Through hard graft he owns a farm at just 25
Glenavy dairy farmer Arjan Van’t Klooster talks to Pat Deavoll about how he got his own dairy farm at just 25 years of age.
On the surface, Glenavy dairy farmer Arjan Van’t Klooster leads a charmed and enviable life. At just 25 years he owns his own 600-cow, 164 hectare dairy farm and share milks another 1200 cows on 304ha just down the road. He manages eight staff. What’s more, he recently took out the Aorangi regional final of the Young Farmer of the Year competition and is one of the favourites going into the grand final in July.
Years of pure hard graft and an unwavering determination to get ahead has got Van’t Klooster to where he is at such a young age.
The past five years have been ‘‘full on’’ for him, he says.
‘‘To the detriment of a social life and time spent with my partner Kelsi [Chamberlain.]’’
Within five years since he returned to the home farm he has not only increased milk production but converted both properties from border dyke to centre pivot and K-line spray irrigation and fenced them appropriately.
‘‘We were getting the fences up a day ahead of the cows,’’ he said. ‘‘I was under pressure.’’
His father Gert immigrated from Holland in 1989 to Matamata, then moved the family south to Glenavy in 1994 when Van’t Klooster was three-years-old.
‘‘Dad drove a tractor and trailer all the way down from the North Island and apparently I wanted to be in the passenger seat the whole way,’’ he says.
‘‘Dairying is a passion I’ve had from a young age. I would be up at 5am helping dad get the cows in. It hasn’t worn off.’’
Van’t Klooster decided at high school to go to university and get a Bachelor of Agriculture and Commerce degree.
Then he went home, with his partner Kelsi Chamberlain, to take on a lower order share milking position on his parent’s farm.
‘‘My father is the dairy farmer - the rest of the family aren’t interested,’’ he said.
‘‘We took on a lower order share milking contract, then three years ago a 600 cow farm just down the road came up for sale.
‘‘My dad was looking at it so I did some budgets for him.
‘‘But the bank manager said to me ‘why don’t you buy it?’
‘‘I didn’t have the capital but my parents guaranteed a loan for me to be in the position to buy.
‘‘Now we own a 600 cow farm and share milk a 1200 cow farm down the road.’’
The 304ha 1200 cow family farm operates on a high input system with split calving.
Van’t Klooster is in the middle of calving now, which impeded his study for the Young Farmer regionals somewhat, he says.
‘‘I planned to put quite a bit of study in but one thing led to another and I only started four days before the final.
‘‘There was some last minute cramming and I think my university skills helped me out with this.
‘‘Being a high input farm we are 530 milksolids a cow - pretty high for New Zealand but a lot of input goes into that.
‘‘It’s a winter milking herd with cows housed at night and let out during the day.
‘‘The feeding regime is predominantly grass-based but we buy in high energy potatoes, wheat and palm kernel and silage for the runoff.’’
The potatoes are high in starch and calories, he says.
Cows love them - will eat them out of your hands.
Having a cow house and feed pad means less wastage.
Potatoes complement the farm’s system well.
‘‘Our first few years of share milking were quite a challenge,’’ he says.
‘‘We completely converted the property from border dyke to pivot and K-line irrigation.
‘‘We had contractors to do the flattening out but me and my staff did all the fencing and recontouring and managed the operation.
‘‘We were milking as well and still had cows on the farm.
‘‘On our own farm (the 600 cow 164ha property) we straight away converted from border dyke to spray irrigation.
‘‘We knew what do and what not to do from the other farm.
‘‘I was under pressure and guess that helped with the Young Farmer competition.
‘‘Being able to think on your feet. Being thrown curve balls all the time.’’
The new property operates under a grass-based system, and for the first year supported 470 friesian heifers.
Van’t Klooster ran lower numbers during the conversion but is building up to peak with 670 cows in the next year or two.
The irrigation is finished and in the next year or two, he wants to start working on the aesthetic part of the farm with some riparian planting around creeks to make it tidier and a better environment to work in.
Van’t Klooster first entered the Young Farmer of the Year contest last year and came fourth in the Aorangi regional final behind Athol New, Sam Bryant and Toby How. What was different this year? He knew what to study, what to prepare for and was mentally up for it.
‘‘I used previous years’ quizzes to find subjects to study around that I didn’t know much of.
‘‘I took notes and then would go back and test myself.’’
He says was ‘lost for words’ because he didn’t expect to be top of such an experienced field, in a region that has produced the last two FMG Young Farmer of the Year champions.
With the grand final looming, he has a plan
‘‘I’m starting to do some fitness training at the moment - running and weights.
‘‘I’ll focus a lot more study on previous years quizzes.
‘‘I’ll talk to the two previous years winners, Toby New and Matt Bell - touch base with them on what to expect.
‘‘I’ll whack a few posts in the front yard for practise.
‘‘The job of dairy farmer seven days a week is practise in itself,’’ he says. ‘‘It gives me a big advantage.’’ Van’t Klooster feels his weakness is the sheep industry.
‘‘I haven’t had much to do with it at all.
‘‘In fact, the regional final was the first time I had ever had to shear a sheep.’’
He says he must also forfeit perfection for speed in the head-tohead challenges, and be able to function with a ‘‘clear head when absolutely exhausted.’’
Van’t Klooster won two sections outright in the regional finals.
The first was the agriknowledge section.
‘‘A panel of three judges asked us some really curly questions about ourselves, about the industry and our involvement in it.
‘‘What we would like to do as ambassadors for the industry, that kind of thing.
‘‘The other section I won was the [agri-business]. This was a 50-minute exam. ‘‘It’s normally finance-based but this time it focused on farm management which I did quite well in.
‘‘I put this down to doing a BAgCom at university.’’
So what’s in the future for the high-achieving young farmer?
‘‘I have no [dairy] production targets at the moment,’’ he says.
‘‘There is so much seasonal variation that there is no point trying to predict anything.
‘‘I strive to do the best I can, but things change from year to year.
‘‘I want to work on the aesthetics of the farm.
‘‘If anything, if I become financially stable enough we will start to progress towards 50/50 share milking on my parent’s place.
Currently, ours is a lower order position.’’
‘‘My father is never going to retire but he leaves me to do as I please.
We get on really well compared with some father-son combinations.
We bounce ideas off each other all the time.
‘‘I’d like to become more involved with Young Farmers, or Federated Farmers or maybe DairyNZ.
‘‘Give something back to the industry that has given me so much,’’ he says.
Van’t Klooster will compete against six other contestants in the final of the FMG Young Farmer of the Year in July.
The competition sets a benchmark of excellence for young people in the agricultural industry to achieve and aspire to, says Young Farmers.
It is also an opportunity for agriculture to celebrate and reward its achievers and to showcase the industry to the wider community.