Thursday, March 28, 2024

Awards and Google power

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Google Blake Korteweg’s name and his accomplishment as 2010 National Dairy Trainee of the Year is right at the top of the page.
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The online fame wasn’t his number one reason for entering the awards but he did want to build his profile and now five years on he says it’s great that a Google search brings up the national win.

“Nowadays the first thing you do when you want to find out more about someone or check out someone applying for a job is Google them,” he said.

Blake was 26 years old when he won the Otago title and then went on to win the overall New Zealand award.

At the time he was managing the family’s 600-cow farm at Kaitangata and was about to step up to lower order sharemilking the property.

The competition gave him a chance to test where he was at and rub shoulders with high performers.

“I guess I wanted some assurance I was on the right track.”

He certainly got that and along the way he met others with a similar mindset and drive to progress.

“It puts you in the same circles as top farmers in NZ.”

The networking opportunities didn’t stop with the competition that year.

They kept on coming, with the competition title not only meaning exposure to more events and situations but also acting as an introduction that paints a picture of who you are.

Blake and his wife Sara moved up the lower order sharemilking ranks on the family farm, going from 20% to 30% before taking the big leap to 50:50 sharemilking 500 cows in Southland this season on a 184ha equity partnership his parents Stephen and Rhonda are involved in.

It’s been a baptism of fire for the young couple with the dive in payout and a very wet spring.

“Spring was absolutely the hardest mental test but you forget about it when the weather comes right. It’s our first year on this farm and first year 50:50 so it’s still exciting and new to us even though it’s been a tough start.”

They’ve still got their sights set on farm ownership and importantly despite this season’s hardships they’re still loving the journey to get there.

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