Echo Valley Farm steak buyers become stake holders

The Brisbane-based former farming couple, who have been longtime buyers of the business's meat, loved what owners Randal and Juanita Breen were doing so much at their Goomburra property they bought the neighbouring block for them to expand.

Mr Breen was having a yarn to the neighbour about the future at the back end of last year when all the planets began to align.

"I was just chatting to him and he said, 'I'm ready to move on' and I said, 'oh, wow, it'd be amazing to buy this place, but there's no way that we can'," Mr Breen said.

"It was two days later when Bill and Marg rang us and said, 'if we could find a place, would you be interested in managing it?' I said, 'Well, actually, I've just had a conversation with our neighbours," Mr Breen said.

A matter of weeks later, the Brisbane couple purchased the place.

"They asked, 'are you comfortable with doubling your land area?' and we said, 'we actually think we need to, particularly in the environment that we're currently in with the pandemic," Mr Breen said.

"We felt as if we were farming in no man's land. We weren't small enough to be able to have it as a hobby, but we weren't big enough, on the day to day, to be financially viable.

"Bill and Marg are on their own journey, developing a passion for regenerative agriculture. The way it all fell into place was quite remarkable."

The Breens will continue to own and run their 140ha property Kilbrogan, as well as run 120ha Valeview.

It's a positive step for the family, which has faced what seems like a lifetime of disasters in their nine years at their farm near Warwick after moving from Colleyville.

The first generation livestock producers dealt with fire, flood, drought and a mouse plague as they attempted to scale up their beef, pork and egg enterprise.

Now, the team believe 2023 is their year thanks to a series of fortuitous events.

Randal, Juanita, their children Eli, 17, and Bridey, 14, and two farm hands run the multi species integrated farming system that includes livestock, hay, grain and seasonal small cropping.

With a diverse landscape of open grass grazing country, basalt uplands and remnant forested areas, they have found it is possible to embrace a regenerative approach to farming.

The Breens run 180 Brangus across the two properties, including 10 bulls and 60 breeders, whose progeny go through to finishing. The rest are replacement cattle and finishing cattle for beef production.

They undertake both natural paddock matings and AI programs each year and tend to breed a lower content Brangus at around 35 to 45pc, with an emphasis on carcass quality and marbling.

Their cattle are reared under commercial conditions and are moved as often as daily to utilise all pastures and regenerate the land.

No-till diverse pasture cropping techniques are used in order to produce additional livestock fodder, cereals and grain, as well as seasonal hay.

The march towards an ethical and community directed 'meat smithery' is one step closer after the Breens recently received safe food accreditation to add a 7m x 6m boning and packing room on-farm.

They still have to slaughter off farm at a local family-owned abattoir, but they will now control the growing, cutting up, packing and distribution of their meat.

With plans to employ a butcher to live on-site, they will also explore value adding products.

"That little building, essentially, is going to be the catalyst to make not only our farm viable, but other people's farms through them supplying product in through us. Maybe this becomes a finishing area and we're just buying in steers to grow out," Mr Breen said.

Mrs Breen says they are ready for what they hope is the best year yet for Echo Valley.

"We're really excited about what the next phase of that building means and building viability into our enterprise and building relationships."

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