Long Neck Farm claims Warwick Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award a month after opening

Opening freely to the public in October, Warwick’s Long Neck Farm has not only won hearts, but has claimed a big award at the 2023 Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. See what the unique family farm has to offer here.

Situated in the breathtaking Goomburra Valley, a mere 45km north of Warwick in South East Queensland, you’ll find a unique blend of farm animals for all ages to enjoy.

Long Neck Farm has kept Corie and Tanya Ross more than occupied for the past seven years, with the pair officially opening their family farm to the public in October.

Taking not even a month to win the hearts of the Warwick and wider community, the couple received the People’s Choice award at the Chamber of Commerce Business Awards on Saturday.

Long Neck Farm’s co-owner and operator, Mrs Ross said their family were incredibly thrilled to have been nominated and win this year’s People’s Choice award.

“It was overwhelmingly a big surprise for us completely,” she said.

Long Neck Farm's Corie and Tanya Ross received the People's Choice award at the Warwick Chamber of Commerce Business Awards on Saturday, November 4, 2023. Photo: Long Neck Farm

Mrs Ross said the farm has slowly built a following via their Facebook page after announcing almost 12 months ago they would be opening up to the general public.

“We’ve had our Facebook page operational for about probably close to 12 months, so that people have been able to follow the journey of us opening, and getting to where we are now,” she said.

“(And) we’ve sort of built up a little following I guess, over that time, which has been lovely and the support from the locals, and the community has just been absolutely amazing.”

The Ross family has always been big lovers of animals and often had passers by stopping in at their previous property asking to see the alpacas and other animals up close, which was one the driving forces behind their decision to open publicly.

“They’re such a unique animal, it’s just a big passion of mine to be sharing them with other people and we have five children as well, so kids are also another passion,” she said.

“Combining kids and alpacas together is just amazing, that’s what sort of driven me to get families to share that hands on experience, which a lot of families don’t get the opportunity to.”

Having a large family of their own was one of the reasons why the Ross family made the heartfelt decision to offer free entry to the public, creating a space where families and individuals can come and relax, enjoying their interaction with the animals.

Star attractions at Long Neck Farm include Alpacas as well as an assortment of unique farm animals. Photo: Long Neck Farm

Putting the 'long' in Long Neck Farm is Ostrich, Mufasa. Photo: Long Neck Farm

“We have five kids and we know what it’s like to just do a little day outing, by the time you pay entry fees and all that sort of rubbish, it just sort of gets away from you,” she said.

The alpacas might be the main feature at Long Neck Farm, but if you look a little closer you’ll also find an assortment of animals ranging from ostriches, miniature ponies to goats, as well as some wandering peacocks, native birds and more.

Animals aside, the farms hosts a cafe which Mrs Ross said was an existing part of the property when purchased, comprising of an 145-year-old repurposed school building.

“Attached to that is our little farm gift store, which some of the products are made by myself, such as we have little alpaca soaps and other alpaca themed, and ostrich themed items,” she said.

The gift shop also supports an array of local small business within the Southern Downs community.

Mrs Ross said the weekends tend to be the busiest time for the farm, seeing hundreds of visitors traversing the grounds and feeding the animals, recently seeing their eldest visitor of 100-years-old.

“On the weekends we are running flat strap, we don’t stop and we have the two campgrounds across the road, and next door, so we get visitors from there, but we also get visitors from Warwick, Toowoomba and people travelling from Brisbane,” she said.

With Christmas only a stone throw away, Long Neck Farm will have some unique opportunities for visitors to take festive themed photos with the alpacas and much more.