One of four siblings, Colin, with his two older bothers and sister grew up initially on a wool and prime lamb property, 55 kilometres southwest of Narromine, in the central west.

After completing high school and a year overseas on an agricultural exchange program, Colin returned to the family farm to work alongside his brothers and father.

With the construction of Burrendong Dam and the Narromine Irrigation Scheme in the 1970’s, the Hamilton farm then moved into intensive irrigated cropping, producing mainly sorghum and sunflowers.

When water became more available they then transitioned for a few years into corn and then cotton.

Colin has always been interested in natural pastured produce and lives by the motto ‘grow, feed, educate’.

“The death of my father in 2008 gave us an opportunity to reaffirm our values and hence change our focus on how we farmed and what we produced,” Colin said.

“We prefer to eat nutrient rich, chemical free food, so to mach our values we needed to produce the same.

“I attended several soil biology and holistic management courses and workshops over the previous several years, which lead to us producing chemical-free pastured beef for the last 4 to 5 years.

“We are currently looking in to certification for pasture raised beef and the opportunities this may present.”

During the transition from a cropping enterprise to a natural pasture based grazing enterprise Colin noticed the grasses growing at the base of the fence posts was always taller and lusher.

Upon further investigation Colin soon realised this was from the birds roosting on the posts and leaving their droppings.

“So when we looked at introducing an extra enterprise which would give us some income regardless of the type of season, and one which would compliment what we were already doing, free range chickens was a natural fit, and it is something Bev can do on her own if required,” Colin said.

After a couple of years exploring their options into free range, the family decided to take the plunge, which led to their home grown, premium pastured produce business Hamilton’s Pride.

“We felt this name best captured our values, as well as Pride being a great acronym for what we do: Pasture, Regeneration, with Integrity, Diversity of species, Ecology,” Colin said.

“Our main priority is ensuring the welfare of our animals while at the same time regenerating our degraded landscape. Our cattle and chickens are allowed to express their natural behaviours and traits.”

The cattle are moved to fresh paddocks every second day and have access to free choice minerals, thus eliminating the need for chemicals or parasite control.

“The same for the chickens. Their mobile housing is moved to fresh pasture every third day, and they have access to an 'animal nutritionist designed feed mix' as well as all the bugs and grass, scratching and dust bathing, fresh air and sunshine they desire,” Colin said.

“They are closed in each night to prevent fox predation and let out to roam at first light. We currently have 450 birds which produce around 400 plus omega rich eggs daily.”

Hamilton’s Pride distribute their pastured, Omega 3 rich eggs locally to Narromine, Trangie and Dubbo in retail outlets, coffee shops and restaurants and aged care facilities.

“We’ve received excellent reviews and feedback from our customers, chefs and their patrons. Although we aim to supply fresh product locally, as demand grows we may enter markets outside this area and expand our flock accordingly,” Colin said.