'There is always light at the end of the tunnel you just have to find it.'

Lois Umback is passionate about rabbits and in 2004 she established a meat rabbit farm at her Bibbenluke property just north of Bombala in the southern Monaro region. She and her husband Warren have 12 acres so they needed to think creatively about what could be sustainable and profitable on such a small holding. Together they developed the enterprise in a 20 metre shed which housed 35 breeding does and nine working bucks. Due to the closure of their closest processing plant in Bredbo in 2009, Lois and Warren are now looking for a larger property to build their own processing plant. Lois strives to be environmentally responsible by using the waste products mixed with old sawdust to topdress and enrich paddocks. She also bales native grasses that grow on their land for nesting materials in the sheds. Rabbit meat farming is an emerging industry where currently supply is not meeting demand.

What gave you the motivation/inspiration to follow your dream?

We had been looking for ideas on how to run an agricultural enterprise on our small farm. One day we saw a television story on ABC’s Landline about CSIRO doing research for the rabbit industry. It sparked my interest — perhaps this type of enterprise could be environmentally and economically viable for our farm. And it was something I could primarily manage myself, as my husband works off-farm. I spent two years doing research, starting with downloading papers from the internet and attending expos and field days. It is a continual information-gathering process and I am still learning every day. Getting trained in how to do the processing will be our next challenge once we find the right property.

At what point did you realise that your dream was actually possible and what was it that made you think you could really do it?

I think this tipping point came when the processor called wanting more of our rabbits. The gestation period for rabbits is 28–31 days. The young rabbits are weaned at one month and grown out until they are three months old, when we first started sending them live to the processing plant at Bredbo, I felt confident about expanding to meet the growing demand. Now the plant has closed we have had to rethink our strategy yet again. It is a continual learning curve.

When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up?

I can’t remember, and nothing really stands out.
How did your childhood influence you in later life?
I spent my childhood in Bombala and completed all my schooling there. Both sets of grandparents also had properties or worked as station managers so I was involved in farming throughout my childhood and spent most school holidays on farms. When I reflect on how my grandparents managed their farms, I realise that a lot of their ideas make more sense to me now. After high school I spent a couple of years working on a Hereford cattle stud. I had studied agriculture at school but never had any intentions of having a huge farm. We lived in Eden for seven years after Warren and I were married, then returned to Bibbenluke for Warren’s work and raised our family here. We have three young adult children.

Who are your role models?

My farming grandmother continues to have an influence on me today. I remember spending the holidays with her and pottering around the farm and experiencing their simple way of living. I often think that if Nan could do it with very little technology then so can I, and I try to think of simpler ways of tackling challenges.

What does success mean to you?

Now that we are gaining industry recognition I am feeling a sense of success, as we are doing things differently from a lot of the other rabbit enterprises. This positive feedback reinforces the fact that we are on the right track, and to date none of our rabbit carcases has been rejected for any reason. I also felt very rewarded when the processing plant used to call for more rabbits to be sent, and told me our rabbits were some of the best.

What has been one of the biggest barriers you have had to face, what happened, and how did you overcome it?

One of the biggest barriers has been accessing information. Because it is such a new industry, other producers weren’t very keen to divulge any of their ‘secrets’ to us when we started. It was like extracting teeth, but things are changing. In the past couple of years there have been two Australian rabbit industry field days to cater for the growing interest. It has been a huge learning curve for us and we have had to seek out everything ourselves. This takes a lot of time and tenacity but I am a very determined person! I have spent endless hours sitting down with the phone book and contacting people until I got the answers I needed.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? What is your vision for the future?

My vision is to have a little bit more land outside the village boundary and build bigger sheds and our own processing plant. The rabbit enterprise is really starting to work for me and I see this as the future for our environmentally friendly farm.

What would you like to say to other women who may be just starting out on a ‘Daring to Dream’ journey?

Dig your heels in and go for it. As Sara Henderson said, ‘If you can’t see that light at the end of the tunnel go and turn the bloody thing on yourself’. There is always light at the end of the tunnel — you just have to see it. I have found plenty of women out there ready to help other women and I am happy to do the same.