Portland Raspberries showcases its flora and fauna business

Eccentric emus, six beef cattle, a dozen chickens, guinea pigs and five beehives, plus a pig called Boaris. Is this Australia’s most eclectic farm?

Plenty of us are peckish when it comes to a punnet of raspberries, but Craig Woods says his mob of emus pick them straight from the source.

The owners of the eclectic Portland Raspberries farm at Gorae in southwest Victoria take a multifaceted floral and faunal approach to farming.

Working alongside wife Melissa, the Woods have four emus, six beef cattle, a pig called Boaris, a dozen chickens, guinea pigs and five beehives making for a buzzing enterprise.

But Craig says the main aim of the business is the sweet harvest of summer fruit, which is just starting to come into season.

“Raspberries aren’t enough to make a full-time living, but if you’ve got a range of interests, it keeps things ticking along. We’re all about biodiversity,” he says.

Portland Raspberries owners Craig and Melissa Woods with dog Patch and emu chick Eddie. Photo: Nicole Cleary

A former fitter and turner, Craig started their chemical-free raspberry farm nearly a decade ago.

While the emus are popular with tourists, they’re not just strutting around the farm for Kodak and Instagram moments.

“When we had a plague of locusts come through a few years back, the emus were bloody amazing. They can eat about their body weight in crickets and grasshoppers in a day,” Craig says. “The emus aren’t just there for decoration, although Einstein the emu chick is very popular!”