Gippsland dairy farmer Steph Goode wins emerging Jersey master breeder award

Steph Goode has been a fan of the Jersey breed since childhood. Now her work in dairy has been recognised at a national level.

A namesake Jersey cow that she cared for as a child propelled Steph Goode into a career working with top quality cattle.

Along with husband Rod, the owner-operators of Boronia Ridge Jerseys at Poowong North have been named by Jersey Australia as the inaugural winner of its Emerging Breeders award.

Steph’s parents Neville and Sandy Carfrae had a half-Friesian, half-Jersey herd and whether by luck or design, the budding farmer ended up with raising a caramel-coloured cow.

“Growing up on a dairy farmer, Mum and Dad would name the Jerseys alphabetically – As and Bs and Cs,” Steph said.

“One was named Stephanie. It’s a little bit hazy about whether the cow was named after me, or I was just gifted it by Mum and Dad, but I ended up keeping tabs on her and all or daughters and granddaughters.

“Even up to now, we have descendants of hers in our own herd, so it’s been a long-running thing for our family.”

Along with the Goodes, Darryn Hourigan’s Darrynvale Jerseys from Milawa in North East Victoria and Trevor Saunders and Anthea Day’s Araluen Park Jerseys from Shady Creek in Gippsland were announced as Jersey Australia’s new Master Breeders on the organisation’s honour board.

Poowong North farmer Steph Goode was recently awarded the Emerging Master Breeders award by Jersey Australia. Photo: Zoe Phillips.

Steph said the Jersey breed was coming back into vogue with farmers, with growing recognition of its on-farm potential.

“Every breed has their pluses and minuses – we obviously see great value with Jerseys. The butterfat side of things is a big plus but it’s good to have that variety in the herd,” she said.

The Emerging Breeder award was introduced this year is based on 10 years’ continuous membership, registering at least 100 animals a year under the breeder prefix, breeding two or more cows scoring 90 or more in classification and the breeder must have started genomic testing.