Whole-hog about lifestyle change

WHEN ex-Queenslanders Daniel and Kim Croker were looking for a career change, moving to Tasmania and taking up free range pig farming proved exactly what they were looking for.

Their new business, the cheekily named Fork It Farm, is on a picturesque 26ha property at Lebrina in the state’s north. While Mrs Croker has some previous farming experience as an agricultural teacher, Mr Croker has spent much of his working life in a laboratory, so the shift to pig farming has been a literal breath of fresh air for the couple.

Mr Croker said free range pig farming appealed to them on several fronts.

“I love pork, but it’s hard to get really good free range pork so we could see the potential there,” he said.

The business is still in the early stages, but Mr Croker said eventually they would like to establish an on-farm facility including a boning room and commercial kitchen where they can value-add their products and make small goods.

“By doing everything from the paddock right through, that way we can control the costs and also make sure we have the quality we want as well.”

The couple are using the Community Supported Agriculture model to grow this business.

Through this system customers sign up for regular supplies of their products.

They currently have about 10 clients and hope to grow that to around 50.