As two of the nation's pioneers of running pigs in a free-range system, Mark and Charisse Ladner have largely written the book on production of naturally grown, antibiotic-free, high animal welfare pork. It was a quantum leap for the former mixed farmers whose family has been running properties in the Goondiwindi district for more than 90 years.
When Mark and Charisse bought 'Gooralie' in 1999, they had endured years of drought, which forced them to reassess their willingness to rely on rain. Their traditional system - cereal cropping, sheep and cattle - was run in dryland conditions where 'average' rainfall is more the exception than the rule.
That system came under the microscope and was found wanting.
It was a recollection by Mark from a lecture when attending Orange Agricultural College that pigs had high feed conversion efficiency that sparked the idea of free range pork, allowing him to draw on his livestock experience and apply it to a different species.
Mark and Charisse's aim is to produce high-quality free-range pork that is a consistent, quality product. The pork is free from antibiotics, hormone growth promotants and chemical residues and is produced with a focus on the welfare of the animals. The result: a great product at good value. This in turn lessens the farm's reliance on rainfall, allowing production and a return on investment each year regardless of the season.
Farm/Enterprise Name: Gooralie Free Range Pork
Farm/Enterprise Location: Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia
Type of Enterprise: Free range pork farm
Primary Markets Served: Australian domestic. Direct to consumer. Butchers
Staffing: 30 Full time, most on farm
Property Size: 8,940ha
Property Elevation: 282m
Average Annual Rainfall: 589mm
Climate: Warm temperate
Soil Types: Brigalow/Belah, ironbank ridges, sandy loams, clay
Website: www.gooraliefreerangepork.com.au/
Three generations of the Ladner family have called Gooralie home. And while when Mark and Charisse returned they were keen to recognise the hard work of their predecessors, they also wanted to find a way to make the business successful every year, regardless of the weather.
The addition of free-range pork was a big move, yet they pay tribute to the family's long association with the property by branding their product with the property name 'Gooralie'.
When the Ladner family embarked on their free-range pork production enterprise in 2003, they could hardly have known the increasing pressure that would come on traditional pork production systems. Much of that pressure centres around animal welfare and increasing consumer awareness of how commercial pork is produced.
Mark defends his fellow pork producers who he says are audited under the same Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance (APIQ) program as Gooralie. At the same time, the couple had a strong passion to establish a free-range operation, which they believed was a good fit both ethically and personally.
As existing livestock producers, Mark and Charisse had an in-built understanding of grazing management. They saw the benefits of their sheep and cattle grazing paddocks, and, while they knew their pigs would need a ration to grow quickly, could see no reason why the pigs couldn't lead the same kind of free- range life as their other livestock.
But this is, and always was, a business that produces protein, albeit in a free-range environment. As such, seven different rations are created every three months for the different growth stages, from piglet to lactating sow. That is on top of what they can graze from the paddocks, where they can exhibit natural behaviours like wallowing and digging. The rotation between paddocks keeps pest and disease levels down, allowing the free-range pork to hang its hat on another marketing plus: being free from antibiotics.
Mark and Charisse are also quick to recommend an input which costs nothing but does so much: sunlight. Aside from vaccinations to optimise health, it is sunlight that keeps the pigs healthy, they say.
There is no rule book in free-range pork production.
When Gooralie began growing free-range pork, there was no rule book in free-range pork production/systems. That was a challenge in itself, but there are many things the Ladners did instinctively which proved to be winners.
The site of the piggery was carefully chosen for its soil type - a sandy loam/clay - and its position on the property with no near neighbours. And while the pigs are free range, and rotated through a series of paddocks, a two-metre high exclusion zone fence was built around the whole property and then another around the piggery for biosecurity reasons. The piggery is essentially run as a separate, fenced-off 325-hectare property, with strict quarantine measures ensuring the health of the pigs at all times.
Gooralie Free Range Pork is now one of the best-known pork brands in Australia with customers up and down the east coast of the country and overseas. That customer base has been built around the three pillars of free range, antibiotic free and high animal welfare, all of which are key selling points.
As one of the first to gain RSPCA accreditation for pork, which recognised the ability of the animals to move, forage, socialise and explore, their free-range product now sells with the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Program (APIQ) Free Range certification.
And here's the rub - Mark said the free range pork can have all the accreditations you like and all the certificates but to command the premiums ... it has to be quality and it has to taste good.
But here's the rub: Mark says the free-range pork can have all the accreditations you like and all the certificates, but to command the premiums needed to cover the extra costs of free-range pork production, it has to be quality and it has to taste good. 'We need to be above and beyond in terms of quality as well as being all natural,' he says, 'and while people will say that they want to buy pork from free-range systems, they are not necessarily as keen to put their money where their mouth is. I don't think that some consumers understand that higher animal welfare pork is more expensive to produce and, as such, it has to attract a premium.'
However, an increasing number of people are prepared to pay for it, including a growing list of butcher shops. A recent addition to that list is Our Cow, an online butchery that delivers grass fed beef, organic chicken, grass fed lamb and now the Gooralie Free Range Pork direct to homes.
In support of the Our Cow operation, and knowing the effort it takes to establish a business, the Ladners invested in Our Cow when it underwent a capital-raising process to support fellow producers trying to do exactly what they were: producing high animal welfare meat.
When the decision to diversify into free-range pork production became part of the plans at Gooralie, the property was essentially like any other agricultural enterprise of its type. It was run by Mark and Charisse and one full-time farm worker. But along with developing a free-range pork production system and the growth from the initial 400 sows to the current 24,300 standard pig units has come the associated need to grow skills in business management, marketing and human resources.
Running a free-range pork production system might sound bucolic, but in reality it is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week commitment to protein production. It involves looking after piglets to moving pigs to managing weight gains to delivering 50 tonnes of pork a week to a range of customers with a range of requirements. It's a big step up from most traditional farm operations and it can be intense.
There was only so much that the couple could do themselves, and so it was vital that they upskilled in areas they felt they could cope with, and outsource areas where there was simply not enough time (for example, pig day-to-day management) or skills (for example, marketing). As an established livestock producer, Mark took the reins managing the pigs while Charisse drew on her organisational skills as a teacher and applied them to running the business.
The biggest gap, however, was sourcing and managing labour.
The biggest gap, however, was sourcing and managing labour. With a constant need for 30 workers within the pork enterprise, and being an hour from Goondiwindi, it could have been a deal breaker. Recognising that critical skill gap was integral to managing it, and the couple brought in HR experts to develop documents such as position descriptions to improve their professionalism.
An organised work force and a willingness to look outside the business to fill skill gaps now make Gooralie Free Range Pork the epitome of a well run operation. The 30 staff employed within the business 'all know their area' and offer many and varied skill sets, says Mark, who believes their lift in human resources management has played out in a great workforce.
They have also put together a list of consultants they call on when they recognise a knowledge gap. A clear example was their nutritionist, who visits the operation four times a year to develop rations which not only meet the pigs' requirements but also meet economic parameters.
As Mark says, gone are the days that you can just do what you have always done in agriculture.
As Mark says, gone are the days that you can just do what you have always done in agriculture. 'You need to be business savvy and adaptive, and we have pulled different reins a couple of times over the past 20 years,' Mark says. 'But it was our baby and we wanted to prove we could do it; failure was not an option. We know that for every problem, there is a solution and if we don't know the answer, then someone will.'
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