Dairy cows and laying hens are being run alongside each other on a mixed farm in Catani, Gippsland, to provide separate incomes for two generations of the Van Boxtel family.
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Jeremy Van Boxtel and his wife Stephanie set up their 'Home Grown Farm' pasture-raised egg business in early 2020 and it now runs alongside the dairy operation owned by his parents, Bert and Glenys.
Jeremy left his IT job in Melbourne in 2018 when Bert became unwell and has not returned.
While he and Stephanie may not have been fond of the cows, they found a niche in egg production.
Glenys, who had been dairy farming alongside Bert for 47 years, said she "never expected" to be surrounded by chooks.
However, she now could only see the benefits.
"What a wonderful thing that we can work together," she said.
"We share the same land and we can do that in an amicable way together and it's an amazing thing where we couldn't have done that if we were both in dairy."
Jeremy and Stephanie's 4000 hens and 2000 pullets graze and roam in rotation with the farm's 20 dairy heifers and 40 beef cattle on 40 hectares.
The 170-cow dairy herd was run on a nearby 80ha block.
Glenys said recent soil tests showed an improvement in nutrient levels, since the chickens arrived on the farm.
She said the ground, foraged and fertilised by the hens, is better for growing grass for the cattle.
"It's picked up hugely," she said.
"If it works and it works within a family, that's a win-win.
"It works brilliantly for us and I think it works brilliantly for these guys."
Bert was delighted the next generation had found an avenue to make a living off the farm.
"There's two families making an income off this place so that's the good thing about it," he said.
Jeremy said there was a benefit to adding the egg production system to the intensive cattle farming and together they were "getting more out of the land".
"With the efficiencies that we can bring in now with automation and things that we can do that maybe weren't available in years prior, it makes that far more possible," he said.
"We're finding that we can run chickens in what may not be their normal habitat in tandem with cattle and to improve the feed for the cattle, and make an income off that on the side."
Glenys added that the cattle fertilised the ground too and the hens then "get in there and do what they naturally do, spread out the poo".
She said the collaborative approach to food production on the farm was perhaps a return to times gone by.
"When we were kids, dairy farms weren't just dairy farms," she said.
"They used to run the pigs, the dairy, a whole medley of things but very quickly, it just changed to one focus.
"It's probably turned back a little bit now."
The Home Grown Farm flock consisted of a mix of Hyline hybrid and ISA Brown hens with all replacement stock the latter.
Since January this year, chicks were brought in at a day old and reared to first lay from there.
The birds laid approximately 340 eggs a year with about 3800 eggs produced daily.
Jeremy and Stephanie started the poultry business in May 2020, "right on Covid".
"It changed our business model, particularly our delivery model," Jeremy said.
The couple did a lot of home deliveries and demand took off.
"That was good in that we were able to get a good customer base early on," he said.
"We started with only 200 hens and we were at 2000 hens six months later because the demand just went through the roof with local produce during Covid and because we were offering home delivery."
Now, the couple only delivered to wholesalers and 60 per cent of their eggs went to Melbourne markets.
The rest went to Pakenham and other nearby towns.
Stephanie said there had "absolutely" been an increase in demand for the pasture raised eggs since the pandemic.
"A big part of it is local and being able to see where the produce is coming from," Jeremy explained.
"People can see the life of the hen and where the egg is coming from.
"In general, people are getting more conscious of the welfare of the animals that are producing their food, over time."
The secret to the welfare of the hens on the farm was the size of their paddocks.
"It gives them plenty of space to be able to do what they want to do," Stephanie said.
She said the flock could forage, be in the shade and dust bath naturally.
While demand continued to increase, the couple felt they had reached maximum output, for now.
"At this stage, that's the limit," Jeremy said.
"Because we're mixed with cattle and chooks, to keep the grass at a reasonable coverage, we've found that that's as big as we could get.
"We run at 100 hens per hectare and at that rate, we can rotate the cattle and the chooks without causing any issues to the ground."
Stephanie said there was "really, really big demand" for the eggs, to the extent that they could no longer advertise.
"We get more requests for eggs we don't have," she said.
However, the couple noted that profit through egg production was not comparable to that from dairy farming.
"You'd need to have this as a very efficient operation to be comparable to dairy [income]," Jeremy said.
"One thing I can say is we control our price and sell direct to market with prices we dictate and dairy obviously does not."
Despite this, the couple, who never expected to be poultry farmers, were excited for the future of their business and both generations looked forward to seeing where it might go.
