Our Story

Our story begins 30 years ago when our family purchased a property at Barraba in North West, NSW. As kids we grew up in true country fashion; collecting our own eggs, weeding our own vegie garden, milking the cow, and producing our own meat. We thought nothing of how lucky we were to be eating such nutritious and tasty produce.

The idea of selling our produce had been in the embryonic stages for some years, however the catalyst for beginning to commercially sell our meat products came after eating a non-descript grain fed steak at one of Sydney’s best restaurants. For our mind, we had better steak sitting in our fridge at home.

With two generations of farming knowledge behind us, we began formally selling our products in 2008. Our mission then was to produce products which were Ethical, Sustainable and Traceable. This initial simple mission continues to guides us today, although these days with a deeper knowledge of the effect Industrial Agriculture is having on our planet Sustainability doesn’t cut it-Regeneration is what’s needed.

With a belief that there was a market for our meat products, and after researching the market, we commenced by selling our produce at two farmers markets in Sydney. Within a few months we had expanded in to five farmers markets in Sydney and begun also offering an online ordering / home delivery service.

Initially our meat was processed in our local town of Barraba, however as the business grew and the logistics became cumbersome we moved to Sydney and purchased a shop (later sold) and took a lease on a warehouse on the Northern Beaches to house the equipment and trucks. We grew to operate at over 36 farmers markets a month and deliver to homes from Newcastle to Wollongong west to the Blue Mountains, we now do all of our processing at our Boning Room on the Central Coast of NSW.

We realized many years ago that it was unrealistic for us to supply from our own farm for the entire year, especially in drought conditions. So, since 2010 we have been sourcing animals from other farmers with the same ethos as ours. We buy direct from farmers where ever possible and use abattoirs both in the north and central part of NSW. This strategy ensures we can have a firm supply in most seasons and in dry conditions.

2020 was a defining year for many people, and after the break from the drought and a great comeback season we decided-after much deliberation-to sell the farm ‘Blue Hills’ as my parents were well in need of retirement and a rest, they had earnt it. So the farm was sold to another local family in November 2020.

Whilst Alison and I looked into taking on the farm we decided that the distance was too far from our base in Sydney and we would look closer to the big smoke for a farm that suited our family and business needs. That search is now in progress…..

 

With the lockdown and indecision in early 2020 we rationalized and reduced the size of the business-we were very fortunate in timings and didn’t renew our lease at the Mona Vale warehouse, then reduced our number of farmers markets and out sourced our deliveries for internet orders.

As we have grown and further educated ourselves we have met farmers with much deeper knowledge in natural systems and regenerative farm management. We have learned to understand the greater issues around industrial farming and the direct impact and correlation it has with the decline of human health.

For this reason we now aim to find supply from farmers actively practicing Regenerative Agriculture and all of the suppliers that now partner with us have management systems that sit underneath Regenerative Agriculture, nurturing their land and you our customers through their produce.

 

Mission:

The Free Range Butcher delivers grass fed and organic meat from regenerative farmers, nurturing our customers and the environment

Vision:

We are the Premium Online Butcher with an extensive range of the Finest Quality Grass Fed and Organic Produce. We are the conduit between the Ethical Food Producer and the Conscious Consumer-helping fill the Void of Information while Reconnecting Families to their Food Source.