| 27 nzdairy DAIRY AWARDS » Blake Cameron: Cameron Family Farm Lost for words after unexpected win Karen Phelps Blake (second left) is fifth generation on the family farm in South Taranaki, ten minutes north of Hawera. www.taranaki-vets.co.nz Clinics - Stratford · · Manaia Hawera Patea · · Waverley Proud to support Cameron Family Farm When Blake Cameron was announced the winner of the Dairy Manager of the Year Award for the Taranaki Region at the 2023 NZ Dairy Industry Awards he was speechless. “I usually try and work out who has won by the merit awards so when I didn’t get third place or second I thought I hadn’t placed anywhere. So when my name was read out as the winner the speech I had planned before the competition went out of my head,” he says with a laugh. One important person’s support he regrets he forgot to acknowledge due to the unexpected nature of the win was his fiancée Hanna Russell, an early childhood teacher at Eltham, who he will marry in April next year. He also reiterates the win was equally rewarding for his parents Christine and Hugh. “They encouraged me every day to do the best I could on the farm so for someone from the outside to recognise I’m doing well is great for them too.” Blake is fifth generation on the family farm in South Taranaki, ten minutes north of Hawera. The 73ha effective unit typically milks a herd of 250 Jersey/Jersey cross cows. Blake grew up on the farm and completed an agricultural science degree at Massey University in 2016. He then worked at Wanganui Vet Services as part of the heifer grazing team before returning to the family farm in 2021 as farm manager. He’s now in his third season and last year placed third in the NZ Dairy Industry Awards, which made this year’s win even sweeter. Blake works alongside his father on the farm doing the planning and management with Hugh, filling in as needed and doing the calf rearing. Blake also took out the Dairy Trust Taranaki Pasture & Feed Management Award and, considering the main focus on the farm is pasture, he says he was “pretty stoked” to win that particular accolade. “The farm is a system 3-4 but we always use grass first. I walk the farm every week to help plan ahead and have made an Excel spreadsheet to allocate break sizes and supplement input for each mob during calving and winter. “I also use an app on my phone to work out break sizes and coordinates for areas. This all helps to ensure all animals are fully fed. We have just bought a run off, which will be used for wintering half the herd, raising all young stock, growing maize and harvesting bulk silage,” says Blake. Since taking on the farm manager role Blake has made some small, yet important changes. A drafting gate has helped enhance efficiency and he is focusing on breeding heading towards a crossbreed to keep similar production and feed but milk fewer cows. “We have a very good BW herd in the top 5% for BW. So it’s about fine tuning the system without sacrificing BW.” A few sexed semen straws were used for the first time with good result – out of 27 cows 21 held. The aim is to try to get more heifer calves in the first couple of weeks to give more selection of heifer calves and produce fewer bobby calves as a secondary benefit. The overall drive is for efficiency with the future in mind and Blake running the farm on his own one day as Hugh edges closer to retirement. Last year under Blake’s leadership the farm had record production of 110,000kgsMS. “I had a ten year goal when I first started, to be sharemilking by 2031. By winning the competition this year my name’s out there for maybe a 50:50 or sharemilking role to grow my business. Our farm is small so whether we grow this farm or I take on additional jobs remains to be seen.”
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