New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards: Hayden and Bridget Goble win Share Farmer of the Year

A Taranaki farming couple won big at the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, after impressing judges with their strong teamwork.

Bridget and Hayden Goble won the Share Farmer of the Year award on Saturday night, at an awards dinner held in Auckland.

“There is power in their partnership,” share farmer category head judge, John Numan said.

“Their goals are aligned and they are genuinely passionate about the community in which they farm, and caring for the environment.”

While judges praised the couple’s unity, it was actually their differences that made them stronger, Bridget told The Country’s, Jamie Mackay.

Bridget is also a doctor, with a speciality in emergency medicine, so left a lot of the day-to-day farming decisions to her husband.

“That’s his area of expertise and that works well for our personalities to have quite separate roles and separate areas of leadership.”

Goble said she was involved in the financial and human resources side of the business.

The couple are 20 per cent Variable Order (VO) equity partners together with Bridget Mooney and Hayden’s parents, Kevin Goble and Diane Goble, on their 200ha, 565-cow New Plymouth property.

Hayden, who graduated from Telford in 2005 with a Diploma in Agriculture, said the arrangement was good for farm succession.

“I’ve got two other brothers, so it keeps it nice and clear being in an equity partnership. It’s easier for us to increase our shareholdings through the next few years to hopefully get to the end goal of owning the whole thing.”

Winning New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards runs in the family as well, as Kevin and Diane were the inaugural Sharemilker of the Year recipients back in 1990.

The Gobles’ farm is 20 minutes south of New Plymouth, on the periphery of Mount Taranaki.

“We’re about halfway between the mountain and the sea and the farm runs up to the National Park,” Goble said.

Although it was “a nice spot,” he said the farm had “challenging contours”.

“We’ve got about a third of the farm which we can’t get a tractor over, so you’ve got to make sure you’ve got your pasture management well in line.”

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Judges noticed the couple’s efforts in this area, with DairyNZ’s Steve Canton saying they “anticipate growth rates and make adjustments where needed”.

Goble was keen to show the judges his unique approach to pasture management.

“I guess one thing I tried to portray to them was that some people think it’s a science, but I call it an art.”

He said monitoring stock was an important part of the process.

“We’re consistently watching the cows … [they] usually tell you what they need – if they need more feed, they will let you know pretty quickly.”

Along with the national title, the Gobles have won over $69,000 in prizes.

Bridget said it was great timing, with rising on-farm costs eating into the payout.

“So it will be good for our bottom line to have all that money back in the business.”

New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards winners

2023 New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year

Winner – Hayden and Bridget Goble, Taranaki

Runner-up – Aleisha Broomfield, Waikato

Third – Jonathon and Stacey Hoets, Canterbury/North Otago

2023 New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year

Winner – Jack Symes, Canterbury/North Otago

Runner-up – José Hamber, Manawatū

Third – Finja Philips, Auckland/Hauraki

2023 New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year

Winner – Bill Hamilton, Northland

Runner-up – Brayden Johnston, Canterbury/North Otago

Third – Sarah Powell, Manawatū

2023 Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award

Cameron Henderson, Canterbury/North Otago