Backfatters pig farm at Biggenden to use special wool wrap to post products around Australia

Julia Powell and Shane Muller moved their Berkshire and Large Black pigs to Biggenden more than a year ago to continue their business as the biggest free range pig farm in Queensland supplying products to local markets and now the Treasury Casino in Brisbane.

But in the next few weeks their business will become even bigger when they offer a ‘Pigs Can Fly’ delivery service which will allow their ham and bacon products to be shipped to any major city in Australia.

Using a product called Woolcool, made of sheep’s wool, their products will be kept at temperatures below 5C for at least 24 hours.

The wool wrap is also biodegradable making it easy to dispose.

Ms Powell said they hoped to offer the service in March and by pairing with the Australia Post’s Shipster, shipping prices would remain affordable.

“Because of the markets that we do we meet a lot of people from interstate that wanted our stuff and we thought how can we get it to them again?” she said.

“Pigs can fly, straight to your the door.”

It’s not the only new offering from the couple in 2018. 

Their speciality bacon range, which they had previously offered in North Queensland, will return.

The flavours include Boozy Bacon, German marinated with brandy and herbs, Southern Style, of smokey flavours from South America, and an Asian Bacon recipe. 

The increase in demand from both restaurants, markets and their delivery services means the couple’s pig drove will need to expand. 

About 120 breeders and 300 growers are now under the Backfatters brand but they hope to increase their breeder numbers closer to 200 by the end of the year. 

The pair are now looking for pig enthusiasts with available land to help grow their numbers.

Already 10 people have come forward to help them, either growers themselves or with no previous pig farming experience.

Ms Powell said they would either buy the farmer’s grower stock, provide them with Backfatter breeders or connect them with local pig breeders in the area. 

She said proximity to meatworks, council approval and being able to provide them with signature Backfatters feed would be considered.  

“We are looking to get bigger but we don’t want to grow too many more pigs on the farm here,” she said.

“We want to keep the quality here high so we are enlisting other growers to help. 

“Some of them will be (Heritage Breeds) and some of them will be lovely free range and will have a little bit of Large White or Landrace. We are using a Landrace boar at the moment for our bacon line as it helps us get our pigs to market quicker.” 

The demand for their pork hasn’t slowed down after the Christmas period when they ran out of hams during their Brisbane markets.

“We did our first market back two weeks ago and we thought it will be quiet, we sold out of all ham and bacon,” she said. 

For more information visit Backfatters Heritage Breed Free Range Pig Farm on Facebook