| 35 CENTURY FARM AWARDS » Cloverdowns 100 years and counting at Cloverdowns Colverdowns. Karen Phelps Seeing the family farm, Cloverdowns, recognised in the 2024 Century Farm Awards would have made Helen Voss’s parents Margaret and Keith Philip extremely proud. “Margaret and Keith would be over the moon at the farm being recognised and proud of all they had achieved,” she says. Keith was brought back from the war in 1945 at the age of 21, after his father John died, specifically to look after Cloverdowns and the family’s Puketapu farm. Located near Dunback, Cloverdowns was originally a part of the Shag Valley Station inland from Palmerston. It was separated from Shag Valley in the breakup of the big runs instigated by the Liberal government from 1893 to 1900 and came into thefamily’s possession in 1910 when John purchased it on 6 May 1910 for $650. Keith grew up on Puketapu and showed early talent as a wool classer, which saw him work in a Dunedin wool store after leaving school. Keith’s talents with wool were recognised numerous times over the years. He was awarded the New Zealand Golden Fleece Award in 1988 and received the champion crossbred fleece in 1991 at the Palmerston A&P Show. After his father’s death in 1944 Keith worked both farms until 1952 when he bought out his siblings and took ownership of Cloverdowns. Keith and Margaret were married in 1959. Under their watch Cloverdowns ran approximately 6,000 stock units made up of a Corriedale stud and Romney-Corriedale crossbred sheep. The first cattle on Cloverdowns were Herefords introduced in the mid-1950s and a decade later cattle from the Chatham Islands arrived, their tendency to wander and not respect boundaries initially proving a challenge for Keith and Margaret. Cloverdowns ran approximately 500 breeding cattle in total. A key moment in the farm’s history, and one of which the family is proud, is that in 2002, the Department of Conservation (Doc) instigated a land swap of approximately 1,250 hectares of Cloverdowns land, which was home to the rare grand skink and Otago skink. Helen still takes the lead on liaising with DOC over the on-going efforts to protect the skinks. “The skinks are doing well, and their numbers are good,” says Helen. Helen, an only child, helped her parents on the property until she married David. They have five children - Anna, Rachel, Philip, Kate and Sarah - and formed PARKS Holdings Company, which purchased the Cloverdowns land from the estate of Keith and Margaret in 2015. Cloverdowns PARKS Holdings continues to own and manage Cloverdowns, which is presently leased to Greg Hand. Today Cloverdowns remains one continuous block of land amounting to 4,205.7ha and runs 6,650 stock units of approximately 4,400 sheep and 300 cattle, mostly Angus. Helen says receiving the Century Farm Award was recognition for all those that have gone before: “Although we’ve received the award it’s our forebears that have done a lot of the hardwork. We absolutely feel so privileged.” “Although we’ve received the award it’s our forebears that have done a lot of the hardwork. We absolutely feel so privileged.” John Philip. The old wool shed.
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