Who: Zoe and Luke Crouch, Valooka Farms
Where: Landsborough West, Northern Grampians Shire, Djab Wurrung Country
Zoe and Luke, describe where you are.
We’re a relatively small, 120-hectare farm perched on the granite country just west of the Pyrenees and overlooking the Wimmera and the Grampians. It’s quite beautiful.
What are some of your regenerative agricultural practices?
It’s a complex system but we don’t use chemical fertilisers. We rely on the poo of our three flocks of a thousand laying hens. They follow in the footsteps of our small herd of Friesian-Angus beef cattle. The hens scratch about the cattle’s manure, spreading it out and eating the bugs. This helps make it more available to the pasture and the grubs are good nutrition for the birds. The hens also graze on a specially sown pasture of 11 different plants like broad beans, brassicas and cereal grasses. These plants also help with soil fertility and help feed the good bugs in the soil.
Who looks after the chooks?
They roost in sheds in paddocks and graze outdoors during the day. We feed and water them, collect their eggs and our Maremma dogs protect them from predators.
And the pigs?
We have a mixed breed of Berkshire, Duroc and Landrace. Like the rest of the animals on the farm the pigs free-range on pasture. We can grow them out to baconers (around 80kg) with a good fat covering, but without being too fatty.
You’re also into low food miles?
On many levels. We mill our own grain mix for the chooks and pigs, which Luke mills on the farm and we use grains that come from no more than 40 kilometres away. Almost all the meat and eggs raised on our farm are sold locally in the Wimmera and Grampians region via home delivery. We sell eggs to food stores and local cafés.
Who’s a fan?
Mark Summerfield from Summerfield Winery in the Pyrenees is a big fan and won’t use any other eggs for the cakes his chef bakes for his restaurant.
How do we contact you?
We have no fancy website. If you want our produce, call us on 0427 008 017 or DM us on Instagram, @valooka_farms.