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16/09/2025
Monto’s Burnham family, Grant, Lily, Knox, Ruby, Quade, and Carly.
A philosophy centred on traditional ‘slow’ living, reminiscent of a bygone era, affords Queensland’s Burnham family a proud beef producing purpose.
Borrowing from history has also forged a vibrant business, with their vertically-integrated organic operation, Bonnie Doone Beef, recently earning the family Innovative Farmer of the Year Finalists in The Weekly Times Coles Famer of the Year Awards.
Leveraging the Monto region’s rich soils and grass growing capacity, the Burnhams' 20,000 acres is organic accredited, and grazing practices across ‘Bonnie Doone’ focus on time controlled grazing and soil improvement.
It’s a regenerative approach that’s good for nature, good for business and, as Carly explains, good for the soul.
“We bought “Bonnie Doone” in 2002, and in 2010 during our family succession planning it provided us an opportunity to put our stake in the ground and really identify our values, goals and how we wanted to live.”
“It was an awakening based around embracing the way our grandparents lived – raising, butchering and eating their own naturally raised home grown meat,” Carly reflects.
“To genuinely follow this philosophy we needed to become organic accredited, eliminate chemical use and adopt ‘nose-to-tail’ direct selling.”
“We turned our back on a lifetime of conditioning as to what was expected of us as graziers, and the change in our practices made our hearts sing immediately.”
Supporting nature, and the bottom line
Carly admits that despite intent, ensuring viability remained the priority, and now 15 years on, the family has successfully integrated business and the environment for an “operation that flourishes”.
Through education programs such as Grazing for Profit, the Burnhams fine-tuned their practices, with cattle moved regularly and gently, ensuring feed is the greenest and freshest, and that pastures are regularly rested for soil recovery and growth maximisation.
“Our transition required us to really flip our whole mindset,” Carly explains. “If we have a healthy environment, then our cattle will be healthy too.”
A holistic approach ensures that the Bonnie Doone herd’s natural habits feed the soil, with the photosynthesis of growing plants delivering sugars to the living microbes in the soil, in return for minerals and nutrients provided to the plant by the microbes.
“Working with the rhythm of nature and natural processes means our livestock have minimal parasites and illness, flora and fauna is also abundant at Bonnie Doone and play a large role in enhancing the good bugs and reducing the problem bugs.”
Another added benefit to this cycle, Carly explains, is the storage of carbon from the atmosphere into the soils through natural sugars and root biomass.
“This regular growing and pruning of plants is essential for this process to happen – cattle who love to eat grass and are made to eat grass are required to cycle the carbon.”
The Burnham family enjoys a holistic approach to production
As early-adopters of regenerative practices in the Monto region, Carly admits that helping forge the path required a healthy dose of self-belief and inner confidence, and she’s proud that the movement is now becoming more commonplace across the grazing community.
And the Burnhams’ quiet advocacy of regenerative grazing has no doubt contributed to its growing reputation.
“We’re not loud about our changes, however we’re proactive in demonstrating that this model works, and regularly welcome people to learn more about our operation through field days and knowledge tours.”
“We love hosting those who are interested and curious – from university students through to fellow graziers - and following their journey in turn. It’s a satisfying cycle of connection, and we believe learning and sharing is essential for growth.”
Farm fresh beef with a story to tell
Further exploring the concept of connection, Grant and Carly expanded their business into boxed beef in 2014, launching Bonnie Doone Beef and realising a long-held dream to share their production story directly to the customer.
“There’s a growing base of customers with a real desire to know how their beef is grown, and we’re excited to be part of this movement.”
“Free ranging and calm handling creates a happy animal whose beef is tender, there is a direct correlation between tenderness and stress, and our cows eat nothing but the best grass – we’re so proud to put our name to our produce so households can enjoy beef with flavour, and welfare confidence.”
The Burnhams are sharing their unique lifestyle through their luxurious farm stay.
A more recent addition to their highly considered operation, nestled west of the picturesque Coominglah range, is Bloodwood Cabin, luxe farm stay accommodation crafted from Ironbark and Blue Gum timber harvested and milled on the property.
“It started as a bit of fun, but it’s gone crazy,” Carly laughs, and with the cabin recently named Best Nature Stay AU/NZ, that’s perhaps an understatement.
Intended as a side-venture to complement their business, Carly underestimated the venture’s enormous opportunity in showcasing their operation, and promoting the beef industry.
“Cabin guests regularly become our beef customers, and vice versa, in fact we even hosted a guest once who had been a vegetarian for 15 years and began eating meat again upon learning of our practices.”
Bloodwood Cabins provide a luxe and genuine rural retreat
Inspiring the next generation
With a proactive approach to business and succession, the Burnhams' four children – Lily, 23, Ruby, 21, Knox, 19, and Quade, 15, are all instrumental to the family business.
“We’ll always support our children into whatever they want to do, however to prepare for succession and to equip them with some business nous we established a ‘Bonnie Doone Youth Board’, which meets three times a year for strategic planning and communication.”
“This ensures that our children understand all elements of the business, and that when it comes time for succession there will be no gaps in their knowledge.”
“Ag needs clever young people to keep it vibrant and growing, and including them in conversations early will hopefully inspire them to come home, although there’s certainly no pressure placed on them.”
Innovative Farmers of the Year
Named Innovative Farmer of the Year Finalist at the recent Farmer of the Year awards in Melbourne, Carly described the experience as ‘humbling’.
“It was an incredible dinner at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with 17 fellow finalists, and it was a terrific evening meeting wonderful people from all around Australia.”
“It made us very proud to be a farmer in amongst all these really cool people doing things that bring meaning to their lives, and others, and it really grew our network.”
Rabobank supportive of innovative thinking and new ideas
The couple has been a client of Rockhampton Area Manager, Michael Fletcher, for ten years, and Carly is continually heartened by his trust in their business.
“When we first started down the regenerative path it was certainly not mainstream, but Michael trusted us and our way of running things, and for that we’re very grateful.”
Embarking on a soil carbon project in 2016 was another innovative venture Rabobank supported.
“It was very new at the time, yet Michael had faith in us, and we had the business skills and research to back ourselves, which has been key to our success.”
Grant and Carly Burnham with their Rabobank manager, Michael Fletcher, centre.
An Impassioned community advocate, Carly has also been highly engaged in grassroots programs thanks to the Queensland Rabo Client Council – one of six volunteer councils across Australia, aimed at advising the bank on where support is most valuable in regional and rural Australia.
“I love giving back, I’m very community-centric and the Rabo Client Council has provided me with an incredible opportunity to meet a diverse cross section of people.”
Carly has taken part in, and helped deliver the farm business specific Financial Skills Workshop and the Student Farm Experience Program – an initiative whereby urban students were provided with an on-farm experience to broaden their knowledge and appreciation of agriculture.
“Running these initiatives was so rewarding, and I’ve loved bringing more, and different, people into our circle, providing knowledge and services, particularly to young people – it’s so important to support our regional and rural youth.”
Closer to home, Carly and Grant have generously contributed to their beloved Monto community, of which they are both born and bred locals, by establishing a not-for-profit organisation restoring the town’s former picture theatre, The Rex.
“It’s a beautiful old art deco building, and we donated money so it could be purchased as a charity, established a board, and are now slowly bringing it back to life as an arts and culture hub.”
“We’re often whinging in rural Australia that we have no shops and dilapidated buildings, so we thought rather than whine why not do something about it – we love Monto and I plan to be here well into my 90s!”
Carly is helping bring ‘The Rex’ in Monto back to life thanks to her generous community spirit.