Free Range Chicken

We are really lucky to live near the best free range chicken I've ever tasted. Scott and Heidi produce organically raised chickens on their farm and we have been selling them with our orders for the past year. Now that we've gone online with our order form it's a bit trickier, so I thought I'd just let people know about them and you can order direct from Scott and Heidi (or just let me know what you'd like and I can add it into your order.) To make it easier for delivery, please tell them or us that you are getting both.

I've copied some information from Scott and Heidi onto this post. If you want more info about the chicken's contact them direct.

Ordering

Below is a link to our updated order form, thank-you to Tatiana for assisting us. Please fill out the form and press submit at the end, if there are any problems, please email me your concerns. We hope that we have ironed out the bugs but expect a few technical hitches in the first few weeks.

You will notice that our prices have increased by approx 25c/kg, our feed and freight costs have increased this year but we have managed to negotiate no change in processing costs for the rest of the year.

We expect that orders for the first few weeks will be greater than what we can supply but will notify those that we cannot fill your order the same week that you place your order.

 Changes in 2013

We have expanded our product range to include individual pieces as we have been often asked by our customers if we would provide such products. The pieces will be presented on trays, with the average tray weight between 350-500g. While the ordering form has pieces as per half kilogram, it may not be possible to obtain the 0.5kg size for each tray.

We have also removed our bulk discount this year as we aim to maintain a low purchase price that all can benefit from.

Freight

For our western customers, we will not be able to supply fresh chickens again this year due to pick-up on a Monday which is our first processing date of the week. Freight deliveries will be on a Wednesday. For all other customers, we will be able to supply fresh (if processing that week) or frozen, please indicate which is your preference when ordering. Local customers within the Biloela area, our services will remain the same as last year, either pick-up at our farm or we can delivery into town. For those that live outside Biloela, Theodore and Baralaba (i.e. Gladstone, Tannum, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Emerald etc.), there will be a freight cost of 20c/kg for each order. Freight deliveries will be on a Thursday for these centres.

 Centre Coordinators

For each town, we are looking for people who would like to be our centre coordinators where deliveries can be dropped off. This role does not involve invoicing or handling money but may involve contacting customers to negotiate a suitable time to collect their orders. Because we now have a large customer base, this will save on freight costs if we have a single central drop off location. For larger centres, we may have two centre coordinators so that travel time is reduced. If you are willing to be one of these people, please let us know. We will be offering a discount off your order for all our centre coordinators. We will gradually role out this service in the coming weeks so initial orders can be still delivered door to door.

 New Customers

For existing customers that refer our products to new customers, we will be offering a 10% discount on your next order. For all new customers, can you indicate in the comments section at the bottom of the form who referred you to us? Please feel free to send our details to your friends and family if you wish to receive a great discount on your next purchases.

 Finally, thank-you to everyone that has been contacting us requesting our chickens, we aim to provide a healthy and quality product that is locally produced.

 

Pasture Raised Chickens

Orders closed for April

Well, I've finalised all the orders, the pigs are in Monto and I have finally finished sending out invoices! If you haven't received an invoice - please email me as that may mean you don't have your order in!!! Oh, except the side/whole pig orders - I'll send them out in the next day or so.....

We've been really pleased with the fact that our customers that keep coming back. It's been pretty tough for us to get established and trying to sort out some of the hassles of starting a new business. One of our problems has been trying to manage the fat, which I'm really glad to say that we are starting to sort out. So...thankyou to all those that keep coming back. We're glad that so many people agree with us that our pork tastes like pork should!

April Orders

We’ve had a busy time on the farm.....Sows are farrowing, Growers are growing and the grass is exploding with the lovely rain and warmth we’ve had. We had a break over Easter (well sort of – you never really get break when you have a farm), but it’s now time to organise deliveries again.

We have had to revise our prices going forward. Our fresh pork prices will remain the same, however the ham and bacon price needs to be increased. We had an “oops” moment recently when we realised that we made a miscalculation when we were pricing our products. We didn’t take into account the difference between the boned out pork for ham and bacon compared to the fresh pork. So, I’m afraid that we will need to adjust our pricing.  A 5kg pack of Ham and Bacon will now cost $19/kg ($95/pack).

Discounts for referrals: We have decided to reward our customers who introduce us to a new customer with a 10% discount on their next order. There will be a place on the order form that allows new customers to put the name of the person who told them about us. Make sure you also let me know if you put someone on to us.

Delivery Dates for Dawson Valley Free Range Pork:

Theodore, Baralaba and Woorabinda

Delivery – Wednesday 17^th April and Thursday 18^th April

Biloela, Gladstone and Rockhampton

Delivery – Thursday 18^th April

Dysart, Moranbah, Emerald and Blackwater

Deliver – Wednesday 24^th April

 All Orders Close - Friday 12^th April

 If you live in Brisbane or on the Sunshine Coast, just put an order in when you want to and when we have enough, we will schedule a trip down south. We can’t go that distance without having quite a large delivery, as we need to be able to justify the cost of the travel. We will aim to go down every 2 to 3 months, therefore the next likely delivery will be May/June.

March Deliveries

The rain has once again been causing problems for us and our delivery schedule, so what I am about to propose, will depend on us getting some fine weather over the next few weeks. We can only plan and then hope for the best.

Tuesday 12th March - Rockhampton (no ham and bacon)
Wednesday 13th March - Moranbah, Emerald, Blackwater (no ham and bacon)
Wednesday 20th March - Theodore, Baralaba, Woorabinda
Thursday 21st March - Biloela and Gladstone Area (Rocky if you missed out on the 12th)
Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd - Sunshine Coast
Sunday 24th - Brisbane

Please get your orders in for all these deliveries as soon as you can, as then we can plan and make sure that we can get enough pigs down to Monto in between flood events!

We're a bit up in the air after that, so what I would suggest is that people order whenever they can and if they miss one delivery, they will go onto the next scheduled delivery. We will be sending pork to all areas hopefully once a month, it may be once every two months to some places (eg the Southern run).

As usual, we appreciate any referrals, so please pass on our details to your friends and family in any of these areas. We may have some goat available too, so if you would like some, just email me a note.

Ham for dinner

I don't normally (in fact I never have) baked ham - I always worry that it will dry it out. I did it this time, as it was quite a large ham and it takes too long to get through with just the two (and sometimes three) of us for lunches. So I thought that if we had it for dinner as well, it wouldn't get wasted, so I baked it - see the recipe I used on the Recipe tab - and it was really nice hot, with roast vegetables. It didn't dry out at all and was just YUM! It will be even better on sandwiches over the days to come.

Pork to the Coalfields

We will be delivering pork to Emerald and the other mining towns on the 6th March. We can only do fresh pork as there isn't enough time to do ham and bacon this time. If you would like to order, please get the orders in by 23rd February. Email me for an order form.

I am hoping to get an online order form set up, but as yet that hasn't happened. (sorry Tatiana!) If you are in Tatiana's group, please do your order through her form.

We can also deliver to Rocky - it will be delivered on the 5th March.

Bacon and Pork Fat

Our pigs are based on Heritage breeds, the reason for this is both practical and emotional. Practical because our pigs are true free range and roam about paddocks all day and so they need sun protection. The best protection is the colour of their skin. We really noticed it during the recent rain - when the white pigs we hav,e got washed clean, they also got sunburnt. The black pigs didn't get affected at all. The emotional reason is based on saving the old breeds. Pigs in Australia are limited to the breeds we have. Other stock, eg horses and cattle can be imported from overseas, however pigs are not imported, not even the semen.

One of the problems with the old breeds, and the reason they are nearly bred out, is that they tend to get fatter than the modern white varieties. This has been an issue that we have been trying to deal with ever since we've been raising these pigs. This is also the reason why we have introduced a Large White Boar into our herd. The other factor we have, is that we mix our own feed with locally grown grains and these also change from season to season. We could feed a commercial mix and get more consistency, however, we can't control what's in a commercial mix - they will just about always contain cotton seed meal or soy bean meal - these are more than likely going to be genetically modified. Commercial mixes are also a processed food - we try to be as natural as possible, which is why our pork tastes like pork should! The one consistent thing we have is that it always tastes good!

One of the advantages of all that lovely fat, is that you can save the fat, render it down and cook in it! Fat is really the best thing to cook in, and as you've already paid for it, it's makes sense not to waste it. I do mention how to do this here, but it's quite easy - just put the fat into a pot with some water - not a lot, just enough to get it to start to melt, wait for it all to be melted, you will see the "fat" has melted and just left some chunks of brown crunchy stuff. Strain and keep the fat. I do keep it in the fridge in hot weather, but in winter it's okay left out. I put it into jars or tins.

You can use the fat off the chops or bacon, or buy some belly fat from us (this comes out lovely and white and clean). You do have to be very careful not to burn or catch the fat as it renders, or it will colour it - still usable, just doesn't look as good.

The yummiest thing is this..... cut the fat and rind off some bacon, cut into small pieces (about 1cm). Place in a small pot with a dash of water. Let it slowly render down until you have little crunchy bits and rendered fat. Tip off the fat to keep for baking potatoes (yum) and then serve the crunchy bits on some freshly made bread - serve with a beer!