It started as a simple farming operation, but Aidan Dellar’s Tuppal Creek Meats is a steadily growing enterprise that truly embraces the paddock to plate process.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Starting with just a “trailer load of goats”, the family operation now also produces sheep and, uniquely, water buffalo, at the property about 53km east of Deniliquin.
“We sold those (goats) on to a guy down in Melbourne, and he came back not long after asking for more,” Aidan said.
“We just had them on Gumtree, and pretty soon we were doing hundreds of kilos of goat a week.”
From there, the operation grew month-by-month.
And it was a request from a customer which saw the farm branch into a new direction.
“I got a call for water buffalo while I was in the car with my wife Hannah, and I just agreed.”
Aidan sourced his first water buffalo from a dairy in Kerang, cutting and packing every month or two and building the business organically until it reached 500-600 kg of buffalo meat produced each month.
“We got to the stage where we were preparing a dozen buffalo a week, as well as 150 to 200 goats a week,” he said.
Buffalo are now sourced both locally and from the Northern Territory, with processing completed through the Murray Plains Meat Cooperative abattoir in Barham.
Tuppal Creek Meats remains a family operation, with additional local help contracted when needed.
There is a strong emphasis on low‑stress, sustainable management.
Aidan describes the property as “pretty rundown, with no boundary fence, and left in a very natural state.
“It’s been interesting, just taking the next chapter as it comes.”
The meat produced at the Dellar property has found a loyal customer base with South Asian communities in Sydney and Melbourne, and particularly among Nepalese.
Buffalo and goat meat produced at Tuppal Creek Meats is also available locally, with the Dellars forging a partnership with Pattinson’s Pastoral Butchery in Deniliquin.
Buffalo meat is often described as being leaner, richer in certain nutrients and having a slightly sweeter flavour compared to beef.
And Aidan says “it’s not bad stuff”.
Aidan Dellar with his daughters, Isla (4) and Mia (3).
13°C