more heat-hardy dorper sheep.

This livestock change meant Mr Quince needed brand new fences approved for the sheep.

“I had to change my enterprise to be profitable, which was quite an expensive decision,” Mr Quince said.

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The African-bred sheep are bred to handle hot and dry environments, and require only low feed amounts, as they eat just about everything.

Mr Quince describes them as unique, as they hydrate themselves in his dams.

“They’re unlike any other sheep, they will go in a dam and swim to the other side to cool off,” he said.

But due to the heatwave, these dams are in low quantity on Mr Quince’s farm.

Bought almost 30 years ago, the farm originally had 25 dams. But with the intense heat, this number has decreased to just three.

Despite this, the dorpers have been slightly more profitable for the sole trader.

“You can afford to feed them in a drought, but cattle you can’t,” Mr Quince said.

In the beginning, when he first bought the property, Mr Quince gave the rundown land a new lease on life.

He installed a new water scheme, had the property re-fenced, improved the pastures, and built new cattle and sheep yards.

But the change of livelihood meant new fences for the sheep were required, which sliced a lot out of his profits.

However, Mr Quince said business loans and overdrafts brought him small profits, and lower interest rates were also working in his favour.

In terms of keeping his sheep cool throughout the heatwave, Mr Quince said there were plenty of areas for them out of the sun.

“We’ve got shade areas here. We’ve got quite a significant number of trees,” he said.

The heat in the North West area isn’t expected to drop any time soon.

Temperatures in the Tambar Springs area are forecast to stay well above 35 degrees over the next week, with minimal rainfall. 

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