#81: Starting a Farm from Scratch with Seamus O’Connor from O’Connor Agriculture
G’day and welcome to the A Place to Call Home Podcast, a podcast sharing the stories of people building a life in agriculture across rural Australia.
In this episode, I sit down with Seamus O’Connor from O’Connor Agriculture, based across the Calliope and Boyne Valley regions west of Gladstone in Queensland.
Seamus and his wife Hannah are building a diversified farming business running breeders, backgrounding cattle, producing hay, and more recently selling beef direct to their local community.
But their journey into farming hasn’t been straightforward.
Seamus grew up in agriculture southwest of Goondiwindi before heading away to boarding school, studying engineering at the University of Queensland, and building a career in the resource sector during the LNG boom.
Like many people who grow up in the bush though, agriculture has a way of pulling you back.
What started with buying a small block of land and agisting cattle eventually turned into building a farming business from the ground up — navigating drought, market crashes, financial challenges and plenty of lessons along the way.
This is a conversation about first-generation farming, enterprise stacking, resilience, and the mindset required to build a life on the land from scratch.
In this episode, we chat about:
🏡 Using property investing as a stepping stone into farming
🐄 Buying their first block of land and starting with agistment cattle
📉 The lessons from drought, market downturns and early mistakes
🌾 Shifting towards regenerative grazing principles
📊 Enterprise stacking and building multiple income streams
🚜 Starting a hay production enterprise
🥩 Selling beef direct to consumers through boxed beef
📱 The power of social media in connecting farmers and customers
👨👩👦 Building a farm business while raising a young family
🌱 Why mindset and curiosity are key to building a future in agriculture
Resources mentioned
📘 Dirt to Soil — Gabe Brown
📘 A Bold Return to Giving a Damn — Will Harris
📘 Nourishment — Fred Provenza
Courses mentioned:
Follow Seamus
📸 Instagram: O’Connor Agriculture
📘Facebook: O’Connor Agriculture
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🎙️ Podcast Partner — Halter
This episode is proudly partnered with Halter.
Halter® | Virtual Fencing and Pasture Management
Halter is the app and smart collar helping producers run more productive cattle properties.
At A Place to Call Home, we believe in the power of stories to connect, inspire, and shape a future grounded in purpose and place. These values guide everything we do — from conversations on the podcast to the community we’re building around it.