| 3 nzdairy DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS » Amaka Farms Promising win gives Jordan a boost Richard Loader Jordan Bell loves being a dairy farm manager so much he’s convinced his wife to come and join him. The first time entrant in the New Zealand Dairy Industry awards recently came runner-up in the 2025 Taranaki region, and works on Barry Goble’s 190ha Waitotara property, responsible for 530 cows. Jordan only started in the job in 2021, and worked as an engineer for three years before that, but the 29-year-old just loves his lifestyle out on the West Coast, and the way it works in with his young family. Growing up in Whanganui, it was actually his wife Sidney who got him interested in dairy farming when they first met, as she already had two years experience in the industry. “Before that I hadn’t even milked a cow,” he said. They left Whanganui and worked together on a few farms in Taupo but didn’t have great experiences so moved back to the West Coast, and tried different things. “We have been through a lot of stress in past jobs and we gave it up for eight months because it was too hard, but then I gave it another crack,” he said. Sidney was currently an AGC Training tutor in Whanganui and Jordan found a job on the Amaka Farm working for Barry’s son Ryan, who is the sharemilker. Having a great boss who looked after his animals and staff had been a game changer for Jordan, and now he can’t rate the job highly enough. “There is so many opportunities for me there and to improve on.” Situated halfway between Whanganui and Waverley, life on the coast with their young children was exactly what they needed to thrive, and now their oldest child has started at the local rural school. When Sidney joins him on the farm there will be no more travelling for work 25 minutes away, and the kids are loving the country life as well. “We want to stay here until I stop dairy farming all together,” he said, further adding that wouldn’t be anytime soon. The coastal farm is sits high enough that on a good day they can see the South Island from the property. Jordan loves being busy and staff joke that he’s always running from job to job, to get things done. “It’s a whole new world that’s for sure.” He said his hands on skills from years working as an engineer has enabled him to fix just about anything on the farm. “It’s great - you get to go home for lunch and have breakfast there too.” The Goble family provided them with a new house on the property and Jordan loved how down to earth they were, “the whole family want you to do well.” It was actually his wife Sidney who got him interested in dairy farming when they first met, as she already had two years experience. www.bakertillysr.nz/taranaki Proud to work with the Amaka Farms team Supporting them on their journey to achieve their business goals. www.taranaki-vets.co.nz Proudly supporting Amaka Farms Clinics - Stratford ▪ Manaia ▪ Hawera ▪ Patea ▪ Waverley FARM SOURCE WAVERLEY PROUD TO SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS. nzfarmsource.co.nz Jordan said he could tell the minute he started working on the farm as an assistant, that the job was right for him, and he soon progressed to manager. His bosses’ brother coaxed him into entering the awards after he won the sharemilker of the year for Taranaki last year.
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