Hard work and sacrifices<\/p>\n
In India, Jas was a fourth-generation dairy farmer from an area with 550+ years of farming history since the era of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.<\/p>\n
Their 15-hectare farm supported 25 milking cows. <\/p>\n
Large high-production Friesians produced 50 litres each a day across three milkings, and buffalo were milked twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hand-milked cows lived in sheds with a small outside area,\u201d Jas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grew crops like maize, sugar cane, wheat and rice. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn winter, our cows ate maize silage and clover; during summer, we cut and chopped fresh green crops daily for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
After learning English in 2014, Jas was initially looking at Australia to study farming, but after some internet searches, he decided \u201cNew Zealand had a better climate and looked beautiful\u201d.<\/p>\n
He came over, leaving his future wife, Preeti, in India. <\/p>\n
It was three years before he could afford to go back, marry her and bring her to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
During those three years, Jas worked hard at his 1.5-year course of Applied Technology Dairy Farming, which covers Levels 2 to 5. <\/p>\n
\u201cI learned how to speak English like a Kiwi while I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farming in New Zealand<\/p>\n
Jas Singh Mander left his family\u2019s dairy farm in Northern India for Rotorua in 2015. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
After completing the course successfully, he moved on to a work visa and worked as a trainee on a production system 5, 1600-cow farm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very nervous as to how that many cows were milked and managed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started with calf rearing and relief milking, but soon became more confident and began to ask lots of questions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot about milk quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jas\u2019s second position was assistant herd manager on a production system 2, 1200-cow farm, where he learned pasture management, animal health, feed plans, cropping, and the financial side of production. <\/p>\n
This knowledge gained him a 2IC position on a 700-cow farm in Tokoroa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed there for four years, and it was a great opportunity. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe contract milker Geert Dings had a passion for training people in the industry. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really good set-up, well planned and prioritising animal health, effluent management and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He completed his Primary ITO Level 3 and 4, Milk Quality Stages 1 and 2. <\/p>\n
Career-driven Jas applied unsuccessfully for a farm manager position but was offered a 2IC position at P\u0101mu Farms with a 1700-cow Endeavour Dairy Unit in March 2022. <\/p>\n
Three months in, the farm manager position became available, and Jas was offered the role, receiving support from Sam Bunny and Chris Robinson. <\/p>\n
Jas is currently doing Level 5 Production Management.<\/p>\n
Farm management<\/p>\n
The 9.8 million litre effluent pond irrigates 220-hectares of the P\u0101mu farm. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2025, we are a high-input, system 5, 2000-cow farm on 835ha [800 effective],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are nine full-time staff, and we are winter milking with autumn calving.\u201d<\/p>\n
After increasing the herd by 300 cows to 2000, Jas is now looking to increase the cows\u2019 BW\/PW, remembering the high production big Friesians he hand-milked in India.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis farm is flat with 15% rolling. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur Kiwi cross-Friesian content is currently F7 to F8, but the land can cope with F11 cows of up to 520 kilogrammes live weight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jas aims to increase individual cow production of 385kg\/MS in the 2025\/2026 season to 400kg\/ms in the 2026\/2027 season. <\/p>\n
The overall milk solid target is 750,000 kg\/ms.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo support the winter milking system and 13% re-grassing each year, we grow 47ha of kale, 24ha of maize, 100ha of oats and 500 tonne\/DM grass silage for winter feed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor dry cows over summer, 24ha of turnips are grown. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe farm\u2019s annual grass growth produces 9 tonne\/DM per ha.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bought in supplements include 1400 tonne\/DM custom mix grain, 650 tonne\/DM lucerne, 500 tonne\/DM maize silage and 300 tonne\/DM grass silage.<\/p>\n
Jas has improved cow comfort and reduced lameness by applying stock rock on the races. <\/p>\n
The underpass, which was prone to flooding, has been concreted, diverting water to the 9.8 million litre effluent pond, which irrigates 220ha of the farm.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest goal next season is to concrete our silage site and channel any leaching into the effluent pond.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hard work and sacrifices In India, Jas was a fourth-generation dairy farmer from an area with 550+ years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33322,2546,7224,5972,380,32255,3233,14934,78,2344,99331,22055,101,99333,99332,111,43,139,7977,69,1118,58990,381,22498,99334,3502,61],"class_list":["post-148366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-33322","tag-awardwinning","tag-dairy","tag-day","tag-decade","tag-familys","tag-farm","tag-farming","tag-in","tag-india","tag-jas","tag-leads","tag-left","tag-mander","tag-manders","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northern","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-punjab","tag-region","tag-singh","tag-stifling","tag-success","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}