Why did you decide to buy a wool farm?
Buying a wool farm was something my father and my uncle always talked about. At our 50th anniversary, we thought it was time. Victoria and New South Wales in Australia to be more specific. There are other states in countries that are Victoria and NSW too.
And then you found Achill farm.
Achill was obviously superior to others but what led us to ultimately decide on Achill was Charles Coventry and his family. When we saw that he was proactive, young and possessed the desire to move his entire family back to Achill, back to the farm, we thought, 'This is a man we can trust.'
Was it an equally easy decision for the Coventry family?
Charles' father was frank. He said, "In my opinion, my son is not interested, but have a talk." So I went to see Charles, and you know, it was a progressive talk. Immediately, something clicked between us two. It was not easy to convince him to sell the majority of the farm; the rules of the company is to have the majority share. But then we came to a conclusion and four months later, we signed the contract. We work, we talk once a week, we'll have a chat on the phone, we have regular board meetings with independent members who come with the experience. As you've seen, it's working well.