A Bay of Plenty farmer has moved onwards and upwards in a new role in a different location since enjoying rich success at last year\u2019s New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.<\/p>\n
Thomas Lundman won the 2025 Bay of Plenty Dairy Manager of the Year title and went on to place second in the same category at the national final.<\/p>\n
Going into the awards programme last year, he was managing a 135ha Whakat\u0101ne farm, milking 530 cows.<\/p>\n
On June 1, 2025 however, the 28-year-old took on a contract milking position with 1100 cows and a 44-a-side herringbone shed on a 290ha dairy farm near Kawerau.<\/p>\n
With his wife Alice Lundman, a personal assistant at Apex Home Loans in Whakat\u0101ne, Thomas Lundman employs five fulltime staff.<\/p>\n
His ambition has always been to move up the dairy industry ladder, with a sharemilking position now in the five-year plan, followed by farm ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on our way up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lundman said he was actually \u201cshoulder-tapped\u201d for the Kawerau contract-milking job at a pasture summit two years ago.<\/p>\n
However, he wanted to first gain experience as a farm manager on a smaller-scale property.<\/p>\n
Originally from Southland, his parents were contract milkers before moving to Te Anau when Lundman was 12.<\/p>\n
He attended Fiordland College before working as a tour guide and later team leader for five years at the Te Anau Glowworm Caves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from herding tourists to herding cows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Career change<\/p>\n
After Covid struck, with its devastating effect on tourism, Lundman looked at joining the police force in 2020.<\/p>\n
However, a \u201chalfway job\u201d working on a dairy farm in Bay of Plenty turned into a fulltime career.<\/p>\n
This also brought them closer to his wife\u2019s family near Whakat\u0101ne.<\/p>\n
Lundman was the first recipient of the Farm-Starter Kit, a national initiative by Federated Farmers and the Ministry of Social Development to help people made jobless by Covid-19 disruption to get into work in agriculture.<\/p>\n
After less than six months\u2019 farming, he heard about the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards at a Pie Day Friday event hosted by Farm Source.<\/p>\n
An entrants\u2019 evening seemed particularly attractive as it offered free beer and pizza at a local brewery.<\/p>\n
Lundman has competed in the awards four times, twice each as a dairy trainee and dairy manager, making the nationals on two occasions.<\/p>\n
This year, he is part of the Bay of Plenty organising committee but plans to have a crack at the shar farmer title in 2027.<\/p>\n
He is working on his Primary ITO Dairy Apprenticeship (level 4) and then hopes to complete a Diploma in Agri-Business Management.<\/p>\n
Lundman said the Dairy Industry Awards \u201cfast-tracked\u201d his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the number one way to get opportunities to progress in the sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour get your name out there, even as an entrant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lundman said most farm jobs are still filled by word-of-mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Dairy Industry Awards provides you with an excellent network of connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Networking opportunities<\/p>\n
\u201cI found that networking with people all over the country and making connections for advice to be super beneficial,\u201d Lundman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning categories has opened doors for me that I never would have imagined and has given me the confidence that I\u2019m good enough to take the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI chose farming as it was a stable job in a not-so-stable time and has a clear path of progression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lundman looked forward to New Zealand leading the way in environmental standards and also in the wearables technology sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m most excited about the future that farming could provide for me and my family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can knuckle down, work hard, then I\u2019ll achieve my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the step up in scale with the contract milking position did not start without its challenges last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the toughest six months [from June 1] of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calving at Kawerau started on June 15, compared to mid-July on the Whakat\u0101ne property he previously managed.<\/p>\n
Illness and staff issues added to the difficult start.<\/p>\n
But Lundman said the learning and education he received in that first six months has proved priceless.<\/p>\n
He said the situation has \u201ccome right\u201d in the new year.<\/p>\n
Farm records have been tidied up and he now does not have to focus on \u201cfighting fires\u201d in other aspects of the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can start being proactive rather than reactive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lundman said he and his wife have always had a \u201cfamily-first\u201d approach and maintain a healthy work\/life balance with 1-year-old son Asher Lundman.<\/p>\n
Alice Lundman\u2019s family also live less than 10 minutes away from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not worth having the best business in the world if it comes at the expense of doing the things that you enjoy,\u201d Thomas Lundman said.<\/p>\n
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