Hard work makes dreams come true

Christopher and Siobhan O'Malley stand in a paddock with smiles that could melt one of the nearby West Coast glaciers. 

The couple have finally achieved their long-term goal of farm ownership and now have their own slice of paradise.

"So we were share-milking for many years, jumping around the South Island, chasing the dream of buying a farm, and we did it," Christopher says proudly.

The amount of debt that came with the purchase made it "somewhat terrifying" at the same time, Siobhan adds.

"We lived off the smell of an oily rag for a long time because we put everything else into savings or into cows." 

"The main thing was to grow our equity as big as it could possibly be, to put us in the position where we could look at buying a farm," Christopher says.

The O'Malleys have bought Pukeko Pastures, an 80-hectare property at Kokatahi on the West Coast, where they run about 180 cows.

Their herd is mainly surplus-to-requirement milkers that were cheap to buy. Christopher calls them his "liquorice allsorts mob".

"These cows consist of old cows, carry-over cows, three titters, small undergrown heifers and rejects that someone didn't want, but they're fantastic girls and they've done the business."

Last season, the O'Malley's girls exceeded expectations by producing 70,000 kilograms of milk solids.

"Our goal was 64,000 and I think we've got room to squeeze out another 6000, so I think that's where the farm will sit comfortably."

To keep running costs down, Christopher does all the day-to-day farm work on his own.

When the cows are dried off and on winter grazing, he works off-farm doing contract fencing. 

He's also chair of the West Coast Focus Farm Trust and somehow finds time to referee local rugby games.

"It's a great way to get off the farm and think about nothing else and I'm hoping to ref my 100th senior rugby game this season." 

Siobhan does all the accounts and helps out on the farm when she can. 

During the week, though, she's a full-time teacher of English and Classics at Westland High School in Hokitika.

"Next year I'm hoping to introduce Agribusiness, so that'll be slightly more consistent with the rest of my life!" 

Siobhan is also a co-founder, with two other farmers, of Hemprino, a New Zealand-made luxury knitwear brand that blends merino wool with hemp.

The knitwear idea was born while Siobhan was on the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme.

"I love that the material biodegrades. I didn't want to make something else in the world that wouldn't be contributing in a positive way. 

"So it's been a passion project I guess but that's turning into a real business now."

Meat the Need is another project Siobhan has found time to sink her teeth into. 

The charity connects the dots between farmers who want to give some of what they produce to families in need.

She co-founded it three years ago with Golden Bay dairy farmer Wayne Langford. 

"Wayne had this idea that if farmers donated livestock, we could share the meat with food banks. 

"So I came on board to help with the execution of that; how do we scale that up and make it work around the country?"

It's been a big success.

"We had a huge telethon called The Big Feed in December and we raised enough for over a million meals." 

The charity takes donations of deer, sheep and cattle from farmers, which is turned into mince by Silver Fern Farms and distributed nationwide.

"It's really heartwarming how much farmers have given and shared some of what they grow with people who need it, so it's been a really rewarding thing to be part of."