An edge on excellence

At 22, Clarence and Elise Stolte are the youngest winners of a regional sharemilker of the year title for at least 10 years. But they have a maturity beyond their years reports The Dom Post. In just two years as 25 per cent sharemilkers on a family-owned farm near Masterton, they have built up savings and assets of $150,000. Now they intend to take on a $650,000 loan and step up to 50 per cent sharemilking. Their plan is to build assets of $1.8 million within 15 years so they can buy their own farm. They are quietly confident. "We've done our planning and we know how to get there," Elise says. "We know there will be risks but we can manage them." Their youth is not a factor, they say. "What's age got to do with it," Clarence says. "We don't want to be categorised as 'young' sharemilkers, we want to be 'excellent' sharemilkers."  He finds farming exciting. "In a day, I'm involved with animal husbandry, I'm a pasture manager, a vet, a mechanic and a business manager - all those things. That doesn't mean I'm an expert - not yet."However, the judges in the recent Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa dairy industry awards clearly think he and Elise are well on their way. The couple were praised for their "high level of farm and financial management", "best-practice initiatives around human resource, animal welfare and the environment" and their "passion for pasture management". They say their strength is in the way their skills mesh - his are pasture, animal and people management; hers are in financial management - and they work together on strategies for the season and in planning for the years ahead.