Dairy farmers make big move down south
PROFILE: Manoj Kumar and Sumit Kamboj, 2021 NZ Share Farmers of the Year, have made their move to Methven — and yes, the grass is green down south but the weather is colder,
If the names sound familiar, it’s because I wrote about these brothers in The Country bumper edition. Manoj and Sumit, along with their staff were getting ready for the big move, from their hometown of Eketahuna, to a much larger operation down south in Methven.
For anyone who can’t quite pinpoint Methven, it is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island . It is located near the western edge of the Canterbury Plains, 35km north of Ashburton and 95km west of Christchurch.
Five months have passed, and I was keen to see how they were coping with the new challenges that were awaiting them.
Sumit said it had been busy, a bigger operation with a very wet spring.
“We have a much larger herd, a lot of learning to do, but we are loving it. The farm owners have been very supportive, and we feel very lucky to be given such a free range as to the running of this property,” he said.
“We arrived to a very well set up operation on 540 hectares with two 50-a-side milking sheds, lovely flat self-draining pasture with similar sized paddocks, which makes it an easy walk for the cows to get milked.”
The brothers have gone from milking 780 cows to a herd of 2000. With no road crossings, no underpasses to navigate and flat paddocks, their herd may be larger but their operation, easier. Plus, drier underfoot, 8-900ml in Methven compared to 2000ml on average in Eketahuna.
I asked Sumit what they missed from their time in Eketahuna. His reply was their friends, neighbours and all the great people they dealt with in Eketahuna was what they missed the most.
Technology plays a large part in enabling the brothers to achieve optimal productivity and efficient management. Using the Allflex dairy cow monitoring system, they can get the benefits across the three pillars of dairy management — reproduction, health, and nutrition. The information they get back from this system helps greatly with planning and the staff are enjoying their involvement with this technology.
Milking takes them four hours in the morning and three and a half hours in the afternoon and the results have shown good improvement in productivity.
Life has been so hectic since they arrived, they haven’t even had a chance to meet their neighbours, but that will come shortly. The brothers are both keen to join the local Young Farmers Club and some of the various discussion groups in the area, but at present they are still getting settled into their new routines and helping their staff settle in also. They employ ten staff which includes a farm assistant, herd managers and a 2IC.
For two brothers who arrived in New Zealand 11 years ago with just two suitcases in hand, their sheer hard work and determination has got them to where they are today.
And what are the brothers aiming for in the future?
They are hoping that in three years they may be in the position to buy their own farm. So, keep your eyes on The Country, I may have another article to write about Manoj and Sumit and their road to farm ownership. ■
We have amuch larger herd, a lot of learning to do, but we are loving it.