Shannonbrook Farms is based across 1400 acres of luscious farmland on the Northern Rivers of NSW. Our three main properties are located in Shannonbrook and others in Woodview, Casino and Oaky creek. Our family has been farming in the area for over 100 years, with our home farm, also known as ‘Laymedowns’, being within our family since 1929.

Our properties are enriched with various types of soil which give us unlimited options when it comes to farming. The variations allow for our sheep and cattle to naturally graze the land to suit their own nutritional needs. The herds have access to a large natural creek that cuts through two sections of our home farm along with large dams and water troughs throughout the paddocks of our other properties. There are clusters of trees in all of our paddocks to ensure that there is an ample amount of shade for the animals to rest under. We are always planting new trees that create great canopies for shade but also help with our carbon footprint.

They have unlimited access to fresh grass at all times, whilst having the option available of hay and/or silage Our hay/silage is also taken from our own properties as we believe vertical integration and quality control plays a huge part in the care of our animals. We allow the animals a second option of food during different times of the year to help give the land time to recover, replenish its nutrients and to ensure the herds have an efficient amount of feed to keep them happy and healthy.

Our herds are handled in a minimal stress environment and are free of any hormone or growth promoters. Our animals are able to live a carefree life grazing the green pastures, swimming in the creek or snoozing under the canopy of a tree. Our farms are run in both an ethical and sustainable way so that we can continue producing delicious Australian produce for you and your family, all while in harmony with the land.

Back in 1929, our farm was originally a small dairy farm run by our great great grandparents. When their son Melville brought the farm he ran a small herd of beef cattle and continue running the dairy with only a few cows. He would use the milk to make butter and cream which was mainly used by his wife Emily within the household. He occasionally would on-sell his products to other farms nearby. Melville continued farming the property in this way until he passed away.

His son Cedric then went on to purchase the property from his mother, in which he decided to grow the dairy into a fully functioning retail dairy. He started to grow his herd of Holstein Friesian cattle and would milk them twice a day. His dairy grew big enough that he was able to install a larger milk vat and transferred from hand milking to mechanical milking. Cedric, his wife and their 4 kids would milk the 120 cows, twice a day and on a good day could produce up to 1800 litres of milk! One day they even had the vat overflowing and had to stop milking until the milk tanker could arrive and empty the vat.

Cedric also had a fascination with pigs. He built up a top-quality herd of large white pigs that lived free range on the hill near the dairy. He could have anywhere from 20 - 30 sows as one time on the property. He would sow the flats of the farm with a single row plough just so that he could plant corn to feed to the pigs. It would take him 4 weeks to prepare 5 acres for him to plant some corn. All in the hope that the crows would get to it first. He enjoyed to producing his own food. He always had an expansive vegetable garden. With everything from melons to carrots to beans. You name it, he grew it.

The family explored the idea of cropping their highly fertile flats in the mid-1970s. With the first crop being soya beans. Four decades later and we still go to the effort to plant them. The flats have also been used for growing barley, wheat and sugar cane.