DREAMS BECOME REALITY AT CRYSTALCLEAR
Jonathan Long found out how Mark Lee’s desire to farm in his own right has become a reality through hard work and determination
S
tarting an elite herd from scratch with nothing more than £200 in your pocket and the clothes you own may seem like a pipe dream, but it was the reality for Northamptonshire- based Mark Lee of the Crystalclear herd.
Having left the family farm at the age of 22 and with a desire to farm in his own right by the time he was 30 Mark admits it was a hard slog to get started. “I was working anywhere doing anything to get the cash together to start buying the right sort of cow to build a herd with,” he explains.
“I was relief milking, working on building sites and generally taking on any work I could manage in order to afford the cows I wanted. As I bought the odd cow here and there I housed them in friends’ herds up and down the country and gradually built up a herd of cows.
“Admittedly it wasn’t much of a herd with cows being dotted across the country, but it was the only way to manage at the time.” And, keen to understand the fundamentals of managing the elite type of cow he felt he had to build his business on, Mark took the opportunity to travel and work with top herds across the world, including the Indianhead herd in Wisconsin, USA.
“I worked there on and off for about three years and learned a lot about managing great cows from some great cow people. It was the best experience possible in terms of setting up my herd here at home and I’d encourage anyone to go and do the same.”
Then one day while working abroad, Mark received a phone call from Tom Brooksbank of auctioneers Norton and Brooksbank inviting him to work for the firm in setting up its private sales register. “Tom had heard I was
LEFT Mark Lee with his wife Anne, daughter Izzy, and son, Archie.
32 THE JOURNAL APRIL 2015
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