NB Samjad
NB Samjad of Kochi’s Kakkanad with his 30 cattle in a dairy farm is ‘milking the success’. The 25-year-old youngster after, completing B Com, is broke the conventional idea of finding white-collar jobs by engaging in something he is interested in. From washing cattle to milking them, Samjad is equipped himself to do anything in the farm. His work starts from the dawn and it includes cow dung collection, cattle shed cleaning, distribution of milk, grass cutting and the making of allied dairy products.
In a day, he milks around 200 litres. No machines are used and he himself milks the cattle. Though his mother, brother, sister-in-law and an aide have been helping Samjad in his errands, most of the activities in the farm are done by himself. Last year, he even received Youngest Dairy Farmer Award from the Edappilly Dairy Development board.
Notably, his grandfather and father were into cattle rearing. Samjad took up the occupation when his father had a spinal cord issue.
As there was not enough space near the house for maintaining cattle, he took 18 cents of land for lease near the old Infopark Police station. The cows are of Jersey, HF, Sindhi and indigenous-cross varieties. Apart from them, he also rears buffalos.
Samajad has gained expertise in cattle rearing and many dairy farmers approach him for scientific inputs. 80 litres of milk daily is given to Chittethukara Dairy Producers Society. The remaining milk is distributed to customers of the farm and is also used for preparing dairy products like ghee, curd and buttermilk.
He wishes to pursue higher studies and is trying to find time for that.