There has been a member of Tarj Singh's family dairy farming in the Waikato since 1913.

Today Tarj and his wife Raman are proud third generation farmers. Their three children Savanna 28, Sarj 23, and Sanjana 12 have all been encouraged to pursue their own careers, but they all have a fierce loyalty to their family heritage and view their lives as inextricably part of the farm.

The first family member to emigrate to New Zealand initially broke in land and dairy farmed in the Thames area. Their children remained in New Zealand when their parents returned to India. Tarj's grandfather kept upsizing his farms, finally settling in Gordonton for many years.

Tarj's father worked at the dairy factory and his two uncles ran the farm.

'My twin brother Balraj and I loved helping our uncles on the farm, and when they went to Australia when we were 15, we decided to take on the milking for our grandfather,” Tarj says.

'We got up at 4.30am, milked, ate and went to school, sometimes in our overalls. Most days, Mum brought the cows in ready for when we got home, then we did the afternoon milking.”

Farm and family

In 1992 Tarj went over to India to marry Raman and the family say he asked her one question when he met her, 'will you milk cows?”.

Luckily Raman had grown up on an arable farm in India and was more than happy to move to New Zealand with her new husband and milk cows.

The couple owned and sold two farms before moving to their current farm at Tauhei in 2014. The flat, 95ha farm has a mixture of clay and consolidated peat soils which comfortably accommodates 250 Holstein Friesian cows.

'We have a stocking rate of 2.6 cows per hectare which suits our land and takes into account our big cows. The cows are also well fed, so they spend less time walking around foraging and damaging the pasture.”

Tarj's grandfather had a 'nice” herd of Holsteins, so Tarj and Raman bought Holsteins as their first herd. Using AI and embryo transfer, the family have been incorporating overseas genetics into their herd and all their cows are registered.

The farm is a System 2-3, and the herd is fed all-year-round on the feedpad. About 450 tonnes of maize is grown on-farm, along with grass silage, and PK is brought in.

A rye grass and clover mixture pasture grows well on the land yielding an expected annual milk production of 125,000 kg/MS.

Calving is split, but each season it is being adjusted until it is fully autumn calving.

'It's better to dry the cows off in mid to late Feb as milking in 30 degrees isn't pleasant for the cows or the people milking. The cows still milk well in lower temperatures as our winters are becoming milder,” says son, Sarj.

Taking a stroll through the farm is, from left; Sanjana, Sarj, Jas Gill, Savanna Gill, Tarj and Raman.

Wider horizons

While Tarj and Raman are still managing the farm between them, they have encouraged their children to go out into the world and get degrees and careers off farm as the farm will always be there.

'I worked on the farm as a child, but I went to uni and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Analysis, majoring in Economics and Agribusiness. It's led to me working for Fonterra and then as a rural and a business banker,” Savanna says.

She now lives in Auckland with her husband Jas, who came off a dairy farm in India. He also has a keen interest in farming, but for now, both are working in the financial sector.

Sarj didn't know what he wanted to do after school, so he attended Massey University and graduated with an Agribusiness degree.

'When I'd finished university, I realised that I actually did have a passion for farming. I'm currently working at Open Country Dairy as a Milk Supply Manager. I work part time on the farm, but I love meeting people and learning as I go in my day job,” says Sarj.

Twelve-year-old Sanjana is considering becoming a vet when she leaves school.

The children describe Tarj and Raman as 'old school farmers who work really hard”, and their parents are happy to have leave the paperwork side of things to Savanna and Sarj.

Sarj is keen on bringing in new ideas and technology and is very much involved in the running of the farm, although implementing change can result in robust discussion with his parents.

The fourth generation is committed to the growth and continuity of their family farm.

'While I may never work on the farm myself, it's our family's legacy and we would never sell it. Who knows what the future holds, but one thing we do know is that we will always be part of it,” says Savanna.