About Refalo Free Range Pork
The farm, the system, and why free range matters
Refalo Free Range Pork is a family-run outdoor pig farm near Canowindra, NSW, supplying butchers and restaurants across NSW and ACT. The focus is simple. Raise pigs outdoors, manage land properly, and supply consistent trade-quality pork.
The farm operates on Bangaroo Ridge, where pigs live outdoors for their entire lives and move across the property through a managed grazing system that protects pasture and ground cover under changing seasonal conditions.
Fodder crops are planted for grazing, including barley, oats, sorghum, and millet. Water is supplied through an irrigation bore so pastures and crops can be maintained as needed.
David has always preferred seeing pigs outdoors, but he is also clear on the outcome. He believes the pork is genuinely different when pigs live free range. The fat is different. The taste is different. The whole product eats differently.
Alongside the free range model, the farm focuses on land care through rotation. Only half of the land carries pigs at any one time, then it is rested and regenerated so manure breaks down and pastures recover.
The shelter sheds and farrowing shelters were designed early in the business and can be relocated across the farm by tractor, giving the system flexibility as paddocks rotate.
A farming story that started long before the farm
Heritage matters on a farm. Bloodlines are tracked, results show in the paddocks, and improvement happens over time through steady work.
David Refalo comes from several generations of farmers. His grandparents migrated from Malta in the late 1950s and farmed after arriving in Australia. He grew up on a smallholding on the outskirts of Sydney, surrounded by animals, gardens, and practical farm work.
He was raising chickens and ducks before the age of ten. Pigs were always the main interest. Extended family members kept pigs, and so had earlier generations.
At thirteen, David bought his first piglet. Within a few years, he had around ten sows and big plans for the future.
By late 2016 he purchased a farm near Canowindra. It was operating as a vineyard at the time, so there was no pig country established. Clearing and conversion began immediately after settlement.
For the next year he worked long weeks bricklaying in Sydney, managed pigs, and drove four hours each weekend to clear land, build fencing, and establish paddocks. Once the first hectares were ready, pigs were moved onto the new ground.
Refalo Free Range Pork began at Kemps Creek in 2003 and moved to Canowindra in 2017 to expand the outdoor raising system.
Fully free range for life
Every pig is born, raised, and finished on pasture. No farrowing crates. No grower sheds. No feedlot finishing. Pigs are rotated on a month-on, month-off grazing system to maintain pasture quality and animal condition.
Custom shelter design
Many custom shelters are spread across the property, designed in-house to protect pigs from harsh weather without mud wallows. All shelters are fitted with automated sprinkler systems that drop temperatures by up to 20 degrees in summer. They're movable by tractor, rotating with the pigs.
Breeding and feed
The herd mainly consists of Hamrock sows (F1 Hampshire and Duroc cross) with Large White as the terminal sire, producing white carcass pigs preferred by butchers. All pig diets are mixed on the farm using our own grain grown on our farm and locally sourced grain.
Land regeneration
Only half the land carries pigs at any one time. Paddocks are rested and rotated so manure breaks down and pastures recover. The focus is on maintaining ground health, not maximising stocking density.
Industry Involvement and Biosecurity
NSW Farmers Pork Committee
In 2018, David joined the NSW Farmers Pork Committee to represent free range producers and support industry biosecurity and planning.
The committee works across disease prevention, preparedness planning, and producer communication. This has included African Swine Fever readiness planning and response coordination during the 2022 Japanese Encephalitis outbreak.
David is the only free range producer on the committee and one of its longest serving members.
What we supply
Refalo Free Range Pork supplies free range pigs to more than 20 butchers and restaurants across Sydney, NSW and ACT.
Before COVID, most production focused on suckling pigs for the restaurant trade. Today, around 20 per cent remain suckling pigs, with the remainder processed as pork and smallgoods through partners including Griffith Butchery in Canberra and Dalika Smallgoods in Sydney.
The Cranky Sow smallgoods range includes salami, pepperoni, prosciutto, cabanossi, bacon, and ham. Limited direct-to-public sales are also available through selected outlets
