8 | nzdairy 3rd season milking in Ashburton Forks Richard Loader DAIRY PEOPLE » Clearwater Farms When Sam Clearwater’s parents sold the organic dairy farm he and his partner Tyler Koia-Lowe had been working on it gave them the opportunity to buy the 43 hectare run-off block in Clandeboye his parents no longer needed. They’re now in their third season contract milking on Tyler’s mother Jenny’s and stepfather Graham Lowe’s 1200 cow dairy farm in Ashburton Forks to pay for it. Knowing that diversity is the key to any business when Sam saw an ad on facebook for a company looking for land to convert into a solar farm he thought it was worth a go to add another income stream to what they already had. The run-off block has the dual advantage of being next to a grid connection and just down the road from a major power consumer in the form of Fonterra. Sam thinks that’s they were successful and now have a 35 year lease with Lodestone Energy, the company responsible for developing this and several other solar energy farms across New Zealand including three in Canterbury. “It’s 43 hectares in total and will be generating about 35 MegaWatts of power. They pay us a fixed income which is linked to inflation and have the right of renewal to take it on for another 35 years if they wish,” explains Sam. The liquid fertiliser business Sam started a few years ago, converting granular urea into an environmentally friendly liquid fertiliser with water and applying it to pasture, has expanded to include general cultivation work. Run by their friend and right-hand man Ben Cockburn it’s moved beyond doing their own farm’s winter crops and regrassing to offer the same services to clients across Mid-Canterbury. When local tree-topper Brent Cleveland became ill and was looking to sell his business they worked out a deal so that Ben continues to service Brent’s clients which Sam hopes is a win for everyone. “Brent does a really good job and he has some very good clients in the neighborhood which are all really good to deal with so we want to carry that service on.” Having that diversity in income streams will help Sam and Tyler achieve the next step on their Sam and Tyler are now in their third season contract milking on Tyler’s mother Jenny’s, and stepfather Graham Lowe’s 1200 cow dairy farm. Tree Topping Cultivation Liquid Fertiliser contracting@clearwaters.co.nz Ben 027 936 7200 Sam 027 383 2699 TIVE RETRACTING VER SYSTEMS ps feed or fertiliser dry h system for easy access as or steel cladding options time and cuttewas 62 788 roofs.co.nz groofs.co.nz COST EFFECTIVE RETRACTING ROOF SYSTEM C2007kdRetractable CANVAS COVER STEEL CLADDING 0800 262 788 info@slidingroofs.co.nz • www.slidingroofs.co.nz 100% NZ MADE Can be retro tted to existing concrete wood or block bins Unique space saving sectional design Canvas or steel cladding options Winch system for easy access Keeps feed or fertiliser dry Kitset options available y y y y y y COAST SLIDING ROOFS dairy farming journey which is to own their own herd. It was a significant change going from a 200 cow organic dairy farm to a 1200 strong herd and managing the team it takes to run it all successfully. The farm has now sold to Dairy Holdings but with that comes a further opportunity for Sam and Tyler as Graham and Jenny downsize slightly but buy another farm. “We’ve had a very steep learning curve but it’s all been very advantageous so we’re hopefully in a position to buy a herd and lease that farm off him,” says Sam. They’re hoping to milk between 900 to 1000 cows on a 250 hectare farm and while it won’t be organic they expect to find a good middle ground between that and conventional farming as Sam puts what he’s learnt from Graham about working with large scale herds into practice for himself. “We’ll aim for that middle point in the next few years, starting to put some more biological fertilisers on and using things like fish-fertiliser to reduce our nitrogen.” Whatever they do it has to work economically as well as environmentally. They’ve run some small trials on their current farm to ensure that will be the case and so far things look promising. Sam and Tyler are looking forward to having the opportunity to keep growing and improving their team at the same time as they lean into large scale farming that works for the environment as well as the financial bottom line. Services: COMPLETE ONSITE ENGINEERING AND HYDRAULIC REPAIRS GENERAL ENGINEERING • AGRICULTURAL REPAIRS AND MANUFACTURING TRANSPORT AND EARTH MOVING REPAIRS ALLOY AND STAINLESS STEEL WELDING • FULLY CUSTOM BUILDS HYDRAULIC RAM REPAIRS • HYDRAULIC HOSE AND FITTINGS Authorised distributor M: 027 330 8138 E: gb_engineering@xtra.co.nz
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