What do a real estate agent and a journalist know about duck farming?

Back in 2009, the answer for Jodi and Greg Clarke was absolutely nothing.

Both from Melbourne, they had never used a shovel or driven a tractor let alone raised a commercial flock of ducks.

Jodi knew all about selling houses in either Melbourne or the swish suburb of Notting Hill in London, and Greg was a well-established journalist specialising in travel and freelance profiles.

But nothing lasts forever.

About 25 years ago, they purchased a 16ha farm near Port Campbell in south-west Victoria, originally with retirement in mind. After living in London for a few years, they decided to return to Australia but didn’t want to raise their young children in a big city, so they moved to the farm.

They both tried to continue their careers, but selling houses in Colac didn’t have the same appeal as selling in London, and while Greg continued some long-distance freelance writing, they wanted to do something with their productive land.

A brief foray into beef didn’t work out and, after discussing several ideas, ducks came to the fore.

“Because we didn’t have any farming background, we wanted something small that we could handle without big tractors and farm machinery,” Jodi said.

“We had some beef cows but the market was up and down. We had just come from England and decided that ducks were a good staple English diet, so we found 30 ducks from the other side of Melbourne and brought them back and started from there, not knowing a single thing about duck farming.”

And so Great Ocean Ducks, or GOD for short, was born.

Jodi and Greg were educated through trial and error — mostly the latter in early years — but Greg’s connections came in handy. He had written profiles on chefs in Melbourne and built a relationship with Andrew McConnell, owner of Cutler and Co and Cumulus. They told him their idea and he offered to take every duck they could provide.

The first ducks arrived in 2009 and Jodi and Greg set about learning the tricks of the trade and establishing a market.

“We started selling into Andrew’s restaurants in Melbourne and it all evolved from there,” Jodi said.

“There were no real free-range duck farmers at that stage and word caught on.”

Pretty soon they were selling to multiple chefs in Melbourne and had a wait-list for ducks. Today, sales have spread to select restaurants around regional Victoria and into Adelaide.

“A learning curve for us when we had beef cows was that we had no control over how much we got for them,” Jodi said.

“We set the price for the ducks to make sure we had profit and everybody got a bit. We wanted to set the agenda, have control over the product and the price.”

The ducks are housed on less than a quarter of the 16 hectares, with the rest of the land used to grow hay for a cozy mattress when the ducks return to their pens at night.

“We turn it over as they foul it and then it gets re-spread on the paddocks,” Jodi said.

“It’s great for growing grass.”

Most farmers kill their ducks at six weeks, but Jodi and Greg felt that was too small and decided to keep them to 14 weeks. As the only fully free-range duck farmers in Victoria, they wanted a point of difference to factory farmers.

“We have a very good high-end product and we’re very proud of what we produce,” Jodi said.

“We feel it’s the best duck you can get.”

Part of that stems from how they are treated on the farm.

“They’re looked after properly,” Jodi said.

“They’re living the longest life an animal for production can live and we make sure they are always happy and clean.”

The ducks eat a specially-made nutritional blend of grain and whole wheat, including chopped-up apples.

Jodi and Greg started with Aylesbury and Pekin breeds and at their peak were selling 350 a week, before a series of setbacks this decade reduced that to about 150.

“First COVID hit, then we were shut down in 2024 because our egg supplier had bird flu and this year it has been drought,” Jodi said.

Today they have 2000 to 3000 ducks and concentrate on Pekin, which accounts for about 70 per cent of demand.

“After very smooth sailing, there have been some severe knocks on our business over the past few years, but we have to pivot and diversify,” Jodi said.

“We established a seller cottage and went on the local Foodie Trail selling duck salami, smoked breast and pate made for us by butchers locally and in Melbourne.

“We’ve stuck to farming but we’ve constantly tried to evolve and diversify the business to keep it interesting and smallgoods are a way to extend the shelf life of the duck and give people another way to try it.”

While the Clarkes have not been impacted as badly as their neighbouring dairy farmers, the drought has been tough.

“The climate here is usually perfect — never too hot or too wet — but this year is bad because of the drought,” Jodi said.

“We had to buy water every week for the ducks until June.”

Along the journey, Jodi and Greg have learnt that farming is far more challenging than most people think.

“Farming is way more complex and intense than I ever expected,” Jodi said.

“We get lots of tours, including school groups, and I tell them you need to finish school and be educated to be a farmer.

“Farming is not an easy option. It’s not just about enjoying the land, you’ve got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to be clever.”

When the couple eats out, duck is usually on the menu.

“Part of the marketing of the business is that people very rarely cook duck at home,” Jodi said.

“Our ducks are more expensive, so the chefs are passionate about doing something special with them. We always choose to eat it at a restaurant because the chefs know what they’re doing.”

They have also produced a book, Just Duck, featuring recipes from their favourite chefs and available from www.greatoceanducks.com

“We love to eat duck,” Jodi said.

““You can have it medium rare, get the skin crispy, and it has the gamey taste of poultry and the effect of pork and red meat.”

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Sunday, 12th February 2023

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