| 15 Investing in the right staff pays off Ruwan employs eight full-time staff, and he has learned that investing in them pays off. Ruwan Wijayasena and family. Kim Bowden Ruwan Wijayasena’s journey into Kiwi dairy farming has a rather surprising starting point – Sabaragamuwa University in Sri Lanka. Here, Ruwan and wife Niranjala Gamlath earned degrees in agricultural sciences. Fast-forward several decades and Ruwan is now contract milking 2,150 cows across two properties at Hororata in Mid Canterbury. The pair’s sights were never firmly set on New Zealand, but after graduating overseas farming opportunities tempted them to leave home soil for new challenges. He started with a big employer, and worked his way up, proving himself capable of growing responsibilities. “I joined Synlait Farms in 2005 as a junior staff member,” Ruwan says. “A few years later I was managing a 500-cow farm, and then I was offered a 1,000-cow farm.” In 2013 he started contracting, on one of the farms at Hororata, which he had already been working on for four years or so. Then, in 2015, he secured the contract for the farm next door. In that time, he has grown cow numbers. “In the early days, it was 1,800, now it’s 2,150... It’s going well.” He says irrigation of previously dry paddocks has allowed the growth. “The effective hectares went up from 550 to 610.” Ruwan employs eight full-time staff, and he has learned that investing in them pays off. “It’s about finding the right person for the right job,” he says. “A few of our staff have been staying with us for many years. We have a good system of training them, looking after them, and promoting them within the business. “It’s helpful to have people stay around.” It is vital Ruwan can place faith in his crew to get the job done – whether he is onsite or not. He regularly commutes back and forth between the farms and his family home in Tai Tapu, which is approximately 40 minutes’ drive away. While Niranjal originally worked for Synlait as well, she is now a nurse at Christchurch Hospital. However, she remains an important sounding board for Ruwan when it comes to farming decisions and is a director of their company. Ruwan generally finds himself on-farm midweek and back with the family when weekends allow it. There will always be some things outside of his control on the farms, but for everything else, planning is key, he reckons. DAIRY PEOPLE » Lighthouse and Beacon Dairies “There are always the seasonality challenges, like everybody else - the weather patterns and bits and pieces. But other than that, normal day-to-day FERTILISER SPREADING | FARM MAPPING GPS TRACKING | VARIABLE RATE SPREADING LIVESTOCK CARTAGE | DAILY FREIGHT CONCRETE SUPPLIES | GRAIN CARTAGE SHINGLE SUPPLIES | FERTILISER SUPPLIES Leeston: 03 3248 070 | Dunsandel: 03 3254 039 reception@ellesmere.co.nz Cow Track Lime Supply & Lay • All Shingle Supplies • Truck & Trailer Hire • Hedge & Stump Removal Direct Drilling • Tree Shearing • Farm Tracks & Driveways • Fodderbeet Planting • Pivot Rut Filling Cultivation • Grader & Digger Work • Reversible Ploughing • Supply & Installation of Irrigation Pipe RD2 Leeston 027 534 9161 e: chris@chrisswanson.nz CULTIVATION & EXCAVATION CONTRACTORS work, we know what’s coming and we prepare for it, so the staff feel well trained and ready. We are currently working with Theland Farm Group, a great company to work with.” Ruwan is stoked to reveal milk from the farms has recently achieved Synlait’s Gold Elite certification, an accreditation scheme that acknowledges sustainable production and food safety practices – and secures a higher milk price. The family made the bold move to shift half a world away in search of satisfying careers and a rural lifestyle – and they have never looked back. “We got our first opportunity in New Zealand and, since then, we are loving it.”
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