Kaleb Cooper: I’m 27 with three young children – I have grown up

Clarkson’s Farm star Kaleb Cooper is laughing at the notion that he might get some paternity leave to bond with his newborn son, what with harvesting, filming the fifth series of the hit Amazon Prime TV show and promoting his debut children’s book.

Suffering a bad head cold and getting less sleep than normal thanks to the arrival of his third child, Ashton, in August, the 27-year-old ruddy-cheeked farming contractor and tractor driver, who became the breakout star of Clarkson’s Farm when the series began in 2021, looks understandably tired, although he says his fiancée Taya is doing the night feeds, so he is getting some kip.

Cooper was harvesting a field when she went into labour, but managed to complete it in time to get back for the birth.

“Because it was baby number three, Taya was so relaxed, and she rings me about one o’clock, telling me, ‘Kaleb, I’m in labour, I’ll let you know when I’m close’.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ve just got this one field’, and Taya understands this. We’ve been together 10 years. I think, to go forward in life to get where you want to be, you don’t need someone nagging at you and saying, ‘Don’t do that, don’t do this’. They’ve got to be supportive all the time.”

She understands the job, he says frankly.

“She’s been out there on the combine (harvester) with me when we’ve had to finish the field, because of the weather or whatever.”

He got back in time to witness the birth – as he did with his two other children.

“I get into proper calving mode and I’m treating Taya like a cow, then she’s giving me the side eye and I have to manage that,” the farming maestro observes wryly.

The Chipping Norton celebrity finally went abroad for the first time this year to Bruges in Belgium but is still reluctant to stray far from his home town in the Cotswolds and is keen to promote farming as a career for young people.

He launched a bursary two years ago at the Royal Agricultural University, contributing £3,000 to successful applicants from non-farming backgrounds who want to pursue a career in agriculture, and gives talks in schools to educate children in farming.

“I firmly believe we should be teaching kids farming in schools. Food is the most important thing in the world,” he states.

He wants to get farming on the national curriculum but doesn’t have much faith in MPs.

Two years ago he visited the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street alongside Charlie Ireland, Jeremy Clarkson’s land agent, at a Farm To Fork summit to discuss supermarket supply chains and how farmers can be better supported.

Today, he has no immediate plans to revisit No. 10.

“MPs, they’re all full of s***,” he says flatly. “I firmly believe if you want something done in the world you’ve got to do it yourself.”

He hopes his new book, Kaleb’s Farmyard Tales, a collection of funny, true stories from the farm, featuring child-friendly chapters on pigs, sheep, chickens, cows, poo and, of course, tractors, will amuse and educate young readers.

Fatherhood – he also has Oscar, four and two-year-old Willa – has changed him, he agrees.

“Having kids has made me realise that it’s OK to stop for 10 minutes and just enjoy that time and make that memory with your kids.

“I wanted to be a young father and I’m very lucky to be able to do that. I work my a*** off to provide for my family, and that’s what I’ll keep doing.”

“I would be lying if I said I haven’t changed, but I have grown up,” he continues. “I’ve got three kids now. When you saw me in the first season (of Clarkson’s Farm) I had a beard and about four chest hairs.”

He recalls that he grew up prematurely, starting his first business when he was 13, after his mother bought him three chickens and he’d sell the eggs to the local community.

“I grew up way too quickly in a way, and maybe that was because my mum and dad got divorced and I decided that I would be there to help her pay the bills.”

Now, with three children of his own, he is trying to strike a bit more of a balance between work and family life.

“Beforehand, I was doing 24-hour days. Now I do 18-hour days. I’d rather work until 4am, sleep until six and then have the morning off to spend some time with the kids.”

Juggling work commitments with family is hard work, but he’s no stranger to that. “Trying to manage work, life, filming, books, charity and kids is hard work, but at the same time it’s really enjoyable. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Yet he says he would never push his children into farming.

“My dream is to go and buy my own farm. If Oscar and Willa say, ‘Look, I don’t want to be a farmer,’ that’s not a problem.”

To help educate young people in farming, he’ll be doing talks in schools and is happy to use his raised TV profile to spread the message.

“It’s an honour to have a TV show that inspires people,” he offers. “There aren’t enough of those around at the moment.”

Clarkson has become one of his best friends, although he draws the line at the suggestion he might be a father figure.

“I would say, granddad, probably,” he says cheekily. “I love the bloke to pieces. Whenever I have a problem or need some advice, I simply go and sit down with him. I hope that I teach him a little bit about farming but he teaches me about so much stuff.

“When I went on tour (Cooper took a break during series four to tour the country with his one-man show) he was telling me how he did his Top Gear days with live audiences, so I’ve got a great mentor.

“Jeremy’s been around the world. He’s done all the TV. He’s great at making TV. Watching that bloke’s brain work is unbelievable. It’s honestly mind-blowing.”

Cooper’s no-nonsense attitude was tested in the summer when he was blocked by a policeman to clear the route for JD Vance’s cavalcade, when the US vice-president was on holiday in the Cotswolds.

At the time, Cooper was transporting 14 tonnes of wheat in an open trailer in the rain.

“I wanted to get going for my wheat, which was getting wet, and I kept nudging forward. He wasn’t very happy with me, this little policeman.”

He was allowed to continue his journey half an hour later, but the wheat got wet.

“I’m going to send them a bill for drying my wheat,” he says forcefully.

For the time being, he’ll continue to juggle his contracting business, family and TV commitments, hopes to write more books and is even considering travel.

“I spend my life with the most travelled man (Clarkson), talking to the most travelled man in the world, so when we are talking, I talk farming, while he says ’Go on, you must go here’.

“And my brain starts thinking, maybe I should listen to him.”

Kaleb’s Farmyard Tales by Kaleb Cooper, illustrated by Tom Knight, is published by Wren & Rook, priced £14.99. Available now