Page 74 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Goodwright clan

looking forward

Tom Goodwright with Kobe, Nate, Bella and Jace on top of the hill overlooking the farm reservoir.

Words and photos: Geoff Lewis
A

decade after starting a family and taking over
a family farm, Tom and Laura Goodwright are
focusing on the future.
The Goodwrights’ 220-hectare (effective) dairy
farm is on the north side of the Waikato River
mouth, with fertile flats and easy country contrasting with hill
country and covenanted bush blocks. The sandy west coast
is not far away and a big irrigation dam keeps the property
watered during the summer dry.
Bothwell Farms milks 550 predominantly Friesian cows that
produced 262,000 kilograms of milk solids last season. The
herd is grass-fed with some supplementary feed from maize
grown on the farm flats and a palm kernel blend fed through
the milking shed.
Tom’s family has been farming in the area for more than 100
years, with the original property in the Maioro hills nearby. The white face advantage on the Goodwright’s dairy farm.
His parents Syd and Jenny Goodwright bought the current
Bothwell Park Road property 42 years ago. Tom has been contrast with Fonterra’s dairy cheque that took more than a
working full time on the farm officially since he was 15, but year to appear.
practically for some time before that. Laura also comes from a “When we bought the farm we had to buy 100 percent of the
local family, although not in the farming sector. Fonterra shares that came with it. The switch to OCD has been
“We progressed to 60:40 sharemilking in 2010. In 2017 a huge help with reducing the mortgage and with the bills
we bought 25 percent of the Bothwell Farms business and throughout the year.”
then the remainder last year,” Tom says. To improve the The Tuakau area is known as a stronghold for Herefords, with
management of the business, Tom and Laura recently moved strong, white face animals fetching good prices at the local sales.
from Fonterra to Open Country Dairy (OCD), which has greatly “In our area it has always been an attractive animal – people
eased the cashflow situation with OCD’s quarterly pays-out in talk of the white face advantage. It sets the animal apart from

72 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022