Connecting Darling Downs lamb producer to consumers

A new e-commerce platform has been launched to connect Victoria Hill Lamb producers straight to customers, following a long held dream of the owners.

The Allora graziers Stephen and Claire Schmidt from Victoria Hill Lamb have launched a new website that showcases their passion for the land, their core principles of animal welfare and the value happy sheep.

The Schmidt family are a fifth-generation farming family, passionate about producing flavoursome and nutritious lamb of the highest quality and one of their most valued principles is how they treat their animals.

Ms Schmidt, Director of Victoria Hill Lamb, said, “we are wanting to market and sell our own product directly customers, we’re passionate about our animals and ensuring they're ethically raised.”

“If there’s one thing we've learnt, it is the value of happy sheep.”

“Our sheep are fed a customised high quality mix of barley, corn and molasses under the supervision of an experienced sheep nutritionist and all components of the mix are sourced locally, which directly supports Darling Downs farmers,” said Ms Schmidt.

Knowing they needed help to get their message out Victoria Hill Lamb participated in Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise’s (TSBE) E-Ag program, run in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and facilitated by the local team from e-commerce specialist agency Swanky.

The husband and wife team have applied the knowledge gained from the E-Ag workshops to develop their domestic brand presence and showcase their passion for delivering great food to customers.

“The E-Ag program gave us the fundamentals and confidence to move forward with connecting to our customers through e-commerce, it was the launchpad for us to begin our dream of supplying the Victoria Hill Lamb box direct to consumers from all over the state,” said Ms Schmidt.

“Our new website is allowing us to reconnect people with their food by sharing our provenance and showcasing our multi-generational story.”

“The adoption of e-commerce across Ag industries is relatively new, so we hope our customers can share in our story of paddock to plate where animal welfare is our highest priority,” said Mrs Schmidt.

Managing Director of Swanky, Sean Clanchy said that his team were proud and excited to be a part of Victoria Hill Lamb’s ecommerce journey.

“Often people shy away from what they don’t understand, but in Stephen and Claire’s case, they knew what they wanted to achieve and were super eager to learn,” said Mr Clanchy.

“I think it’s fair to say we’re all excited for their future.”

TSBE’s Export Manager for Food and Agribusiness, Justin Heaven said the launch of Victoria Hill Lamb’s new website is an exciting step for Victoria Hill.

“TSBE is passionate about helping regional Queensland agri-food companies like Victoria Hill Lamb develop their story and connect with consumers,” said Mr Heaven.

“This program is one way of enabling producers to create a true paddock to plate experience for consumers and capitalise on the growing ecommerce trend for fresh food.”

Victoria Hill Lamb offer an eight-kilogram lamb box with free delivery to the Darling Downs, Toowoomba, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and NSW/QLD border area.

For more information, please visit https://victoriahilllamb.com.au/