Article By Amanda and Roger – Owners of Lower Mountain Pasture Raised Eggs

From consumer finance to full-time farming, this is our journey to becoming Hervey Bay’s only commercial pasture-raised egg producer.

You might ask, what place do financiers have in farming? Probably more than you might think.

Long before finance, farming was always part of our story.

Amanda spent her teenage years on a small lifestyle farm where her parents earned their living directly from the land. Roger also grew up on rural properties, spending much of his childhood riding horses and competing in equestrian events. Later, he spent more than 25 years working throughout Australia and New Zealand in the rural industry, supplying electric fencing and livestock weighing equipment.

The country lifestyle was firmly in our blood.

In 2016, we set out to find a property where we could raise our children, Brooke and Mitchell, with the same experiences we enjoyed growing up: riding motorbikes, swimming in dams, caring for animals, and learning practical skills that can’t be taught indoors. Finding the right property wasn’t easy. We wanted enough land to run livestock, reliable water, a mix of cleared and timbered country, and a location close to our children’s schools. Eventually, after years of searching, we found 70 acres on Lower Mountain Road, Dundowran.

The property had potential, but it was far from perfect. Half the farm was overrun with Giant Rat’s Tail Grass, while the remainder was covered in regrowth sugarcane standing several feet high. At the time, however, the farm wasn’t intended to be our only income source. It was simply a place to raise our family and unwind from busy working lives. Life, however, had other plans.

Changes within our finance business forced us to rethink our future, and around the same time, Roger was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and underwent surgery. Experiences like that have a way of changing your perspective. Amanda asked a simple question: “Could we actually make a living from the farm?”

Traditional livestock alone wouldn’t work on 70 acres, and intensive cropping didn’t align with our values. Years of sugarcane production had left the soil compacted and depleted. We wanted a regenerative approach that worked with the land rather than against it.

Our philosophy was simple: healthy soil grows healthy pasture, healthy pasture supports healthy animals, and healthy animals produce nutritious food.

Chicken manure became the starting point. Combined with rotational grazing alongside cattle and sheep, it offered a way to naturally rebuild soil biology.

There was just one challenge: we would need a lot of chickens. That was the beginning of our pasture-raised egg journey.

We transformed old sugarcane paddocks into a carefully planned grazing system designed for poultry, sheep and cattle to work together. Using Roger’s extensive experience with electric fencing, we built a secure system that protects our livestock while allowing them access to fresh pasture every day.

From the beginning, we decided that if we were going to provide eggs to our community, they had to be the very best eggs we could possibly produce.

Then came a major setback. After purchasing a commercial mobile chicken house and paying in full, the company went bankrupt just weeks before delivery. Our investment disappeared overnight. It could have ended our dream. Instead, it strengthened it.

In December 2024, our first 600 laying hens arrived. On Christmas Eve, we received our Safe Food accreditation, and on New Year’s Day 2025, our farm shop opened. We weren’t sure if the community would buy 280 dozen eggs each week. They did. Then they bought more.

As demand grew, so did the calls for expansion. But it wasn’t a small decision; adding another flock represented nearly a $100,000 investment. Eventually, we took the leap.

Today, Lower Mountain Pasture-Raised Eggs is home to around 1,000 laying hens, producing approximately 500 dozen premium pasture-raised eggs every week. Our farm shop opens twice weekly, and our eggs are available seven days a week through our valued retail partners, WholeLife Pharmacy and Go Natural, businesses that share our commitment to quality food, health, wellbeing and supporting local farmers.

One of our proudest milestones came when Enzo’s on the Beach began serving our eggs. Today, every egg on their menu comes from our farm, a wonderful example of a local business supporting local producers.

What started as a place to raise our children became a lifestyle generating income. What began as tired sugarcane country became a regenerative farming venture. Most importantly, what started with one question, “Could we make a living from the farm?” Became the answer we now live every day.

We are incredibly grateful for the support our community has shown since opening. When you support local farmers, you help strengthen the entire community.

We’d love to welcome you to our farm shop at 251 Lower Mountain Road, Dundowran, every Wednesday and Saturday from 7:00 am–12:00 pm for fresh pasture-raised eggs, local raw honey, and seasonal flowers.