Family farming at its finest

Growing up in a cattle and cropping environment at Rolleston gave them the husbandry skills they’re now putting into their new venture in free-range chemical-free food production at Kilkivan, west of Gympie.

Called Piggy in the Middle, the couples utilise rotational grazing practices across 260 acres where 100 heritage breed pigs, 250 Dorper sheep, 24 Droughtmaster cattle, and 300 chickens all co-exist in a productive environment that’s eliminated hormones, antibiotics and pesticide use.

“Our daughter is gluten intolerant so we started growing our own food to help with that, and everyone said we had a good product that we should share with other people,” Dean said.

Better market access saw them decide to move to southern Queensland and grow their business, at the start of the year.

As well as a full program of fencing and development, their partnership with the Yandina Butchery has seen them develop “Shacon”, or bacon made from sheep meat, which is attracting interest Australia-wide.

“It’s been hard work but it seems to be working,” said Dean. “The feedback has been awesome and there’s no better reward than happy, smiling people.”

It’s not only the customers who are happy but the animals are too, according to the Maynes.

“Our pigs are able to embrace their natural piggy behaviour in the pastures and muddy holes,” their website proclaims. “We love the pigginess of our happy pigs. They enjoy digging and feeding on local grasses, legumes and roots, which we supplement with grains.”

The chickens scratch, aerate and fertilise the paddocks, gobbling up parasites as they go.

Also part of the holistic program are the cattle, which are put into a paddock first, to eat down the long grass, probably staying for a week at a time.

“We move our animals depending on what the land needs and when the animals need a fresh paddock,” Kate explained.

Their chickens are housed at night to protect them from foxes and wild dogs and during the day Maremma hounds keep them and the sheep safe, even keeping an eye on the sky.

“I saw a hawk circling the other day but when I got to the paddock, the Maremma had already rounded up the chickens and put them in their housing,” Kate said.

They’ve found the Berkshire and Wessex Saddleback pigs have been efficient land-clearers, rooting out lantana bushes.

The pigs are Dean’s speciality and he describes them as “the Wagyu of pork”, thanks to their marbling quality.

“They take an extra two or three months to grow, and I’ve been told the fat is better than olive oil,” he said.

Their sheep and pigs are killed at the abattoir at Biggenden before being processed at Yandina for the Noosa markets every Sunday, and the Gympie Town Centre growers markets every first and third Wednesday.

Currently they are processing three pigs and six sheep a week, which they hope to increase through a plan to make meat boxes and operate a delivery system.

Their Shacon – lamb backstraps and eye fillets rolled up, cured and smoked – is already being sent all over Australia, and the cattle will join the marketing plan once they’ve grown enough.

Dean has a background in butchering, which has been helpful in creating the gluten- and nitrate-free small goods sold by the Piggy in the Middle brand, and which the cousins are looking to exploit with the construction of an on-farm butchery to improve the traceability of their product.

They have enlisted celebrity chef and regional food ambassador Matt Golinski as their ambassador and hope to soon embark on a crowd-funding venture to raise $30,000 for the construction.

“We hope it will get a good response,” Kate said. “We’re passionate about what we’re doing, and everyone comes back saying how nice and sweet our food is, and how it takes them back to their childhood.”

- Visit Piggy In The Middle online.