It seems an unusual move for a third-generation ram breeder who had been farming for a decade in Kojonup to move to the central Wheatbelt.

But for Tim Stevenson, who runs KD Genetics with wife Steph, it made good commercial sense to expand their operation by moving their family, and part of their ram breeding operation, some 300km to Cunderdin.

The Stevensons run five breeds of sheep - Poll Dorsets, White Suffolks, White Dorpers, Prime SAMMs and Suffolks - selling about 600 rams annually across the breeds.

The Stevensons have also maintained their Kojonup property, which is now overseen by farm manager Bayden Reid, which is where half the Poll Dorsets and White Suffolks are based under the Jolma stud brand.

The other half of the Poll Dorset and White Suffolk studs, the Prime SAMM and Suffolks ram breeding operations, under the Kaula Dale brand, and White Dorpers, under the Riverside name, have moved to Cunderdin, along with the Stevenson family.

"One of the reasons for our move is that we have invested very heavily in genetics over the past 10 years and wanted to protect that investment," Mr Stevenson said.

"We could improve our biosecurity and reduce risk by splitting the studs across two separate properties."

Mr Stevenson, who also runs a sheep pregnancy scanning business and spends five to six months of the year scanning about 400,000 stud and commercial ewes Statewide, said the central Wheatbelt was also more central to the bulk of these clients.

"From Cunderdin we can still service clients in the Kojonup area very well, but are also close to clients in the central Wheatbelt and West Midlands area," he said.

Mr Stevenson said the pregnancy scanning side of his business, which was established in 2005, enabled him to build and maintain good contacts with potential and existing clients of his ram breeding operation.

And for his clients, this service enables them to more efficiently manage their breeding stock.

He said he can scan up to 600 ewes an hour and test for pregnancy, multiples and foetal age.

"A lot more people are using scanning services these days, and they want more detailed information," he said.

"When I first started scanning, most guys were just looking to know whether their ewes were pregnant or not pregnant.

"Ten years ago only about 20 per cent of people were looking for multiples. Now 80 per cent of people would require this information."

Mr Stevenson presents all five breeds of rams at a sale in Cunderdin in late September, and the White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets at Kojonup in early October.

He said demand for all breeds was typically strong because of the leading qualities presented across the bloodlines.

"We are very commercially oriented and use ASBVs as one of our important selection criteria," Mr Stevenson said.

"We are heavily involved in objective measurement when making decisions on ram selection

"This helps us to make informed decisions on the genetic potential of our sheep.

"Our muscling and growth would be second to none across the State for our Poll Dorsets and White Suffolks, and generally right across the board for most of our animals."

Mr Stevenson said he did not need to introduce many external genetics in the past five years, feeling there were ample quality lines to cross with KD Genetics' own ewes. One of the recent highlights for the Stevensons' business was achieving a top price of $5000 for a ram at the 2013 National Dorper Sale in Dubbo.

KD Genetics also won the most points across all breeds at the 2015 Wagin Woolorama.

Aside from the ram breeding and pregnancy scanning businesses, Mr Stevenson said he also runs a commercial flock of about 3000 White Dorper breeding ewes at Kojonup, and intends to build a similarly sized flock at Cunderdin.

The commercial White Dorper breeding ewes are mated mostly to White Dorper rams to produce prime lambs. Ewes that are not needed for replacement breeding purposes are mated to White Suffolks or Poll Dorsets. These ewes are about to lamb.

The main management difference moving to Cunderdin was the rainfall, Mr Stevenson said.

"The lower rainfall means different farming practices, but not one that was unforseen and we knew that was what it would be like in the central Wheatbelt," he said.

He said before last weekend's abundant rains, the Cunderdin pastures were under stress from the dry conditions, though he had not been forced to hand feed.

He attributed this to the hardiness of the sheep he breeds and the constant pressure on commercial aspects in his breeding program.

Mr Stevenson said the recent rains of 33mm at Cunderdin and 35mm at Kojonup would significantly revive the previously struggling pastures.