History

Bles Dairies’ origins date as far back as 1854 when the Bles family started their own dairy farm. More than three generations the Bles family has been engaged in farming in Friesland, in the north of The Netherlands. This area is the origin of the famous Holstein-Friesian cows, which are well known all over the world. Already before the year 1900, Lute Bles, the great-grandfather of the group’s current owner Henk Bles, started his dairy farm for breeding high qualified animals. But he did not only concentrate on breeding animals, also managing the farm was a major aspect of the everyday activities. Feeding, housing and proper treatment of the cows were very important at the farm. Due to this, he received in 1915 a special sustainability award from the local dairy factory.

Livestock
Next to breeding and managing, trading was also a key aspect. The Bles family, Henk Bles’ grandfather and granduncle, were involved in buying and selling high qualified cows at the cattle market in Leeuwarden. Therefore, wide knowledge was necessary and attention needed to be paid to the animals and customers. Being well-known as family, they created established customers in the local cattle trading. Bles Dairies was founded in 1990 by Henk Bles and inherited this longstanding family farming tradition in a modern approach, worldwide.

Owner: Henk Bles
Mr. Henk Bles is a seasoned entrepreneur and dairy expert. He started his career exporting pedigree dairy cattle and established his own export business in 1990. This marked the beginning of the company Bles Dairies. He expanded his business to include a dairy consultancy company and the distribution for Semex, which also formed the fundamental of the knowledge on genetics. By the acquisition of a dairy farm in the north of the Netherlands, all upstream activities in dairy farming are completed in Henk’s portfolio. Because of his extensive experience in the dairy sector, he also holds  the position of dairy development advisor to several multinational dairy companies worldwide.