Best Days Ever · Australian Farming

Stockyard Hill · Victoria · Australia · Since 1861

BEST DAYS EVER: LIFE OF AN
AUSTRALIAN FARMER'S WIFE.

And the farmer's husband. And the farm. A portrait of partnership on the volcanic plains of western Victoria.

Filed by Gerald Shaffer · Just Gerald Magazine

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A Story Worth Telling
"My sister Deb was named Australia's Rural Woman of the Year in the early 2000s. I was in Canada. She was running a sheep station in Victoria. The award was real. The reasons for it were real. And the story behind it deserves to be told."

Deb had founded the Farm Day movement — a national initiative to bring city Australians onto working farms and show them where their food actually came from. She had done radio spots. She had built bridges between the paddock and the pavement. She had done all of this while running a 1,500-hectare Merino sheep station in western Victoria with her husband David, raising a family, and managing the kind of daily complexity that most people never see because it happens quietly, before dawn, in places with names like Stockyard Hill. She is my sister. I am proud of her.

This is a Best Day Ever story. Not because of a single day. But because of what a life on the land actually looks like when it is lived well — and what it means when two people build something together and do not stop building.

Gerald and Deb — a brother and sister who share the same appetite for adventure.

The Volcanic Plains of Stockyard Hill

The Land

St Enochs sits on the rolling volcanic plains of Stockyard Hill, 65 kilometres west of Ballarat in central Victoria. The Bain family has farmed this land since 1861 — when the Eureka Stockade was still fresh in people's minds. Five generations. One hundred and sixty-five years of continuous connection to the same piece of country.

The landscape is distinctive. Volcanic basalt rises break the horizon. The soil is ancient and fertile where it is deep, stony and demanding where it is not. The native temperate grasslands — now representing less than one percent of their original extent in Australia — still survive in patches on the rocky ridges, hosting plant species found almost nowhere else.

It is not a soft landscape. It does not forgive inattention. But it rewards those who understand it, and the Bains have had a hundred and sixty-five years to learn.

"The best days on a farm are not the easy ones. They are the ones where everything works — the land, the animals, the people, and the partnership that holds it all together."

— Gerald Shaffer

Life beyond the paddock. Deb at a celebration.

15,000 Merinos and the Art of Fine Wool

The Wool

St Enochs runs approximately 15,000 sheep — a number that sounds large until you understand that in the context of Australian agriculture, this is considered a small farm. The Merinos cut an average 18.5-micron fleece — fine enough to be used in luxury garments, soft enough to sit against skin.

The wool is sold at auction in Melbourne. Most of it travels to China for washing, then on to Italy for manufacture into suits, knitwear, and the kind of clothing that costs more than a return flight to Australia. The Bains have been pushing to direct more of their clip toward European buyers — quality-focused markets that, they believe, are better matched to the standard of what St Enochs produces.

Shearing takes four weeks. Five shearers work at a time, standing on a ramp, taking one sheep after another through a rhythm that has not changed in its essentials for a century. The wool comes off in a single piece, is carried to the classing table, and is sorted by strength, quality, and crimp — the tighter the crimp, the better the grade.

The farm does not practise mulesing. Animal welfare is taken seriously — not as a marketing position, but as a matter of how the Bains believe animals should be treated. St Enochs holds Responsible Wool Standard certification and is an accredited Bee-Friendly Farm.

A Symbiotic Relationship

The Partnership

There is a version of this story that would make Deb the hero and David the supporting character. There is another version that would reverse that. Both versions would be wrong.

What David and Deb Bain have built at St Enochs is a partnership in the most complete sense of the word. David manages the paddocks, the livestock, the grazing rotations, the infrastructure. He enrolled in Grazing for Profit, EverGraze, and Lifetime Ewe programs to improve how the land was used. He fenced paddocks down into manageable sizes, installed water points fed by a reliable spring-fed dam, matched stocking rates to carrying capacity.

Deb manages the finances, the community, the communication, and — for a period that earned her national recognition — the relationship between farming and the wider Australian public. She founded Farm Day. She did radio spots that explained to city listeners what actually happens on a sheep station. In 2007, she was named Australia's Rural Woman of the Year.

"It's a symbiotic relationship. He's very familiar with what's happening out in the paddock and the livestock and market conditions. I'm probably more in touch with the finances of the business."

On a farm like St Enochs, the roles are not fixed. They are fluid. When lambing happens in July and August, everyone is involved. When shearing runs for four weeks, everyone is on deck. When a dry year cuts the rainfall to 403 millimetres and the feed starts to thin out, the decisions are made together, at the kitchen table, with the numbers in front of both of them.

Their daughter Katherine now works on the farm alongside her partner Ben. A fifth generation of Bains learning the same volcanic country, the same Merino bloodlines, the same rhythms of shearing and lambing and selling at the Melbourne wool sales. The farm is not just a business. It is a living thing that the family tends.

The Bridge Between the Paddock and the Pavement

Farm Day

In the early 2000s, Deb Bain did something that required a particular kind of courage: she decided that the gap between city Australians and the farms that fed them was a problem worth solving, and she set about solving it.

Farm Day was the result — a national initiative that opened working farms to the public, brought schoolchildren and city families onto properties like St Enochs, and gave people who had never seen a sheep shorn or a lamb born a direct experience of where their food and fibre came from. It was education, but it was also advocacy. It was a way of saying: this work is real, it matters, and you should understand it.

The radio spots followed. Deb spoke to city audiences about rural life with the authority of someone who lived it and the communication skills of someone who understood how to make it land. The award followed the radio spots. The recognition followed the award.

But the work continued regardless of the recognition. Farm Day did not stop because Deb won an award. The farm did not stop. The sheep did not stop. The seasons did not stop. The award was a moment; the work was a life.

What a Best Day Looks Like at St Enochs

The Best Day

5:30 AM

The light is not yet up but the sky is beginning to separate from the land. You are outside before you mean to be, because the cold woke you and the cold is worth being awake for. The volcanic rises are dark shapes against a pale horizon. There are 15,000 sheep somewhere in those paddocks, and they are already moving.

7:00 AM

Breakfast at the homestead. Deb's garden — the flamboyant flower garden they call the Covid garden, planted during lockdown and now a proper feature of the property — is visible from the kitchen window. Tea. Toast. The day's plan discussed without ceremony, because on a farm the plan is always subject to revision.

8:30 AM

Out to the paddocks with David. The Merino wethers are on the heavy, clay, tussocky country to the north — native grass, low stocking rates, looking after themselves. The crossbred flock is on the rotation paddocks, eight of them, 10 to 20 hectares each, moving through a rhythm designed to keep feed in front of them at all times.

11:00 AM

The wool shed, if it is shearing season. Five shearers on the ramp. The smell of lanolin and sweat and something ancient. The wool coming off in a single piece, carried to the classing table, sorted by hands that know exactly what they are looking for. The crimp. The staple length. The micron count. The difference between 18 microns and 22 microns is the difference between a luxury suit and a work jacket.

3:00 PM

The afternoon light on the volcanic rises. This is the light that makes photographers stop their cars on the road to Beaufort. The dry grass is gold. The basalt outcrops are dark red-brown. The sky is the particular blue of a Victorian autumn afternoon. The sheep are moving toward the water points.

Dusk

The day is not over, but the worst of the work is. You sit on the verandah with a glass of something and watch the light go. Deb is on the phone — she is always on the phone, because the community work does not stop when the farm work stops. David is checking the forecast. Katherine is somewhere in the paddocks, doing what the fifth generation does.

This is not a holiday. It is a life. And it is, in every sense that matters, a Best Day Ever.

Gerald's Verdict

St Enochs — The Scorecard

The LandExceptional

Volcanic basalt plains, rare native temperate grassland, and a landscape that has been farmed by the same family since 1861.

The WoolWorld Class

18.5-micron fine Merino fleece, RWS-certified, sold at Melbourne auction and destined for Italian luxury manufacture.

The PartnershipThe Point

David and Deb Bain have built something together that neither could have built alone. That is the whole story.

The Legacy165 Years

Five generations of Bains on the same volcanic country. The sixth is already working the paddocks.

The Award2007

Deb Bain — Australian Rural Woman of the Year. For Farm Day, for the radio spots, for building the bridge between paddock and pavement.

The Best DayAny Day

On a farm like St Enochs, the best days are not the easy ones. They are the ones where everything works — the land, the animals, the people.

Gerald's Closing Note

The award Deb won in 2007 was called the Rural Woman of the Year. The name is accurate but incomplete. What it was really recognising was a woman who understood that farming is not just about what happens in the paddock — it is about what happens in the conversation between the paddock and the rest of the world.

David and Deb Bain have been farming St Enochs together for decades. They have raised a family on this land. They have weathered dry years and good years and the particular uncertainty of an industry that depends on rainfall, wool prices, and the appetite of Italian fashion houses for 18.5-micron fleece. They have done all of this as partners — not in the sense of a legal arrangement, but in the sense of two people who have decided to build something together and have not stopped building.

The award existed because the work deserved recognition. And St Enochs exists — out there on the volcanic plains of Stockyard Hill, 65 kilometres west of Ballarat, where the Bain family has been farming since 1861 and the Merinos are still cutting 18.5-micron fleece and the light on the rises in the late afternoon is still the colour of old gold.

Some places earn their reputation. St Enochs is one of them.

Practical Information

Getting There

By car: Stockyard Hill is approximately 130km west of Melbourne via the Western Freeway (M8), then the Midland Highway through Ballarat. Allow 1h 45min from the CBD.

By train: V/Line operates services from Melbourne Southern Cross to Ballarat (1h 20min). From Ballarat, hire a car — there is no public transport to Stockyard Hill.

Nearest town: Beaufort (population ~1,400), 15km south of Stockyard Hill.

Best Time to Visit

Spring (Sep–Nov): Lambing season, green paddocks, wildflowers on the volcanic rises. The farm is at its most alive.

Autumn (Mar–May): Shearing preparation, golden light, cooler temperatures. The light on the rises in the late afternoon is extraordinary.

Avoid midsummer (Jan–Feb): The volcanic rises dry out quickly and temperatures can be extreme.

Farm Day

Farm Day events are held annually across Australia, opening working farms to the public. Check farmday.com.au for dates and participating properties.

St Enochs has participated in Farm Day events — contact through the farm's social channels for current information.

Stay

Beaufort has accommodation including the Beaufort Hotel and several B&Bs. Ballarat offers a full range of accommodation from 30 minutes away.

For a proper Victorian goldfields experience, stay in Ballarat and day-trip to Stockyard Hill.

St Enochs — Key Facts

PropertySt Enochs
LocationStockyard Hill, Victoria — 65km west of Ballarat
Family historyBain family farming since 1861 — five generations
Size~1,500 hectares
Sheep~15,000 (Merino + crossbred)
WoolFine Merino, avg 18.5 microns
CertificationResponsible Wool Standard (RWS) · Bee-Friendly Farm
MarketsMelbourne wool auctions → China (washing) → Italy (manufacture)
AwardDeb Bain — Australian Rural Woman of the Year 2007
Farm DayFounded by Deb Bain — national city-country connection initiative

Just Gerald Magazine

Best Days Ever · Australia

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