AFTER a visit from influential American regenerative farmer Joel Salatin to their Macgillivray farm nearly four years ago, the Willson family decided to get into the egg business.
Linc and Esther Willson, and son Adam, were running up to 280 beef breeders, Kingarth-blood Angus, on their 930-hectare farm, and for a few years supplied southern Australia with Bubas bison dung beetles.
Mr Salatin suggested they were "wasting an opportunity" by not running chickens behind their cattle.
"That's what he does," Mr Willson said.
"Joel suggested we find someone who could run layers on our pastures after our cattle have been through.
"The chooks do really well following after the cattle. They get vitamins from the manure that only a ruminant animal can provide, while also helping to break it down across the paddock.
"Chook manure and the disturbance the chooks provide is also fantastic for the soil and pastures.
"Where the chooks have run, after an adequate recovery time, you end up with beautiful cattle feed."
Their cattle health is also improved because of the nutrient dense grass that the chooks help to create.
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Mr Willson said they looked into getting someone else in to run the egg enterprise, but then son Adam - who was nine at the time - put his hand up.
"I was inspired after Joel Salatin's visit and then watching his videos," the now 13-year-old said.
"I liked that they were a bit smaller to work with than the cattle, so I could help out."
So in March 2018, Adam's Eggs was established, with one, 130-capacity chook trailer. The business has since grown into 1800 chickens and seven trailers.
Adam's eggs are not only produced on an organic farm, but pastured as well.
"We don't have permanent sheds," Mr Willson said.
"Our chickens are moving all the time onto fresh pasture. We also don't wash our eggs, so they're not contaminated with water or chlorine.
"Eggs are laid in roll away nest boxes in the trailers. From there they roll into a central conveyor belt and are collected and packed for sale. Any ground laid eggs are not sold.
"We do end up with some eggs we can't sell, but I believe our eggs are better tasting because they are not washed."
The family sells about 50 boxes a week (each box contains 15 dozen), with 35 boxes sent to outlets in Adelaide, while the rest are sold on the Island.
Mr Willson said the two businesses really complemented each other.
"Eggs are a lot of work, compared to cattle, but the chickens have enabled us to increase our income on-farm without having to increase our land size," he said.
"It may be two mouths to feed on the same area, but the pasture growth increases because you are running chooks."
"It's also a fast turnover compared with cattle - we get 16-week-old pullets in and a month later, they're laying."
"We have room to grow the egg business further, but we are probably at the maximum we can handle by ourselves."
The chooks are moved daily and the eggs are collected twice a day.
After the chooks have moved through a paddock, the area is rested "for a long time" for pastures to regrow before cattle come back to graze, sometimes up to 100 days depending on the weather and time of year.
Mr Willson said their farm has come along way the past 30 years, since he first started taking an interest in and moving towards regenerative farm practices.
This has been helped along by their use of dung beetles, with the Willsons the first to release Bubas bison beetles in SA in 1996.
They now have millions present on-farm.
Burrowing by as much as 50 centimetres into the ground, the winter-active beetles create tunnels into the soil hardpan, increasing soil fertility and allowing pastures to have greater root growth.
"The beetles have also helped manage salinity problems on the farm, because they increase water infiltration, encourage deeper plant root growth, and help grow big plants to maintain ground-cover." he said.
"They also bring up significant quantities of clay subsoil and mix it with the sandy topsoil, while also aerating the soil."
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The dung beetles have also helped the Willsons farm more organically, as they have broken the life cycle of parasites.
"I introduced dung beetles to create a biological system, using the sun, the plants and the rain, rather than being dependent on buying expensive inputs to grow grass," he said.
Mr Willson said he was currently breeding up some new spring-active dung beetles (Bubas bubalus), which will overlap with the Bubas bison at the end of winter and work through the spring.
They plan to release them on-farm in July next year.
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