Founding member of the Waipā Holstein Friesian Club, Brian Knutson, is tickled pink with the honorary life membership award bestowed on him at the club’s recent 50th jubilee celebrations.
Long time Waipā Holstein Friesian Club member Sue Blackler presented Brian Knutson with his long service award at the jubilee event.
The retired farmer, who became the then youngest president of the New Zealand Holstein Friesian Association (NZHFA) in 1987-8 and later received honorary life membership to that association, has placed his new certificate among a slew of other awards displayed in his Ōtorohanga home.
“You feel very proud to have been honoured in this way,” Knutson, now 82, said. “It does mean a lot, even after all these years.”
The collection recognises a lifetime’s work in the industry, covering his years farming, breeding, showing and judging Friesians, and his extensive work as a classifier, which saw him travel the length and breadth of the country.
Members of the Waipā Holstein Friesian Club’s jubilee committee pictured at their recent 50th jubilee event. Grouped on the left are Alex Fullerton, Duncan Pipe, Colleen Craig and Sharon Bell, and on the right are Ernst Hut, Doug Courtman, Wendy Harker and Michelle Ferguson.
He became NZHFA’s second patron after Canterbury’s John Grigg – the first person to import and breed Holstein Friesian cattle into New Zealand. One of his first jobs in that capacity was to declare the Holstein Friesian New Zealand 2010 centenary open. He represented the national association twice on visits to the United States.
Knutson also spent time as chairman of the NZ Dairy Breeds Federation, sitting on the Dairy Breeds Advisory Committee. In 1992, he was given a NZHFA Special Service Award for his 25 years’ service to the TOP (Traits Other than Production) scheme, acknowledging the part he played in establishing the classification scheme that uses a linear system to score each animal’s strengths and/or weaknesses for a national database.
The Knutson name has strong links to New Zealand’s Holstein Friesians. Brian’s father Cedric followed his own father’s tracks and went on to establish the highly-regarded Turepo stud, first in the Wairarapa and then at Kio Kio. Brian and his brother Ross purchased their father’s 80ha farm in the 1960s, milking 160-180 cows, but following rapid growth, Brian and his wife Val struck out on their own and Ranui Stud on Old Te Kuiti Rd in the early ‘70s was founded on bloodlines from his father’s Turepo herd. At its peak, and after Brian had purchased two neighbouring properties, Ranui had around 260 Friesians.
The long line of Knutson men started early, showing calves in local show rings as youngsters, learning from the best, and going on to breed a string of champions. All of them were deeply involved in the administration side of the industry.
Ten years ago, and with none of his three sons eager to go farming, Brian gave up the farm and retired fully.
Over 100 guests from around the country attended the Waipā Holstein Friesian Club’s 50th jubilee and Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger and NZHFA president Owen Copinga delivered addresses.
Longstanding member Sue Blackler presented Brian Knutson with his award, outlining his ‘dedication and untiring work promoting Holstein Friesians, both within the club and nationally’.
Club patron Colleen Craig said: “A half-century is a long time in anyone’s language, and Waipā Holstein Friesian Club’s achievement of this auspicious milestone called for a worthy celebration.”
Brian Knutson with the lifetime membership award presented to him at the recent 50th jubilee of the Waipā Holstein Friesian Club. Photo: Viv Posselt
