Playing to their strengths

Everyone does their bit on a farm run by a busy emergency department doctor and her husband – but farming excellence also runs in the family.

Hayden and Bridget Goble are the 2023 National Dairy Industry Award Share Farmer of the Year winners. They are equity partners in a 231ha farm at Tataramaika, Taranaki, milking 565 cows.

By Ross Nolly

Hayden and Bridget Goble made history when they won the dairy award whose inaugural winners, decades ago, were Hayden’s parents.

When the 2023 New Zealand Dairy Industry Award

National Share Farmer of the Year winners were named earlier this year, it was a history-making moment.

For winners Hayden and Bridget Goble from Taranaki, the win came 33 years after his parents, Keven and Diane Goble, won the inaugural NZDIA National Sharemilker of the Year title, as it was then known.

It is believed to be the first time in the history of the awards that the son or daughter of a previous national winner has won a national award.

The Gobles work as a family farming equity partnership with Hayden’s parents on a 231ha (200ha effective) Tataramaika farm his parents purchased in 1991 milking about 565 cows.

This is their sixth season on the farm and, with Bridget working as an Emergency Department doctor for Te Whatu Ora – Taranaki, they have become accomplished at juggling their busy work roles and raising their family. They have two children –Anne, 4, and Leonard, 2, and a new baby due to make an appearance in September.

As if life wasn’t busy enough for the couple, entering the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards made their lives a little bit more so. However, on the flip side, the breadth of the awards judging process got them to put every aspect of their business under the microscope. Having such high-calibre judges visit their farm and examine their business highlighted the areas that could be improved.

Farm Facts

• Farm owners: Kevin and Diane Goble, Hayden and Bridget Goble in equity partnership

• Location: Tataramaika, Taranaki

• Farm size: 231 ha (200ha effective), 12.5ha runoff and 2.5ha leased runoff

• Cows: 565 predominately Friesian crossbred cows.

• Production 2022-2023: 273,000kgs milk solids, 483kg MSper cow.

The win is a validation of their farming practice.

“You are judged twice for the Regionals and get to know your business very well under that scrutiny,” Bridget says.

“Your presentation improves drastically between the first and last judging. The feedback you get from each round of judging is then used to improve farm and business practices. You’d never change that much in a four-month period if it wasn’t for the judging and feedback.”

They went into the National awards with no expectations. They didn’t want their enjoyment to depend on whether they won or not.

They wanted to enjoy the experience, and winning would just be the icing on the cake.

The couple have been overwhelmed by the amount of community support they’ve received.

“We honestly didn’t think that we would win. It was exciting and overwhelming to hear our name called out. We may have won, but so many people helped us along the way,” Bridget says.

“Our staff have a WhatsApp group and they changed the cover photo to one of us with the award. They’re proud of

Continued page 10 the award because they’re part of it,” Hayden says. The couple encourage other farmers to enter the awards and stress that entrants don’t need to have the perfect farm. It’s not all about the numbers, it’s about the farmers as