Our Story | hickeyfoodservices

The Family Story

The Hickey family have been operating this farm on Lynch's Creek in the Northern Rivers area since 1979.

Originally the farm was a dairy farm, with rich pastures, productive cows and a hard working family. The farm grew. The farm sustained a herd of 140, milking cows, some beef cattle and a piggery.

Shane and Julia took over the family farm in 2011 and have been operating and managing the farm since. We have diversified and changed our management practices and manage a meat production facility, and free range meat & layer chickens, rabbits and organically grown home vegetables and fruit orchard. Now we have a complete menagerie including; beef cattle, pigs, meat chickens, rabbits and a thriving free-range egg production business.

We do not use any pesticides or antibiotics on our farm and use as many natural farming principles as possible to produce healthy and clean products.We follow Joel Salatin's sustainability model.and work with the seasons for reliable and consistant production.

How it all began

Why Change

Hickey Food Services, Butchery & Smallgoods is a local food business operating on our farm, located on the outskirts of Kyogle, Northern NSW in the beautiful region that is home to the Border Ranges National Park.

With the dairy closed in 1994, Gary and Lorraine retired, but still living on farm. Shane and his brother James having finished school were working in trades in near-by towns. The farm was running beef cattle to be sold locally at the sale yards. The piggery had a few sows for the family and that was all at that stage.

In 1999 Shane and his brother who were working off the farm in other trades at the time decided to buy a butchery, as Garry had experience in the meat industry and had skilled them over the years in butchery practice. They bought a butchery in Lismore square "Country Fresh Quality Meats" this then offered a career change and enabled the farm animals to be used and sold through the butchery to sustain the farm.To keep farming it made sense to be farm based for all purposes and for production. So changes had to be made. In the early part of 2003 the Butchery facility was purpose built on the farm so the butchery could be run from the farm with a delivery service to support our customers needs.

Shane and Julia bought the business in 2011. We wanted to raise our young family on our farm safely and naturally so changes with how things were managed were made, from the day to day running, to stopping the use of chemicals and diversifying the animals and products we make and have. We wanted a free-range farm where all the animals grown on farm are utilised for our meat business. This way we know they are authentically free-range, ethically raised and kept and most of all lived a happy life.

Our aim is to work towards being totally organic utilising the ethos of Joel Salatin and Polyface farm techniques.

Our products are available in selected IGA Supermarkets on the north coast; Gateway Fine Foods Kyogle, Kyogle Quality Meats, Nimbin Emporium, Nimbin Newsagency, Southside Food Land South Lismore, and many other specialty food outlets.

Hickey Food Services focuses on quality healthy food and manufactures according to

NSW SAFE FOODS regulations.The Meat production facility is state of the art and maintained at this quality. We comply with NSW Safe Food Standards.

We can deliver direct to your door, home or business for a small charge.

You can purchase directly from the farm butchery and we have a mobile eftpos facility available.

You can contact shane on: 02 66362106 / 0411 212 492

or email at: hickeyfoodservices@bigpond.com