Victoria Cosford
David Trevor-Jones must have one of the most panoramic offices in the region. On a ridge overlooking Byron Bay – that particular sweep of loveliness which takes in breathtakingly blue ocean, Julian Rocks, lighthouse, distant mountains, verdant pastures – is the home of the Hayter’s Hill farm and butchery, and five generations of cattle and pigs that are regularly rotated, free-ranging, around the paddocks.
The final result ends up at the farmers’ market, as it has for as long as the markets have been running. Beef, pork, ham, bacon, schnitzels, sausages: ‘they’re all popular’, says David. If you’re going to eat meat then surely you’d prefer its provenance to be a stress-free environment, no hormones added, no chemicals or colouring, farmed sustainably, both beast and land treated with as much respect as is possible – and that’s where Hayter’s Hill Farm excels.
It’s also a business for which the farmers’ markets have never been anything less than ‘fantastic’ – David’s word. ‘As a small business’, he says, ‘we’ve never had to do any promotion or social media – the markets do all that for us. I’ve got a lot of gratitude for them.’
When discussing their most popular product I’d half expected David to say the sausages – whenever I pass the stall they’re the thing that jump out at me, or maybe it’s just my affection for snags. Mexican, French, German, South African, Kranskies, Chipolatas, Italian – the latter used by the Byron Bay Pizza Company in their fabulous pizzas – as well as the Aussies (‘always popular’, David says). A secret to the flavouring? Lychee-wood-smoked, the lychees from the farm, traditionally used to smoke Peking Duck, imbuing the meat with a sweet and mild flavour. ‘It’s unique’, says David.
Hayter’s Hill Butchery is at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7–11am.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
