Vince Heffernan’s Moorlands farm has been in the family since the 1830s. With a focus on biodiversity and animal health, Moorlands has honed its farming practice to ensure a balanced and healthy habitat for their Texel meat sheep. For Vince, working with the environment has enormous benefits both for the landscape and the animals. “Biodynamic agriculture is a proactive approach to farming. Like organics, there’s no use of chemicals, but we go a step further to work with the soil and the ebb and flow of seasons. We try to enhance soil biology so it retains water, allows pathogens to be eradicated and nutrients to be cycled, which brings a lot of health into the system for the plants and the animals that browse on them.”
One of the ways soil biology is enhanced is through rotational grazing. As Vince explains, “we use a holistic grazing approach. We have big mobs of sheep in paddocks for very short periods of time. We rest paddocks for a long period before we come back. This enhances soil texture, has benefits for perenniality, the types of grasses we grow and also for the prevention of parasites and disease in the animals.” A large part of Moorlands’ approach also focuses on the regeneration of native habitat, which is done for its own sake but also has flow-on benefits for the sheep. “We’ve fenced off and re-vegetated 500 acres. My wife Janet has planted over 50,000 trees and shrubs, creating a habitat for many endangered species of birds and animals. It’s enhanced our biodiversity, and makes for a better and more resilient system. We’ve got 26 species of acacia, which produce seeds very high in protein, and the sheep thrive on access to them. The leaves are high in nitrogen, which helps with things like worms.” This varied diet also brings a unique flavour to Moorlands lamb, revered by many of Australia’s best chefs. “I’ve have chefs describe the flavour profile of our meat as being very complex, having layers and components that are different to other lamb. I think that has to do with the varied diet of the sheep. They’ve got a real silky texture and the fat is a light marble, which is really sweet and nutty.”
By removing middle men and dealing directly with customers and chefs, Vince educates the public about good farming practices while providing premium lamb at an affordable price, hoping that his lamb’s provenance will trump the convenience of supermarkets. “Because there’s no middle man, we can deliver something that’s high quality and well priced. We’re not just around the corner, but people are willing to trade that for the knowledge of how our lamb is raised, and are reassured by our practices. There is a mindfulness out there, people are concerned and interested, chefs are switched on and farmer’s markets allow our message to get through. We’re very happy to be a part of it and doing what we’re doing.”