increase font size
Sian Madden and Mark Roberts, West Coast/Top of the South Share Farmer of the Year winners.
First time entrants, Sian Madden and Mark Roberts were recently named winners of the Share Farmer of the Year category at this month's West Coast/Top of the South Dairy Industry Awards.
The couple are contract milkers and 20% sharemilkers on Stu and Jan Moir's farms in Reefton, milkig 1,300 cows across the Moirs' two properties.
"It still feels pretty surreal, it's just sinking in," Madden told Dairy News.
"It's an amazing achievement and we're both incredibly proud of ourselves and our team around us," she says.
The couple formed Madden Roberts Farming in 2019. The pair took on their first contract in that year and within six months were offered the opportunity to take on a second farm.
Madden says that while her partner grew up around sharemilking and the dairy industry - his parents were sharemilkers - the same cannot be said for herself.
"I only set foot on a dairy farm when I met Mark, so I come from a completely different background."
Madden says one of the challenges the couple have faced is the location.
"It's a fairly different remote climate and we're adapting to the lifestyle... and now we love it," she says.
Madden says that a personal challenge for her was learning the language specific to the dairy industry.
She says the pair play to their strengths within the business.
"Both of us have been able to use our skills and mine are in accounting and administration so we both use our skills and what we love and put them both into the business."
Looking to the future, Madden says the couple aim to own their own farm.
"We are working towards farm ownership and know what we need to get there."
Other winners at the West Coast/Top of the South Island Dairy Industry include Rachael Lind (Dairy Manager of the Year) and Sam Smithers (Dairy Trainee of the Year).
The West Coast/Top of the South Dairy Industry Awards winners field day will be held on April 7 in Reefton.
As the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards night unfolded, it became evident that Waikato’s Thomas and Fiona Langford were the frontrunners for the biggest prize of the night – the 2025 Share Farmers of the Year award.
Tasman sharemilkers Warric and Rachel Johnson haven't let the 2006 milk payout crash put them out of business.
OPINION: Results of regional New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) are trickling in but there's a worrying trend emerging.
The winner of the 2025 Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards enjoys the variety of work farming offers and the ability to improve each season.
Coronet Peak, Queenstown, was the venue for the 2024 NZ Dairy Industry Awards.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.
OPINION: Just what falls out of the coalition’s plan to reform local government and environment law is anyone’s guess.
Farmers appear to be cautiously welcoming the Government’s plan to reform local government, according to Ag First chief executive, James Allen.
The Fonterra divestment capital return should provide “a tailwind to GDP growth” next year, according to a new ANZ NZ report, but it’s not “manna from heaven” for the economy.
Fonterra's Eltham site in Taranaki is stepping up its global impact with an upgrade to its processed cheese production lines, boosting capacity to meet growing international demand.
Canterbury farmer Michelle Pye has been elected to Fonterra’s board for a three-year term.
OPINION: The rural sector is set to receive some good news from the Government this week.
OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been on a charm offensive with farmers.
