Women in agribusiness – Eden Ritchie

Best of both worlds

By Cheyenne Nicholson

A Culverden farmer who enjoys the feeling of being feminine and pampered has a beauty business set among cows and paddocks.

When a Culverden dairy farmer was first starting her farming career, she was met with many challenges as she worked her way up the ladder. From paying off debt, navigating motherhood and the sometimes volatile dairy industry – she’s done it all. Now, she’s gearing up for her next challenge – starting a business from scratch.

Eden Ritchie and her husband Salem are contract milkers on a 950-cow farm at Rotherham and on the side, she runs a beauty salon from her home while juggling study, the farm, family and clients.

Growing up, her life wasn’t always easy. Family life was difficult at times and she bounced from school to school as the family moved around, experiencing a mix of town and farm along the way. It was a challenging time for a young Eden who had to figure out the path she wanted to take.

“There were a lot of family conflicts, from my parents’ divorce to extended family issues. When I was younger I thought university might have been my path, but I quickly deduced that the classroom environment just didn’t work for me. I didn’t have a lot of stability in my life, and at 17 years old farming to me seemed like the epitome of stability and security,” Eden says.

In 2014 she left her high school job as a checkout operator at New World Ngaruawahia to move to Dargaville to try dairy farming. She started calf rearing before shifting into relief milking and farm assistant work. To help educate herself further, she completed a year-long agricultural course through NorthTec. In hindsight, she says that Primary ITO might have been a better fit and had a broader offering, but at the time, she was just keen to soak up everything she could about the industry.

And that she did. Come 2016 she started a position as a farm assistant on the 500-cow farm in Dargaville. In her third season on the farm and largely on a whim, she decided to enter the Dairy Industry Awards for Northland in the dairy trainee category.

“I entered to benchmark myself against others in the industry and keep trying to hone my skills. My confidence is something I lacked at the time, so I didn’t think I’d have a chance of placing, let alone winning,” she says.

In the first time in the history of the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, women took out the top three spots for the dairy trainee category, with Eden grabbing top spot. It was a huge achievement so early on in her career and was the ticket to meeting her now husband.

“For the National Awards programme we did a tour in Southland/Otago, and I sat next to a guy on the minibus everywhere we went on the study tour, and now we’re married and have two children.”

Salem lived in Canterbury at the time. The two spent many hours messaging and hopping on flights to visit each other before she landed a job in Ashburton as a dairy assistant on an 800-cow farm. The job was a great step up for her and a chance for her to expand her farming knowledge.

“I had wanted to leave Northland for a while and get a chance to experience different farm systems. The farm I worked on was for the Rylib Group, who were amazing to work for,” she says.

Life is busy for Eden Ritchie who contract milks on a 950-cow farm at Culverden, as well as running a home-based beauty salon.

“I’ve always enjoyed beauty and the feeling of being feminine and pampered. It’s a nice switch from the feeling of masculinity that I feel on-farm.”

The move down to the South Island was costly, though. She brought down her car and clothes, a $5000 student loan, a $12,000 car loan, a $3000 personal loan and $2000 credit card debt. Add to that needing to set up a new house, her debt began to mount up.

“I would have loved to have done more seasons working for Rylib and get that debt paid down, but I got pregnant pretty soon after moving down,” she says.

Parental leave payments helped keep things afloat and come 2019, with threemonth-old Cullen in tow, she got a job milk harvesting on an 800-cow farm. Milking twice-a-day on a six-on, two-off roster, Cullen was set up in his portacot in the office while she milked.

“My focus when I first moved down was paying as much of my debts as possible. By the time Cullen was born I still had around $10,000 worth of debt, so I had to prioritise my money when setting up a new house and for a new baby,” she says.

Not long after Cullen arrived, she fell pregnant with her second child, Lily, who arrived in 2020. With the arrival of a second child, she was nervous about her freedom and ability to work with two kids in tow instead of just one.

“I really struggled with the thought of being completely financially dependent on Salem. I wanted to save for a tummy tuck as I was conscious about my postpartum body. I had caesareans with both kids, and my body struggled with recovery after both with infections, and I was left with a lot of excess skin that I wanted rid of,” she says.

Like many people who work the land, the idea of sitting at home with two babies wasn’t a stimulating thought for her, so she decided to put an ad up on

Eden met husband Salem while on a study tour for the Dairy Industry Awards national programme. Several months later she moved south and they are now married and have two children. Salem with Cullen and Eden with Lily.

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Lashes and Beauty by Eden offers lash extensions, brows and waxing and is a place where clients can relax and feel pampered. The home-based salon is run out of the sleepout on the Ritchie’s farm, but the goal is to grow and expand into a commercial building in the city, complete with employees and a wider service offering, within the next two years.

FarmSource to see what was out there. She landed a job milking 1000 cows twice-a-day and like her brother before her, Lily was set up in a portacot in the kitchen area with a baby monitor while she milked.

“Cullen had started preschool by this time, which was great timing. So every day I’d pack up Lily and we’d go milking, while Salem would sort out Cullen until I got home. It was a juggle, but we managed. Through this job I had managed to finally clear all my debt and was able to start saving a large proportion of my pay,” she says.

The couple saved over $12,000 in six months, which put them in a position where they could start comfortably looking for their next opportunity – contract milking. Today, they are contract milking 950 cows on a farm in Rotherham. The high-input farm is home to Holstein Friesians and milks twice-aday year-round with winter milk.

“Being young and fresh into contract milking, this has been an amazing job so far. We have three staff, one being my brother. There’s a lot to love about the farm. Our main goal this year is to beat last season’s production and have a smooth season ahead,” she says.

With her feet firmly under the desk on-farm, Eden has been working on becoming more involved in the dairy industry. She recently started the process of becoming a volunteer for Dairy Women’s Network. While she’s excited about its opportunities, she admits she’s also a bit nervous.

“After being super reclusive for the last few years while we focused on babies and paying off debt, I’ve become more of an introvert and can be quite shy, but I’m really wanting to start to meet new people. It’s a big effort for me,” she says.

Helping with her goal of meeting new people and of wanting to become even more financially secure by having multiple business ventures, she launched her own business, Lashes and Beauty by Eden, which offers lash extensions, brows and waxing.

“I’ve always enjoyed beauty and the feeling of being feminine and pampered. It’s a nice switch from the feeling of masculinity that I feel on-farm. I wanted to be immersed in beauty and feel like a fabulous woman on the inside and outside and feel more confident,” she says.

Initially she thought she would have to invest in a year’s full-time study to pursue her passion for beauty, meaning full-time childcare, petrol and everything else. After some searching, she found some shorter module courses that cover specific areas of study within beauty, which suited her and enabled her to juggle study with farm work and start her business based on those skills.

“It was difficult in some respects whether or not to pursue outside interests like my beauty business. Our long-term goal is farm ownership, so sometimes it feels like I shouldn’t be pursuing my business and focusing on the farm business. But I’ve spent years wanting to do it, but I kept holding myself back from it, so I figured there’s no reason I can’t do both,” she says.

The home-based salon is run out of their sleepout but she hopes to grow her business and expand into a commercial building in the city, complete with employees and a wider service offering, within the next two years.

“The ultimate goal is to build my business into a reputable brand and provide clients with a one-stop pampering spot. Right now, I’m in that early stage of growing a client base and getting my head around marketing myself. I’m reasonably confident that with time that will come. Consistency and upskilling often should provide good compound growth,” she says.

Social media and good word of mouth

“There’s a lot to love about the farm. Our main goal this year is to beat last season’s production and have a smooth season ahead.”

will play a key role in achieving the growth needed to warrant renting a commercial space and grow from a sole operator to an employer.

Writing down her goals and creating plans to reach them have played a key role in how she’s run the business so far. She’s also utilised tools from the dairy industry like the smart planning wheel from DairyNZ and sought help and advice from other sources.

“I’ve reached out to the regional business partners for support as soon as I decided this was something I wanted to pursue. They’ve been a good help with opening my eyes to the opportunities available to small business owners in terms of training and mentor networks,” she says.

Over the course of the last eight years she has created (and still creating) a stable, happy life for herself and her family with the dairy industry playing a huge role. While often times it’s been a juggle, having solid routines has helped her manage it all, as has ensuring she has time for herself.

“Having time alone is critical for me. I’m very much an introvert and tend to feel overwhelmed at times with motherhood, marriage and all the rest, so that alone time and having a routine are what keep me going,” she says.

She’s proven that you don’t have to be raised on a dairy farm to be successful in the industry and that motherhood needn’t hold you back from your goals. She’s excited for this next chapter of her journey and encourages other women in the industry to follow their own passions.

“Think about what you’d do if you had all the money in the world and do that. Do what makes you happy,” she says. n

Salem with Lily and Cullen check out the herd. He has been a great support helping with the children whenever needed.

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