6 | nzdairy DAIRY AWARDS » Rene Ten Bolscher - Clarence Stolte Persistence pays off for manager Hawke’s Bay Dairy Manager of the Year, Rene Ten Bolscher (right) shares the podium with other regional winners. Randall Johnston It was Rene ten Bolscher’s third time entering the Dairy Manager of the Year Award for Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa, but first time winning, earning his family $6,450 in prizes, three merit awards and industry recognition on March 5. He is thrilled at being recognised by the judges in this way, but equally relived that his hard work is starting to pay off. Rene has now achieved Primary ITO Level 2 Milk Quality and Weeds, Level 3 Agriculture and is a certified AI technician. “I am thankful to Clarence and my wife for encouraging me to enter really.” Rene did quite a bit of dairy farming before landing his current role on Clarence Stolte’s property and also worked as a builder for a time. “The plan when Clarence first called me was for only one season but it’s just evolved from there and I’m really enjoying it. We have a really young staff so there is a leadership aspect for sure and I have learnt so much over the last five seasons myself.” Rene has his own lifestyle property about 4 minutes drive from the farm, so it’s very handy location-wise. “Clarence is Dutch too, we go to the same church and I met him shortly after I first arrived in New Zealand from the east of Holland in 2012. Rene’s brother came to New Zealand in 2010 and worked on the same dairy farm as where Rene started. “I was working as a plumber in Holland at the time but had quit my job when we came out here to visit him. That’s when the dairy farmer here asked me to stay for a year to help out and I did, met my wife Mikaela and have been in New Zealand ever since.” Their three children include Luke, 6, Chloe 3 and latest addition Iris, who is just 7 month old. The 310ha farm he manages is mostly flat, with a 170ha dairy platform, and run on a split-calving system. It is very dry, getting 1000 to 1200mm of rain per annum. Thankfully 90ha is irrigated, but subject to water restrictions. “In March we milk around 370 head, but on-peak when everything is calved, we milk around 500,” Rene explains. While milk prices looked ‘pretty sad’ in August, the market has bounced back and Rene is pretty happy with prices at the moment. The system they use is a low cost one, which maximises profit. “We generally aim for 220,000 kilograms of milk solids per year, but if everything goes well we should exceed that.” One improvement on the farm, where Rene has worked for five seasons now and that is located half way between Carterton and Masterton, is a compost barn - which allows them to get the cows off the paddock and onto silage. The wintering shed, installed by AZTECH, also helps them through the cold, especially when temperatures plummet in June-July. “This will be the second season we have has the wintering shed and it’s helping reduce feed wastage, because we have a feed pad next to the compost barn. “We’ve also seen a big reduction in lameness in our cows. We are still fine tuning things with that, just to make sure we are getting the most out of it.” Rene is rightly proud of how far he has come in eleven years. “I came to New Zealand not knowing any English or anything about farming and now I am managing a dairy farm and own some land where we can enjoy our family life.” He cites the farm owners as a real strength of the business. “They care about helping every farm member, and are skilled at developing staff, which brings about excellent results.” The 31-year-old would encourage others in the industry to participate in the awards and is excited about new technology being developed to make farming more efficient and drive better outcomes. Future farming goals for Rene include farm ownership and learning as much as he can to help achieve better results on farm. Those interested in applying can find out more at https://www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz/ “We have a really young staff so there is a leadership aspect for sure and I have learnt so much over the last five seasons myself.” Proudly supporting Clarence Stolte & Rene Ten Bolscher ORDISH & STEVENS Contact Shane P: 06 379 5504 • M: 027 453 3505 E: grayscontractingltd@yahoo.co.nz - Large reduction in artificial fertiliser requirements - Eliminate effluent separating equipment - Minimise laneway & paddock damage - High flow rate for fast & efficient effluent discharge - Highly cost effective for emptying large ponds - Significantly less nitrogen loss to the atmosphere SOLVE EFFLUENT COMPLIANCE ISSUES ALL AGRICULTURAL SERVICES AVAILABLE
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