DON Turner's Meerschaum Vale property is a marvel of self sufficiency.
For 60 years Mr Turner lived in Sydney running a shoe sales business with his wife Vicki.
Both dreamed of making the move to the country, and seven years ago they made the dream a reality, moving to a 40 hectare former dairy farm "Wyuna", in the Northern Rivers village of Meerschaum Vale, near Alstonville.
It runs a herd of 60 Square Meater breeders, 45 Dorper sheep, poultry, fish, a fruit orchard with at least one tree of every conceivable subtropical variety, a impressive herb and vegetable plot and even a Merino wether who supplies wool for Turner family blankets and jumpers.
The Square Meaters are the backbone of the farm, supplying what has become a successful paddock-to-plate labelled beef operation.
Farmgate Beef processes a steer every fortnight, selling quarter-beast yearling packs at wholesale prices of $10 a kilogram, delivering direct to customers who place orders online or over the phone.
The couple began by trying to make a go of it in the stud game, setting up T Star Park Square Meaters to supply bulls to commercial crossbred operations on the coast.
They travelled from Canberra to Townsville in Northern Queensland selecting top-end genetics, purchasing 50 stud cows and a bull.
"We quickly realised the strong potential for a niche direct-to-customer product - the sausages are like eating steak - and so we refocused about three years ago," Mr Turner said.
n To find out more about the Turners operation see next week's Farming Small Areas, free with The Land. The July edition will also take a look at macadamias, honey, olives and more.