About the Collaboration
OBE Organic began in the nineties as the first and only premium meat exporter that was 100% dedicated to the production of organic beef in Australia.
Formed by a group of far-sighted pastoral families, we had a vision to support farmers/producers who operate in the pure heart of Australia, while supplying the world’s best organic beef to restaurants & retailers around the world.
Sharon Betts is an OBE Organic Director who lives on certified organic cattle station ‘Epsilon'(200,000 hectares), in the South-West Corner of Queensland, with her husband Graham.
Sharon has selected a series of photos to share with us. They show what happens on an organic cattle station, from dawn to dusk.
About Sharon Betts
Sharon has been involved with OBE Organic “since the beginning”, which means she and her husband Graham have officially been in the organic business since the late 1990s!
They run an organic Hereford/Angus cattle herd.
Sharon and Graham also own Merty Merty Station and have recently offered Mungerannie Station and Mulka Station to the market.
Sharon was appointed to the Board of OBE Organic in October 2016.
Graham’s father settled Epsilon as a bare block in 1955. Back then, there were no buildings, fences, watering points – nothing.
Sharon grew up on the neighbouring propety, Bollards Lagoon.
The properties out where Sharon and Graham live are so large, they have always been virtually organic, because they’ve never used chemicals or fertilisers.
Before OBE Organic was founded there was no way to sell cattle as organic – there was no buyer of organic cattle, it just didn’t exist as an option.
Sharon’s experience through the ups and downs of the past 25 years is OBE Organic’s number one focus has always been to look after producers as best as they can.
Sharon and Graham are proud to be able to produce and supply to the world, a product that is free of any chemicals.
Now-a-days many people are concerned with how their health may be affected by what they eat so being able to supply an organic certified product is very important to them.
Sharon and Graham have four children. Their eldest son Luke died tragically in an aircraft accident in 2013. Their daughter Jaymee lives on a farm on the Yorke Peninsula.
Their daughter Carly lives on a station near White Cliffs in NSW and their son Clayton lives on Epsilon Station.
Sharon Betts, an OBE Organic Director since 2016, and her husband Graham run Epsilon Station, a 200,000-hectare certified organic cattle property in southwest Queensland. Involved with OBE Organic since the late 1990s, Sharon shares photos that capture life on an organic cattle station from dawn to dusk.
When cattle were found far from infrastructure, Graham Betts improvised by using portable panels to create a yard and borrowing an excavator from neighbours at Lindon Station to dig a loading pit. With two Mack trucks and second-hand crates, the Betts family successfully moved 50–60 heads in one day.
Luke’s Dam on Epsilon Station was built in 1980, the year Sharon and Graham’s son Luke was born. This photo shows the dam full, before drought conditions required major desilting.
Cleaning Luke’s Dam took about 12 months during 2019, with two loaders working much of the time. As the silt was dug out, the damp centre had to be left to dry before work could continue.
The desilting of Luke’s Dam revealed just how slowly the process had to unfold. The team worked in stages, letting the base dry before resuming excavation, gradually restoring the dam’s capacity during drought.
As work continued to desilt Luke’s Dam during drought, Sharon and Graham’s daughter Jaymee and her family visited to see the progress being made.
This final image in the series shows Luke’s Dam mid-restoration, with Jaymee and her family on-site to witness the effort to return it to full capacity.
Taken around 2020, this photo shows Clayton Brook with his son Boh and Luke and Nina’s son Toby cleaning a water trough on Epsilon. The troughs are scrubbed about once a week to keep water fresh for cattle.
At Mulka Station, troughs were loaded onto a trailer and moved beside a tank to improve cattle access to water.
When the Betts family purchased Mulka, there was no boundary fence with Etadunna Station, so a new one had to be built. This photo shows Chris Day and Graham Betts pegging the line with help from a Polaris buggy, one of three used across their properties.
To establish a boundary fence between Mulka and Etadunna, Cade Ryan sighted the line with a rifle scope on timber while Graham Betts and Chris Day pegged the route. Photo credit: Maria Days.
Once the boundary line was set, a dozer was used to clear the fence line at Mulka Station.