Wolki Farm's customer-first focus has seen the regenerative farm grow in size and create an innovative way for customers to buy produce from an unstaffed store.

Healthy food production and family are at the heart of everything Wolki Farm stands for. Jake Wolki set out to grow food he was happy for his young family to eat, and he now uses that same high standard across 120 hectares of production. The five pillars of Wolki Farm are animal welfare, environmental backbone, healing food, building community and profitable farms.

The farm is also dedicated to what Jake calls 'radical transparency', including not shying away from recording on social media when farm animals die. The grand vision is to lease or purchase land of their own close to the twin cities of Albury-Wodonga that's suitable for functions, workshops and farm tours. It would be supported by more land further out to achieve greater scale and therefore greater ability to feed more families.

Jake follows regenerative farming practices but it is clear that getting stuck on hot topics, such as vaccination status of animals, is not important. For Jake, farmers must be restoring common benefits such as the health of soil, water and air. He says a truly regenerative farm should also contribute to community health and wealth by, for example, paying fair wages.

Snapshot

Farm/Enterprise Name: Wolki Farm

Farm/Enterprise Location: Albury, New South Wales. Kancoona, Victoria.

Type of Enterprise: Regenerative beef, lamb, pork, chicken, eggs, honey and wild venison

Primary Markets Served: Direct to Consumer

Staffing: Six

Property Size: Albury: 80ha. Kancoona: 40ha.

Property Elevation: Albury: 165m. Kancoona: 250m.

Average Annual Rainfall: 740mm

Climate: Temperate

Soil Types: Clay

Website: www.wolkifarm.com.au

Farm History

Wolki Farm runs 120 head of cattle, 1300 layers, 1500 broilers, 80 pigs, 100 sheep and 25 bee hives. They also have a market garden.

Since 2019 Wolki Farm has grown from just an idea to a way of life for Jake and his family. 'I realised if I was going to be doing daily moves for one cow for personal consumption then I might as well do 20,' Jake says.

It all started with 20 Hereford heifers, and 13 hens - that were nabbed from his Dad's place - running behind them in a simple caravan. Just four years later Wolki Farm runs 120 head of cattle, fondly referred to as the 'motley crew' to represent their Hereford, Shorthorn, Jersey or Nguni breeding, 1300 layers, 1500 broilers at any time, 80 pigs, 100 sheep and 25 bee hives. They also have a market garden.

Jake says there was no master plan, rather the business grew in response to customer requests. 'I didn't want to farm sheep. I was completely against it, but I got asked daily for lamb and so that's what we did,' he says. He also says that running a good business doesn't have to be complicated. 'I run simple budgets and monitor the cash flow,' he says. 'I'm not very sophisticated with it. I often use the back of an envelope to see if the numbers add up.'

I run simple budgets and monitor the cash flow. I'm not very sophisticated with it. I often use the back of an envelope to see if the numbers add up.

The farm now leases 40 hectares of land from Jake's parents, a further 40 hectares nearby, and also 40 hectares at Kancoona, 70 kilometres from Albury, where they also harvest wild venison. Jake's wife Ann and young children Otto and Theo are all hands on in the business - at the farm, butchery and in Cafe Musette, which is also run by the couple and exclusively stocks Wolki Farm protein.

Challenge: Finding food good enough to feed a family.

Farmer Wellness / Regenerative

Wolki Farm was born out of Jake's desire to feed himself and his family high-quality and sustainable protein for optimal health. Jake experienced a challenging time of illness in 2019 and was fed up with all the medication he was taking for skin and respiratory allergies. When he couldn't find a producer of non-medicated grass-fed protein locally he set about creating this source of food himself.

Solution: Grow your own grass fed farm

The solution was to grow his own food and for Jake that has involved education, lots of trial and error, and a great deal of success in beef, lamb, pork and honey.

The food they produce on Wolki Farm, coupled with other lifestyle choices, have greatly improved their lives and the lives of many others.

Another great example of this has been his experience with pasture-raised poultry. Layers were introduced at the inception of Wolki Farm, with those initial 13 hens growing to 1300 hens, which are currently laying about 4000 eggs each week. He's built different styles of mobile housing for them and scaled at speed.

Wolki Farm also processes about 250 broilers a week. Jake says this makes him one of the larger producers of pasture-raised chicken, but compared to the 713 million chickens expected to be processed in Australia this year, it's hardly a blip in the wider industry. 'Pasture-raised chicken is a new frontier - there are plenty of barriers but no competition,' Jake says. One of those barriers is the five-hour drive to the farm's closest processor in Melbourne. These commutes are done overnight as the birds have to arrive before 5am.

Jake has also discovered a tasty new way to honour retired dairy cows. What he calls 'double-aged dairy cow meat' is aged both on the hoof and the hook. The dairy cows are sourced from the nearby Kiewa Valley and given time to fatten on Wolki pastures.

There's a cult following for the meat which many liken to a Wagyu-style meat due to the high marbling. High welfare pork is also an important part of Wolki Farm, with more than 300 pigs to be processed this year.

Outcome: Farm delivers food, business and community

The growing Wolki family is healthy and Jake has never felt better. The food they produce on their farm, coupled with other lifestyle choices, have greatly improved their lives and the lives of many others. The business is thriving and they are meeting both their own health goals and the regenerative goals of the farm. They didn't set out to build a community, but Jake says the community of like-minded people they now have around them has been a wonderful bonus.

Challenge: Finding the right breed of cattle

Cattle / Input Reduction / Pest & Disease Management / Genetics

When Jake purchased his first cattle, 20 Hereford heifers, unbeknown to him 10 of them were in calf. He was horrified that four of those calves needed to be pulled and set about looking for a better way forward. Jake also sought a breed that didn't require medicated inputs such as drenches.

Solution: Ngunis just what the doctor ordered

The answer to his problems came with a recommendation from his local GP. 'I'm completely uninterested in animals requiring me to worm, pull calves or supply high metabolisable energy (ME) food to them,' Jake says. 'So when Dr Max Gulhane told me about a farmer in a tropical area with Ngunis, and that their first crosses were able to completely do away with flea and tick treatments, I started my own research and then bought my first Nguni bull that night.'

Ngunis are a rare breed, originating from the Nguni tribe and arriving in Australia in very small numbers via South Africa. Jake likes that Ngunis are small framed, very fertile and live long productive lives. They are also known to have 80 different hides, sometimes mirroring, which is an added bonus because the Wolkis tan hides as part of their goal to value the entire animal.

What really stands out is the Ngunis' efficient feed conversion and ability to consume and thrive on any source of food.

What really stands out is the Ngunis' efficient feed conversion and ability to consume and thrive on any source of food. Jake tells of a story he had heard about Ngunis still cycling and getting in calf when only eating shredded newspaper; it's no wonder they're likened to goats.

Outcome: Rare breed right at home at Wolki Farm

Jake plans to retain all his first-cross Nguni heifers and keep breeding them back to a pure line. Building up his numbers of the rare breed will take many years, but he's excited by the results he's already seeing.

He will then put British bulls over the Ngunis to take advantage of hybrid vigour. Ngunis grow to a maximum of 450 kilograms, which also keeps the Wolki butchers happy. The butchers, who are highly valuable and well-trained members of the team, would prefer to process many smaller-framed cattle than one big one.

Challenge: Build it and they will come (even if that's not what you intended)

Technology & Innovation / Direct to Customer
The butcher shop uses the same security tech as 24-hour gyms and customers use their smartphones to scan products and pay online.

When Jake purchased a building to use as a processing facility with his own butchers, he was hounded about opening a store to the public. He never intended to open a shop, but with persistent demand from customers he found an innovative solution that would serve customers in an affordable and manageable way.

Solution: Meating the market demand

The only way Jake could make a back-of-the-envelope business model for a butchery work was to remove wages, so he set about setting up a business without staff. Using the same technology as 24-hour gyms, including a pin code and security cameras, customers use their own smartphones to scan their selections and pay online. The store even accepts Bitcoin. 'It cost me less than $35,000 to set up including the freezers, entry, technology and subscriptions,' Jake says.

Outcome: A butcher shop with no staff

In the three years since installation there has been no theft from the self-help store and it's now drawing about $5000 a week - not bad for a walk-in vending machine.

Jake advises anyone wanting to set up their own 24-hour store to be sure that customers are value-aligned before giving them access.

Jake advises anyone wanting to set up their own 24-hour store to be sure that customers are value-aligned before giving them access. To do this, Jake's customers must first participate in a three- to four-hour farm tour, where they learn the who, what and why of the farm.

The community around Wolki Farm and its associated businesses continues to grow, with regular farm tours inducting new members frequently. The Wolki family is also growing, with Jake and Ann expecting a third child in the weeks after this interview was conducted. Only time - and customer demands - will tell what's next for this farm family, but it's sure going to be tasty.

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