Why Ruth wants Christmas 2016 to be extra special

Everyone hopes for familial joy and harmony at Christmas, but for Ruth this year it’s more important than ever. That’s because last year she wasn’t with her family for Christmas, she was on the other side of the world.

Ruth’s announcement in November 2015 that she was going to New Zealand came out of the blue for David. But for Ruth it was the result of many months of feeling ill at ease at Brookfield.

Feeling shut out

2015 was a traumatic year for Ruth with her mother’s decline in health and then heart-breaking death on her way to Brookfield. Ruth, an only child, fought for Heather to live in the Archer household. This ruffled the feathers of Jill who had to move out to make way for the other mother-in-law. Sadly, as Ruth drove Heather from Prudhoe to Ambridge, Heather had a stroke and died.

Ruth returned to Brookfield grieving and exhausted. While she recovered, David and Pip worked together on running the farm but to Ruth it felt like they had closed ranks and she felt shut out. An anxiety of not being wanted at Brookfield runs deep for Ruth. She has always struggled to feel fully integrated into the family, despite having three children and jointly-running the original Archer family farm, and has come up against Jill on many occasions.

As winter set in last year, Ruth confided in Usha about her frustrations at Brookfield, tracing them back to her miscarriage in 2014. Triggered by something Kenton said about David's sense of entitlement, Ruth wondered whether she and David were no longer right for one another.

New Zealand

When Pip made an offhand comment about a place becoming available on a New Zealand trip with the Felpersham Dairy Discussion Group, Ruth jumped at the chance to get away from it all. Her departure depressed David and to make matters a kick from a cow caused him a broken arm. They spent their anniversary apart and then came the final blow of Ruth deciding to stay on in New Zealand over Christmas. All the while, it was looking less and less viable for Brookfield to stay in dairy.

Ruth’s return came on New Year’s Eve and David worried about breaking it to her that they’d have to sell their dairy herd. The next day Ruth called a family summit in the Brookfield kitchen. Inspired by her time in New Zealand, she had an idea for how they continue to produce milk: forget about yields and focus on producing better milk. In order to do that Brookfield had to change to a pasture-based system and a spring-calving herd. It was a big change but Ruth won her case.

Find out more about Ruth's changes for Brookfield's dairy

A year on, David and Ruth’s relationship has healed and together they’ve taken Brookfield through the changes it’s needed to make to stay in dairy. What better way for them to celebrate they're accomplishments than with a thoroughly happy family Christmas.