Built between calving sheds, kindy runs and nap times, Sarah and Will Kirkland have created a skincare brand grounded in A2 colostrum, science and the realities of family life.

Words Lucinda Diack  Photos Biddi Rowley

Sarah Kirkland laughs as she describes the reality of daily life. There is no calm, curated aesthetic, no slow mornings or neatly ordered days. There are three young children, a busy dairy farm and two parents building something new in the narrow spaces left between.

Sarah and husband Will are the founders of Elm Lab, a skincare range built around A2 colostrum and shaped by life on the land. It is a business that grew directly out of their family life, rather than alongside it, and that connection will define the way they work long into the future.

Growing up in the Manawatū, as the daughter of sheep and beef farmers, farming is in her blood but wasn’t her chosen path, instead choosing to study law at the University of Otago. ‘It is funny to think I was only minutes from the farm for all those years while studying but that I didn’t meet Will, or even think about living down here permanently until I moved to Wellington.’

Working as a graduate lawyer in the capital, focused on building her career, falling in love with a South Island dairy farmer wasn’t high on Sarah’s priority list. But within months of meeting Will at a party, she had left her job and moved south. ‘Once you know, you know, I guess,’ she laughs. ‘The rest, as they say, is history.’

Sarah stepped away from her legal career in 2020 ahead of the arrival of their first child, Sophie. When the family later returned home to Elm Grove, she had not resumed practising law, instead focusing on their young family as Will took on stewardship of the sixth-generation farm, Elm Grove.

Elm Lab, a play on the farm name, didn’t begin as a business idea, but rather a problem, with Will and Sarah’s second child, Charlie, born with severe eczema. Sarah tried everything she could find but nothing seemed to work.

A visit to a skin clinic planted the seed of an idea when Sarah was advised to use breast milk on his skin to soothe the irritation. ‘I came away really upset as I had very low supply. When I got home Will asked if I had enquired about using cow’s milk instead.

‘I thought he was joking. I remember looking at him as if to say go away; that’s not helpful. I was early post-partum, tired and told him now wasn’t the time to joke. But he was serious.’

Despite initially thinking it sounded like a ridiculous idea, Sarah’s late-night research proved otherwise. Discovering small pockets of colostrum-based skincare overseas but little to nothing locally or at scale. ‘The more I researched, the more I thought the idea had merit.’ Not being able to purchase any products, Sarah reached out to a Christchurch-based cosmetic formulator to enquire about the feasibility of creating a product herself. That was three years ago.

‘We had three kids under three and a half; we were sharemilking on the family farm and developing a cosmetic product in the background … naivety is a blessing, isn’t it?,’ she laughs.

Why A2 Colostrum

What sets Elm Lab apart is not just the use of colostrum, but how it is sourced and how seriously the Kirkland’s have taken the science. The colostrum comes from their own A2 dairy herd, collected during calving, freeze-dried in Christchurch and then reconstituted during manufacturing.

They chose A2 colostrum because of its gentler protein profile, something already well understood in nutrition and digestion. For Sarah, whose focus was sensitive and reactive skin, it made sense to apply that same thinking topically. ‘It fitted with our ethos,’ she says. ‘We wanted the gentlest profile possible.’

Maintaining the levels of colostrum in the product (both the lotion and hand cream are approximately 70% colostrum) was of particular importance to Sarah and Will, who initially stepped away from a manufacturer who advised them to bring the colostrum levels right down.

‘We believed in it,’ says Sarah, ‘and I am so glad we stuck to our guns.’

While Elm Lab is registered as a cosmetic line, the impact of the product for those with sensitive and reactive skin has been powerful and is testament to the lengths and dedication Sarah and Will went to – to ensure their product would do what it says it would.

Despite the cost, the couple chose to follow EU-aligned dermatological testing and undertake additional paediatrician-supervised safety studies, steps that go well beyond what New Zealand regulations require.

The products were tested on sensitive skin, assessed ingredient by ingredient, and then trialled in real-world use under medical supervision. ‘As a mum, it scared me how little testing most products go through in New Zealand,’ Sarah says. ‘We wanted to have a strong level of integrity behind the product and be able to provide customers, and ourselves, with that comfort and endorsement.’

The result is a small range that is deliberately restrained. There is no fragrance in the baby products, something Sarah was adamant about despite advice to the contrary. ‘Anything with fragrance made Charlie scream,’ she says. ‘And I didn’t want that for any other family.

‘However, I am glad that I listened to advice to include a subtle natural scent in the hand lotion – but one that still sits with our ethos. Essentially the products are colostrum led formulas supported by other good skin loving ingredients such as shea butter, calendula, aloe vera, grapeseed oil and vitamin E.’

Fitting It All In

A typical day for Sarah begins around five in the morning and rarely slows. She works in short windows between school drop-offs, kindy runs and nap times, often packing orders late at night once the house is quiet. ‘It’s chaos,’ she says simply. ‘But it’s ours.’ Will manages the farm alongside the business, and together they divide and conquer, accepting that there is no neat separation between work and family.

Despite the exhaustion, there is momentum. Elm Lab has quickly found a place on shelves and in homes, resonating with parents and adults alike who are looking for genuinely gentle skincare. The response, Sarah says, has been humbling. ‘People tell us their skin feels calm for the first time in years. That makes all of it worth it.’

For Sarah and Will, Elm Lab is not about stepping away from farm life, but extending it. It is about using what they have and where they are and building something that reflects their values. ‘I wanted a career I could do around the children,’ Sarah says. ‘I wanted to be at school assemblies, on kindy trips. This lets me
do that.’

While the journey is still in its early stages, Elm Lab already carries the imprint of the life that created it: practical, hardworking and quietly innovative. It is skincare shaped by the realities of family, farming and persistence, and by two people willing to trust an idea that began in the most ordinary and most personal of ways.

What is A2 Colostrum?

A2 Colostrum is the super-powered starter milk produced by cows right after they give birth. It’s famous for being a potent natural health booster, earning it the nickname liquid gold.

The key feature is the A2 protein. Most regular milk contains a mix of A1 and A2 proteins. The A1 protein, when digested, can create a small fragment that some people find hard on their stomachs; whereas A2 colostrum from cows produces a gentler protein, similar in profile to the protein found in human milk, making it generally easier to digest.