Rolling in Turf: The Thomsons at Ceres Downs Station

Dan Thomson is used to neighbours hanging over the fence to check out his latest experiment. He has already branched into sorghum for silage (cattle feed), and uses rotational cropping as the basis for paddock management.

But no one expected the cattle grazer and cropping farmer to produce the district's biggest lawn.

Dan and his wife Sarah began their turf farm a year ago on Ceres Downs, the Douglas Daly property bought in partnership with Sarah's Darwin family in October 2004.

Just like the boom in fast foods, turf farms provide instant lawns for busy suburbanites. People want grass to go, instant lawns you can roll out like a carpet, not the type you have to plant, weed, and protect with 'do not walk on the grass' signs.

These discerning turf buyers are looking for quality and "something soft for the kids to play on," says Sarah.

So the Thomsons invested in the popular Sir Walter grass. After watching the runners spread and fill in for a year, they are calling in neighbours to help harvest their first rolls of turf for the emerging Darwin market.

The grass is a best seller interstate because it is soft and spongy, self-repairs quickly, uses less water, is salt tolerant, drought resistant, shadow tolerant and low maintenance.

The turf farm reflects a drive by the Thomsons to diversify production on Ceres Downs, formerly an export depot for cattle.

People on the land are subject to the vagaries of export markets and commodity prices, says Dan. So it pays to diversify and spread your risk.

"We came to the place wanting to implement modern conservation farming practices and improve the property," he says.

Dan was born in Toowoomba, the son of a local chemist. He has an Associate Diploma in Applied Science in Farm Management, worked for RM Williams as a ringer, then managed his uncle's farm in Walgett, New South Wales, where Darwin-born Sarah was working as a teacher. They married and moved to Goondiwindi, where they brought a property.

The "allure of the Territory" beckoned them back to the Douglas Daly in 2004.


"It rains here every year. You can grow crops easily. So there's an opportunity to farm and graze country in a sustainable way because you don't have the serious issues of drought, which are the causes of land management problems and degradation elsewhere," Dan says.

"When things are tough, the first thing that goes out the window is good land management practices," he says.

The Thomsons have been struck by the community spirit and progressiveness of the Douglas Daly farmers.

"The people are the best thing in the district," says Sarah. "In the first week I was here, there was a fire that was quite frightening. Dan was working and unable to be contacted when I saw it. I rang the research farm and within no time at all the whole district was here with the bushfire brigade.

Equally, when the Douglas Daly tourist park flooded at Easter, Dan was one of the first neighbours in to help the salvage operation.

They might roll turf, but the Thomsons have little time to watch grass grow.

In between farming, raising three lively children, and building a new house on Ceres Downs, Sarah is a tireless community worker. She and other district women raised $8000 for playground equipment at the nearby Fleming community hall so their children could meet for a weekly play group.

She is now fund-raising for first aid equipment and shade for the play ground and has taken on an area supervisor position with the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the forthcoming Census.