| 21 nzdairy Leasing provides the flexibility needed Now in their second season on the property, Hollie and Owen make their own decisions on everything. Lindy Andrews When a breathless 16-year-old Owen Clegg raced into a Hawera hair salon to tell his mother he’d been offered a job on a dairy farm, her stunned response was, “we will talk when I get home”. Sorry Mum. Sixteen years on, Owen and his wife Hollie lease a sprawling, 300-hectare slice of Taranaki dairy farming paradise at Manutahi. With three-year-old Ellie tucked up in bed, Hollie passes over a wide awake, wriggling six-month-old Layla to her husband. After years of sharemilking, the pair own and operate Cleams Dairy, milking 340 Friesian and Friesian cross cows, while also raising approximately 50 beef cattle each year. Leasing provides the flexibility that allows Hollie and Owen to farm on their own terms. “Our lease is different in that there are not a lot of this size,” Hollie explains. “Most are smaller, so you can only run about 200 cows.” With farm sales in the area slowing, she and her husband saw a gap in the market and went for it. “This farm had been on the market for six weeks,” she says. “We had been looking at farms but couldn’t afford to buy, so we approached the owner to ask about leasing it. “She had watched us working a neighbouring 180-cow farm and one of the trustees knew us as well.” Due diligence done, the couple signed up for a three-year lease, with the option of an additional two-year rollover. The move has benefited both sides, with the owner able to spend more time with her family and the Cleggs broadening their already considerable farming experience. There’s a considerable element of trust at play. Now in their second season on the property, Hollie and Owen make their own decisions on everything from crops to grass types and how much feed they will buy in. For the first couple of years, they pretty much stuck to the tried-and-true, making a few tweaks as they went along. Today, they have the confidence to look at alternatives, such as planting drought-hardy chicory. It would have been easy to jump on the cattle export bandwagon at its peak, however the couple stuck with Fonterra because “that’s what we knew”. Fonterra’s share-up scheme meant the Cleggs could buy shares they otherwise couldn’t afford – a major bonus. The pair are keen to leave a positive and sustainable legacy on the landscape they call home. As money permits, a joint landowner/lessee project is seeing the farm’s gulleys and fenced waterways gradually being cloaked in manuka. “She’s planted 15 hectares of gulleys and put in five hectares of riparian plantings,” Hollie says. “We want to replicate that…as farmers we want to imprint that legacy. We’re also growing on hedge seedlings to bring more shade, shelter and a cooler environment in the hot months.” DAIRY PEOPLE » Cleams Dairies “We had been looking at farms but couldn’t afford to buy, so we approached the owner to ask about leasing it.” Proudly supporting Cleams Dairies Proud to support Dairy Farmers with their feed and animal nutrition requirements www.bhlfeeds.co.nz Clearly, these successful former townies are in for the long haul. As for Owen’s mum, she’s been won over by her determined son and daughter-inlaw and a couple of gorgeous granddaughters to babysit on rainy days.
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