A head for heights

Annie and Geoff Nieuwenhuis have their hands in the clouds and their hearts on the farm

ANNIE NIEUWENHUIS HAD never even tasted goat cheese back in 2006 when she told her husband Geoff that they should “get some goats and make cheese”. Now, goats and cheese-making are so integral to their life, neither can imagine it any other way. “It’s a business, but it’s also a lifestyle,” Annie says. “You have to love doing it — and we do.”

The Hawke’s Bay couple spent a decade learning their craft and breeding their herd, leaning into their shared deep love of animals, Annie’s hands-on knowledge and experience as a vet, and a desire to make the very best cheese they could. That dedication has paid off: in 2021, three years after starting to sell their products, the pair were named Champion Cheesemakers at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards. This year, ONZFPA judges reckoned their marinated “cloud” cheese was “perfection”, calling it “an impeccable product with beautiful flavour balance”.

“We have very defined roles,” Annie says. “Making the marinated cloud is a real team effort; we can do about 20 jars an hour. I’m very fussy with the balls, so I weigh and roll them, but Geoff puts them in the jar because he has better depth perception than I do.”

While the couple’s five youngadult children lend a hand when they’re home on the family’s Te Hauke farm, Annie and Geoff do everything from milking the goats to selling their cheeses at Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market on Sundays. They also get up at 3am to check pH levels on maturing curds.

“I said to Geoff a while ago, ‘What do you think retirement will be like for us?’” Annie says. “He said: ‘That would mean no goats and no cheese, so I don’t think it will happen.’ This is our life.”