Our family farm
Home to three generations of farming, with the fourth growing up here.
02 / OUR ROOTS
Four generations on the land.
Our family has called this 270-acre farm near Tilba home for three generations, with the fourth now growing up here too.
A STORY OF LEARNING TOGETHER
An idea brought home from school.
About twenty years ago, I attended an agricultural field day through school where I heard an idea that would change the way our family farmed.
It was about the relationship between grazing animals and the land beneath them. By moving cattle frequently, allowing a short period of grazing and animal impact followed by ample time for recovery, we could draw inspiration from the natural movement of grazing herds.
When I came home and shared the idea with Dad, it immediately clicked with him.
From there, it became a family effort. We began putting the principles into practice, observing how the land responded and adjusting our management as we learned.
Twenty years later, we're still learning.
What began as a different way of managing our cattle has grown into a broader appreciation for the living systems we're part of, and the role we can play in helping them flourish.
For us, farming is about more than what we can produce from the land. It's also about how we care for it along the way.
03 / THE LAND WE CARE FOR
Farming for a living landscape.
Our family has farmed 270 acres near Tilba for three generations, with the fourth now growing up here too. Together with neighbouring properties, we graze approximately 500 acres — continually learning how livestock can help us care for the land.
For around twenty years, we've moved our cattle daily through smaller grazing areas, allowing a short period of grazing and animal impact followed by time for the pasture to recover. Our aim is to build fertility, encourage diversity and support healthy animals through attentive management.
Land we graze
Including neighbouring farms managed through our grazing program.
Cattle on the home farm
Our observed change in carrying numbers, depending on seasonal conditions.
Pasture Brix readings
Refractometer readings we've observed over time in our pastures.
WHAT WE'RE SEEING
More life in the pasture.
Where kikuyu and sparse native grasses once dominated, we're now seeing plantain, clovers, paspalum, cocksfoot, ryegrass, vetch and other species establishing. We've also observed fewer undesirable weeds in some areas as our management and pasture conditions have changed.
OUR DAILY PRACTICE
A short impact. A long recovery.
Inspired by the grazing patterns of moving herds, we manage where the cattle graze and give plants time to recover. Explore the four stages of the cycle.
01 / GRAZE
STAGE 01
Graze with intention
The herd grazes a defined area for a short period. Grazing, trampling and manure return are part of the animal impact we manage.
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“For us, regenerative farming isn't a fixed set of rules. It's a continuing process of observing the land, learning from its response and adapting the way we work.”
From the land, to your skin.
Tilba Tallow grew from the same curiosity that shaped the way we farm: a desire to understand the materials we work with, where they come from, and how to make the most of what nature provides.
WHY TALLOW?
A traditional ingredient, thoughtfully made.
As a family raising cattle, we've long appreciated how much value an animal can provide beyond the familiar cuts of meat. Tallow is one of those traditional materials: a versatile fat that has been used for generations in soaps and skin balms.
We were drawn to its simplicity and richness, and to the idea of creating useful, carefully considered skincare from an ingredient with deep roots in farming and everyday life.
But we also knew that the quality of the finished product would depend on far more than the ingredient name alone. It would depend on the source, the way the fat was rendered, and everything we chose to combine it with.
OUR APPROACH
Know the source.
Respect the ingredient.
Take care in the making.
THE PROCESS
From raw suet to finished skincare.
Rather than buying pre-rendered cosmetic tallow, we begin with raw suet and carry out the rendering ourselves on the farm.
Start with the source.
Our skincare begins with certified organic, grass-fed beef suet sourced from Australian farms. As Tilba Tallow has grown beyond what our own cattle could supply, we source this ingredient from other producers while keeping the rendering and making in our hands.
Render with care.
We slowly render and filter the raw suet on our farm near Tilba, transforming it into clean, refined tallow ready for skincare. Doing this ourselves gives us direct control over an important stage of production, rather than relying on an anonymous pre-rendered ingredient.
Make with intention.
From whipped balms enriched with carefully chosen botanical oils to our traditional tallow-based soaps, we formulate, make and fill our products in small batches on the farm. Each ingredient has a purpose, and each step is something we continue to learn from and refine.
MADE WITH PURPOSE
For us, making skincare is another way of putting our farming values into practice: understanding where ingredients begin, taking responsibility for how they're processed, and creating something useful with care.
A future worth growing toward.
We believe there is room for a different kind of relationship between people, farming and the land — one where making a living and caring for the places we call home can go hand in hand.
WHAT WE HOPE TO SEE
Our experience on the farm has taught us that the land is not simply a resource to be used up. It's a living system that responds to the way we manage it. With observation, patience and care, we believe farming can become more productive while also creating space for healthier soils, richer pastures and greater biodiversity.
We'd love to see more families able to build a livelihood from smaller farms. That means not only finding ways to make land more productive, but also creating opportunities to turn what is raised and grown locally into valuable, useful products.
Living landscapes
Farming that pays attention to soil, pasture, livestock and wildlife — and aims to leave the land more capable of supporting life over time.
Viable small farms
More ways for people on smaller acreages to earn a living through thoughtful management, making things well and keeping more value close to where it begins.
Connected communities
Stronger local networks of growers, makers and processors. We hope to see more accessible, appropriately scaled processing options that give farmers greater choice and help regional communities thrive.
WHY IT MATTERS TO US
"We don't have to stand apart from nature to make a living. We can learn to take part in it more thoughtfully."
Tilba Tallow is one small expression of that belief. We're still learning, both on the farm and in the workshop, and we hope the things we make encourage a little more curiosity about where everyday products come from — and the people and places behind them.
From our family farm, Tilba.