‘We all work as a team’: Bartella graduate finds success in home dairy business

NINEVEH — Rivan Adnan, a business administration graduate from Bartella in Nineveh governorate, has built a thriving home-based dairy business that now supplies several local shops and attracts long waiting lists from customers.

Adnan, who runs a small family farm raising cows, chickens, and turkeys, said his passion for farming began early. “I’ve loved this work since childhood,” he told 964media. “My grandmother used to have a cow and I would help her milk it.”

Although he holds a university degree, Adnan said he prefers farm life to an office job. His cows produce between 50 and 60 kilograms of milk daily, which he and his family turn into cheese and yogurt for sale in Bartella.

Demand for his products is strong. “We have customers who reserve cheese 15 to 30 days ahead — sometimes even earlier,” he said, explaining that he keeps a ledger of orders and delivers directly to homes after completing his farm work.

Prices are steady at 8,000 dinars ($6) per kilogram for cheese, 6,000 dinars ($4) for traditional crumbled “lor” cheese, and 1,500 dinars ($1) for yogurt. Adnan said his customers value the natural quality of his products. “I don’t have a brand or label,” he said. “But people know my products by their taste and cleanliness.”

His daily routine begins at dawn — 6 a.m. in winter and 4 a.m. in summer. Cheese is prepared by heating milk to 42°C, adding a starter agent, and pressing the curds into molds. “My wife, father, and even my children help. We all work as a team,” he said.

Adnan said he now hopes to expand his herd and eventually create an official brand for his dairy products.