Every morning at a paddock out past Albion Park, a herd of about three dozen cattle make their way up to a shed at the back of the farm.
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They are there after one thing - leftover bread - and every second day they get it, to their delight.
The bread comes from BreadRocks Shellharbour and owner Glen Willott said it was a win-win.
"It saves us with landfill, we would dispose of the bread in commercial garbage bins that end up in landfill and perish quite easily, but we're also saving the farmers some money in feed costs,' Mr Willott said.
Mr Willott has owned and operated a number of bakeries in his career and said he's always tried to link up with farmers to dispose of bread that doesn't get sold. While there are options of donating leftovers to charities and other not-for-profits, the consistency of delivering to farmers makes the match work. It also avoids additional requirements around packaging.
"We've always had farmers pick up every day of the week, barring Christmas Day, Boxing Day and some public holidays," he said.
Every year, according to Stop Food Waste, 319,400 tonnes of good quality food is wasted in the Australian bread and bakery value chain, from grains in primary production, to materials in bakeries, unsold products and uneaten bread. The total is equivalent to 456 million loaves of bread.
Back at the farm, the bread is a treat for the beef cattle, which includes Speckle Park, Angus and Murray Grey cows and about 14 calves. The bread includes loaves, rolls and focaccia-like flat breads that are white, wholemeal, sourdough and filled with grains - the cows aren't too picky. But, anything with meat in it goes to the chooks, and by all accounts, the bovine favourite are scones - just hold the jam and cream.
A rotating roster of farmers pick up the bread after a day's trade at Shellharbour, but the connection between the farmers, who pick up the bread themselves, and the bakery was something that was down to a fine balance.
"We have it seven days a week, which is quite unique, and it needs to be worth the farmers' while as well," Mr Willott said. "In one respect, my aim is to have the least amount of bread possible at the end of the day that goes to waste, and the farmers want to have as much as they can to make the journey worthwhile."
The cows are fed bread by hand and will follow a tractor around as bread drops from the bucket of a tractor. After they've had their fill, the cows become placid and amenable, carb-loading is a thing for animals as much as humans, and head back to their regular parts of the paddock. Later the birds will clear up the crumbs, before foxes clean up the rest at night, just as the next day's loaves rise and go into the oven.
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