Taieri dairy farmer Denis Aitken is the new patron of Holstein Friesian New Zealand.
"It is an honour and a privilege and hopefully I can live up to it," Mr Aitken said.
The 75-year-old took a week to "think long and hard" over the offer to take on the responsibility of the advocacy role for the breed.
"A patron to me is a very esteemed position and I wondered if I was the right person to do the position justice."
When asked if he had considered retiring instead, he claimed he would stop dairy farming after a pup he recently bought grew old and died.
"I plan to outlive it."
He had been enjoying working more since surviving a major health scare about a year ago and he was "pleased to be waking up every day".
Cancer was found in a bowel screening test and the chemotherapy knocked him around.
"It nearly killed me — five days into it and I was looking at the lid of the coffin."
The near-death experience was part of the reason he mulled over accepting the patron role.
Since being appointed patron, he had found an important part of the role was people bouncing ideas off you and using you as a "listening post", he said.
He acknowledged the work of one of his mentors, Brian Knutson, of Otorohanga in the King Country, who was the patron until his retirement last year.
“I certainly learnt a lot from Brian, who always gave freely of his knowledge and expertise.”
He milked a Holstein Friesian for the first time 50 years ago.
Dairy farming was in his blood; his grandparents milked a herd containing Ayrshires on Otago Peninsula.
"My grandfather loved his Ayrshires."
Mr Aitken was born in Woodside and raised in Maungatua.
After leaving Taieri High School at age 17, he was in the second-intake of students at Telford, near Balclutha.
After a stint working in Western Australia, he returned to the Taieri.
His parents had 15 registered Holstein Friesians in the herd, which he and Judy bought from them in 1973.
"We built up from there to 100% pure Holstein Friesian."
"I couldn’t have done half of it without Judy. She has been a huge support."
The couple expanded their dairy operation across several properties on the Taieri from 1976, where their sons milk cows, mostly Holstein Friesians.
Denis and Judy live on the home farm "The Gums" in Maungatua, where their youngest son, Andrew, and his wife, Sonya, milk 500 cows under the name Broomfield Stud.
Their oldest son, James, and his wife, Celia, farm about 3km from the home farm at “The Poplars” near Dunedin Airport, milking 240 cows under the name Airdrie Stud.
Their daughter, Jacqui, has, after 21 years with PGG Wrightson, moved with her partner, Bevan, to Rakaia to manage a camping ground.
Denis and Judy maintained a financial interest in the farms but were not involved in the day-to-day running of the businesses.
His job title was the “odd-job man”, including travelling regularly to the 300ha support farm in Middlemarch.
He had enjoyed dairy farming and breeding Holstein Friesians, which had taken him around the world.
The Holstein Friesian had allowed the couple to see the world.
"I’ve lost count the number of times we’ve been on the other side of the world and it is all to do with cows."
He had twice attended the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in the United States.
"That was a massive eye-opener."
He had an all time list of the 10 best cows he had ever seen across the world and seven of them were Holstein Friesians.
He retired as a member of the World Holstein Friesian Federation Type Harmonisation Working Group about two years ago.
Harmonisation was developing a universal type for the breed around the world.
"To make sure we were all on the same page for the cow we were after."
As a group member, he represented New Zealand and Australia, which was a privilege, he said.
The group members, which represented about 30 countries, attended a workshop somewhere around the world every two years.
The biggest development in the dairy industry in his lifetime was genomics.
"Being able to DNA [test] the cows and get a genomic report on them has enabled breeding to advance at a much faster rate."
Genomics allowed a breeder to know the genes a 1-week-old calf was carrying, he said.
"That has been a massive advancement."
Mr Aitken was awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dairy industry and his community in May 2021.
He had held several roles within Holstein Friesian New Zealand, including classifier, judge, director and president.
“All had their different challenges — but it was the passion for the Holstein Friesian breed and determination to get recognition within the dairy industry that kept me focused on getting common sense decisions made.”
Asked if he had his time again, would he do it all the same.
"There not a lot I’d do different, including sticking with grass milk production."
