Inside expanding free-range egg and pork enterprise
THE Andrews family farms for the benefit of the land as well as the animals.
Stuart Andrews left school in Year 10 to join his father, Peter Andrews, on their farm in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales where he continued to learn about regenerative farming practices. Peter Andrews is the founder of Natural Sequence Farming.
Stuart now employs these same farming practices as part of his own operation, Forage Farms, which he runs with his wife Megan and two sons, Hamish, 20, and Lachlan, 16.
The Andrews purchased their 105-hectare property in the Mary Valley, Queensland, in 2015, and started Forage Farms in May the following year.
Forage Farms produces free-range eggs and pork, and is currently expanding into lamb and beef.
“Running a single species of animals is not the best way to run a small landscape,” Stuart said.
“Running multiple species of animals encourages multiple species of plants, which is how you build a landscape.
“I am based around the environment first, and for me the animals are used to build the landscape. But of course there needs to be a return. All farmers need a return or they wouldn’t do it.
“I think the way we’re doing it is the best way because we don’t exploit the landscape or the animals and it provides a return. But it is a lot of work.”
Forage Farms is home to 6000 laying hens, and 14 sows and their progeny.
“If you have a landscape that is degraded, you can’t produce enough feed for a vegetarian like sheep and cows,” Stuart said.
“Chickens and pigs are omnivores, and their diet is good for the landscape. Their excrement is good for the environment. Chickens scratch and pigs dig, which helps turn over the soil.
“We need animals like this to start building the landscape before we can introduce animals such as sheep and cows.
“They (the animals) need to work together. You can’t
have animals that are degrading the landscape for others.”
Forage Farms has a mix of chicken breeds including bond browns, bond blacks, and some hyline birds.
“They lay approximately 4000 eggs a day,” Stuart said.
“They have mobile houses out in the paddock and they have their own nest boxes.
“When they lay an egg, it rolls down on a conveyor belt. Then we have backpackers who collect them off the conveyor belt and pack them in the cool room.
“We supply IGAs in the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane areas. And we supply quite a few cafes and restaurants in Noosa.”
The sows produce approximately 280 piglets a year.
“The pigs have shelters if they don’t have trees, to get some shade or if they want to farrow. But most of the sows choose to make their own nests,” Stuart said.
“They get the chance to do everything as naturally as possible.
“The growers are sent to the meatworks at four to five months of age. They’re taken to Biggenden, which is our closest meatworks.
“Mt Coolum Meats utilise our pigs and Imbil Meats, which is a small butcher’s shop near us. They on-supply that to some cafes as well as the general public.”
In 2017, about 12 months after Forage Farms began, the Andrews family introduced sheep and cattle to their operation.
“We only have about 30 head of sheep at this stage and 50–60 head of cattle. Our plan is to get to about 100–150 head of cattle and 50 head of sheep,” Stuart said.
“We also sell from our farm gate when we have small amounts like with our sheep.
“At this stage we are still trialling the sheep and cattle to the quality I think is suitable.
“There are lambs ready to go now. The cattle will probably be another few months away yet.”
Stuart said when they first bought the property the land was degraded, but they are continually improving and building the landscape.
“It’s pretty much dominated by bahia grass, which is a pretty poor quality grass. So we are in the process of progressing that out by building the fertility and restoring the hydrology,” he said.
“It’s been gaining at a rapid rate.
“Everything is on a rotation weekly. Everything moves. The cattle and sheep get moved daily.”
Stuart also runs Tarwyn Park Training where he teaches courses in regenerative agriculture.
“We ran one here two weeks ago,” he said.
“We also run them in New South Wales and I’m running one in central Queensland later in the year.”