A Perfect Day At The Office

A WONDERFUL welcome awaits farmer Mark Killen every afternoon when he collects the eggs at Papanui, his 900ha property near Merriwa in the Upper Hunter Valley.

Mark Killen with his chickens and chook buses at his farm in the

Upper Hunter Valley in NSW.

Picture: James Croucher Source: News Limited

First, he takes the short drive from his homestead to a large grassy paddock. Here, against a backdrop of big Australian sky, sit two 1980s-vintage country school buses. Beside them, seemingly alone, lie two large, white, lupine-looking dogs, basking in the fleeting sun.
Suddenly, alerted by the ute's arrival, a groundswell of movement begins to whirr and the area becomes as busy as a Turkish village on market day. Running from the surrounding grasses, and pushing two by the dozen down the ramps from the buses, come hundreds of noisy, cackling Isa Brown chickens. The friendly birds flap, peck and cluck raucously about the ute, many perching on the bonnet before Killen has turned off the ignition.

Read the inspiring story of farmer Mark Killen and his sustainable property with chooks and cattle in this weekend's Australian ...