A growing online audience is following one Southland dairy farm through one of the region’s wettest winters in more than 45 years.

Tracy Henderson runs the Legendairies page with husband Steve, posting through the season as they live it.

She joined CountryWide’s Senior Journalist Anne Lee on this week’s DAIRY Country Panel to talk to how it came about amongst a busy life.

“If there’s one thing that we can share that can help someone, that’s enough for us,” she says.

“And that’s just being authentic and showing how it is. Yes — we make mistakes.”

The page began as a way to keep her North Island family in the loop and grew from there, she says.

They milk 800 cows on a 50/50 sharemilking farm near Bluff, bought their first farm last year on a five-year lease-to-buy run by contract milkers, and run a 500ha support block wintering both farms.

She says the lease-to-buy is what made ownership possible.

“I don’t think anyone should ever rule out farm ownership. I just think it’s still there.

“I just think there are different ways of getting into it now.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

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