The Upper Clarence was home to a number of large cattle runs in the 1800s. With closer settlement and subdivision at the beginning of the last century, a little dairy farm could be found up every creek and gully across the North Coast.

Each of these little farms had as few as twenty cows, with pigs, hens and a vegetable garden. Families grew up feeling secure and able to feed themselves from their own farm. The few items they were unable to supply themselves could be bought with the few shillings they earned from their cream production.

In this environment young people knew that their best hope in life was to get a good education and go out into the world, perhaps as a schoolteacher or a nurse, or to join the public sector.

Farms progressively amalgamated, and when the dairy industry converted from butterfat into bulk milk production only the larger farms were able to survive.

Today with deregulation there has been further rationalization within the industry and only a very few large efficient dairies remain in the Upper Clarence. With further property amalgamation, most farms now run beef cattle.