When they feel so inclined, the cattle and pigs of David and Kim Trevor-Jones lift their eyes from their verdant pastures to take in the broad sweep of loveliness that is Byron-from-a-distance.
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.
