A CHANCE encounter with German farmer's story in the late 1940s about success with an egg enterprise, sparked the interest of a young Point Pass farmer, leading to him becoming one of the state's major contributors to the sector.
The Schutz family at Point Pass arrived in the Mid North region more than 150 years ago and are still farming today.
Although a lot has changed across the operation - across the years, the family tried their hand at poultry, sheep, pigs and cropping - the Schutz's focus on diversification has remained strong.
It was the now 98-year-old Gordon Schutz, who instigated the family's move into poultry farming and has led the way ever since, helping his son Malcolm and grandsons Kym and Jake to continue diversifying the operation.
Gordon's grandfather, Heinrich Schutz, settled at Point Pass in 1869 after moving from Germany while his son Gothilf - Gordon's father - played a significant role in establishing the farm.
During the crucial early years, when Gordon was just 18-years old, a little bit of argie-bargie began between Gothilf and a farmer up the road that set the future of the operation.
"The farmer said to my father 'I have two boys and you have one, we do not have enough land, so one of the families will have to leave and farm somewhere else'," Gordon said.
But Gothilf was pretty clear about his stance on the issue and told the other farmer to leave and subsequently bought his farm.
"The rest is history," Gordon said.
The family moved to a farm of 120 hectares about one kilometre down the road and began building the enterprise from then on.
Six generations have walked through the paddocks at Point Pass, with Kym's children Matthew, Ayla and Tarkyn, and Jake's children Mason and Maggie already following in the footsteps of their ancestors.
Egg production becomes main focus
For 51 years, the Schutz's packed eggs and the family farm became quite the hub of activity in the Mid North during those years.
After Gordon read an article that revealed a young German farmer was making a good living from 600 laying hens, he decided to try his luck with a similar enterprise and put every effort into making it a success.
Gordon farmed with his brother Eric for some time, until 1964, but working with horses was a bit of a bug bear for the aspiring egg producer, so he did away with the large-scale traditional farming of sheep and cropping.
The egg enterprise was a seven-day-a-week job and, even though it took its toll, it was an "entertaining" period in the farm's history as they laid the pathway to housing 7000 hens.
"In 1957 as the numbers increased, I needed a feed shed. So I built a new shed for easy loading," Gordon said.
Just as Gordon was about to put the finishing touches on the shed, an unknown visitor pulled up to the farm gates.
"A fella said it was just the type of shed he was looking for," Gordon said.
A perplexed Gordon gave the man a moment to provide further information about his reason for visiting and to this day, he's very glad about that.
It turns out, the man was John Dwyer, a Victorian egg buyer who wanted to make use of the Schutz's new shed.
They were paying one pound a case more than SA buyers, if Mid North producers would bring their eggs to the Schutz's collection shed.
"That spread like wildfire and before we knew it, eggs from more than 20 kilometres away came into the shed," Gordon said.
Overnight, it became the major collection point for the district's eggs until 1964.
It is hard to believe these days but, a semi truck arrived once a week from Melbourne.
"I was getting six, sixpence a case as royalties for the shed and five cents for 30 dozen, which more than paid for the shed in a few years," Gordon said.
But it was the social side of the collection shed that made it a bustling time on the farm.
Each Thursday night, farmers from across the Mid North would arrive with their eggs, and most likely a beer or two, for collection.
Gordon said the best part was chatting to "all hours" of the night during egg drop off.
"The night before the truck arrived, people would rock up with their eggs and it used to be quite the gathering," he said.
A big burst of growth and progression in egg production also set the scene for further developments on the farm.
"In 1964, a neighboring farmer offered us the farm next door and I was about to build a cage shed to fit 4000 hens - it was good timing," Gordon said.
Even though the Schutz's had enjoyed a buoyant period of egg production, the farm was still growing and money to buy the additional land was hard to find.
"He let us pay the debt off over time. I needed the hens to pay for the land and I needed the land to grow the feed for the hens," Gordon said.
Gordon's son Malcolm packed eggs for 25 years and has many memories of it - some good, some bad.
"I remember having to come home early from a day out as a child to pick eggs - it felt like we were always packing eggs," Malcolm said.
"At about 3pm each day, it was dreaded egg packing time, especially when it got to 7000 hens."
The high times for egg production were certainly a positive but deregulation of the poultry sector began in the late 1980s and by 1997 the Schutz's had decided to cease egg production entirely.
"In the mid-'90s we had begun the process of stopping egg production and moving back into sheep and cropping," Malcolm said.
Quotas for the number of hens on a property became a bit of a headache for the Schutz's.
"We were restricted with the number of hens we could have and an inspector used to count the chickens to make sure it was being followed," Malcolm said.
They paid the SA Egg Board 70 cents a hen, due each fortnight.
After a less than desirable situation with an auditor had provided little confidence for the Schutz's to continue farming eggs in the new system, it was time to get out.
"An inspector arrived on the farm one day and advised we had miscounted 80 hens. But after walking the aisles with him to recheck his count, he was out by three birds on every row," Malcolm said.
"We caught him out and he never bothered us again."
At the time, all of the eggs were sold to the board and they were receiving about 8c/dozen.
"All of our sheds had been there since 1964 and we either needed to invest in a massive infrastructure upgrade or get out of eggs entirely - so we got out," Malcolm said.
Pigs arrive but sheep regain prime spot
The acquisition of more land in the area gave the family room to invest in more sheep and introduce a small piggery.
A two-story piggery was built in 1981 to expand on an existing piggery that was left unused on some of the original land.
A 30-sow piggery began production and for a few years, pigs, eggs, sheep and cropping were all happening across the farm.
Pigs left the farm in 2017 and Malcolm said tough regulations simply pushed them out.
"We were not big enough to warrant all of the rules and regulations, so we got out of pigs and acquired more land.
Malcolm's son Kym came home to the farm in 1998 and in 2017 his brother Jake came home - the intention was to finish with the piggery but increase sheep numbers.
Unbeknown to the boys, a crippling drought was knocking on the door.
"That drought stopped everything in its tracks - we are still getting over it in terms of increasing stock but we are slowly getting there," Kym said.
Sheep had always been a part of the farm from the beginning but numbers remained at about 200-300 for many years before reaching the present 1400 head of Poll Merino ewes.
Long relationship endures through tough times
A handshake deal with the biggest landowners in the region during the 1960s allowed the Schutz's to sharefarm, forging a relationship that has lasted 72 years.
The family still crop and sow the land of Handke brothers and, up until a few years ago, Kym said there was no written agreement - just a nod and a handshake to form the agreement.
"There is a lot of trust," he said.
In 2017, Kym and his brother Jake took on the main operation of the farm and increased the leasing of land.
But the drought had just begun and many wondered what the brothers were thinking.
"We were taking a bit of a risk at the time given the drought lasted for three years but we needed to diversify the farm," Kym said.
They lease 930ha and have 600ha on the family farm, as well as 1415ha bush country within the district, east of their farm.
"We used to sow the bush every year but since 2018, we have not had a crop because of the drought, so we are using it for sheep," Kym said.
"We are still trying to get back on our feet."
Drought was one of many things in the back of Kym's mind in recent years, as was succession planning.
Despite Gordon still doing a lot of the sheep work, Malcolm had multiple surgeries and the time to look at forward planning was looming.
So Jake returned to the farm while their other siblings, Matthew and Joshua, decided farm life was not for them.
Jake had worked for Australian Grain Technologies at Roseworthy for more than a decade as a field technician.
"We do cropping and sheep together and the farm is setup so we can go our own way in the future when the next generation is ready to work on the farm," he said.
Jake has also spearheaded export hay production in the past three years, with a hope to increase it in the future.
"The neighbours were involved in it because we are in a frost prone area - more often than not, it is the most profitable crop," he said.
"We thought we would give it a crack to see if it could help diversify the farm."
Bit by bit, the brothers are investing into hay production machinery and will look to expand in the near future.
"It is going OK, it is a good hay growing area," Jake said.
"We will increase hay production over time, we are just trying to keep our finger in the pie with it."
Vanessa Binks
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
