Our Team

In 1990 Henk Bles founded Bles Dairies Livestock, later he expanded his business with dairy consultancy and distribution for Semex in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Russia, which also formed the basis for Bles Dairies Genetics. Henk Bles’ goal: ensure a strong and sustainable international dairy sector for today and tomorrow.

Rutger started his successful career at Nedap in 2004 and moved to Altagenetics as Country manager Benelux in 2016. With his extensive experience in the international dairy sector, we are confident that he will turn this challenge at Bles Dairies into a success and will be a great addition to our team and make Bles dairies grow internationally.

After having worked for 30 years as dairy trainer at a practical training center, Anne works now as dairy trainer and reproduction and fertility specialist. He is mainly concerned with the implementation of training courses, as part of the support and optimization of dairy farms worldwide. He provides courses on a wide range of dairy topics, such as hoof trimming and courses on modern dairy farm management.

Wytze Heida is dairy development specialist. He has more than 30 years experience in dairy development projects word wide. Last years he mostly engages in small-medium scale development in Africa and Asia, he is concerned with project and team management, advising, extension works and training. Through his numerous experiences abroad, he is highly inter culturally competent and a real connector. This makes him skilled in social interactions and dairy knowledge transfer.

Since 30 years Peter Nicolay is linked to Bles Dairies Livestock. Throughout the course of his career he has selected and purchased a vast number of cattle, for a wide variety of destinations. He selected and purchased cattle at dairy farms and quarantine farms, especially in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. In huge export orders e.g. with destination Russia he is the driving force in our livestock team. Within our valuable export orders within Europe he operates merely independently.

Frans Schers works for almost 25 years at Bles Dairies and has a lot of experience in selecting, buying and selling cattle. He also helps selecting bulls for breedingprograms. For commercial cattle and showwinners, Frans Schers can help you realise your goals.

Abubakar Shaban, the National Sales Manager at Bles Dairies East Africa, brings 7 years of experience in the Kenyan Dairy Industry. He has prior work experience at Proctor & Gamble and Maxim Agri Ltd., in Kenya.

Driven by the challenges faced by Kenyan dairy farmers, he focuses on developing innovative solutions to maximize profitability and empower communities. His expertise includes management , genetic strategies, farm management advice, and nutrition solutions working the herds through the people. Abubakar’s Educational background spans Animal Health, Animal Nutrition, and Business Management.

Tsjalling is the General Manager of Bles Dairies East Africa. Prior to this role, Tsjalling worked with Arla Foods, starting off at their global management traineeship. With Arla, he has held managerial roles in Commercial & Business Development across the Middle East and North Africa Region. In January 2024, Tsjalling joined Bles Dairies in his current role, where he is driven to building sustainable and innovative dairy value chains while positively impacting the lives of farmers in East Africa. Tsjalling holds a MSc. in Financial Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Judith Kalya is financial administrator for Bles Dairies East Africa. Besides finance, she is also responsible for human recourses and procurement. This makes her a great and valuable team member. Judith is very dedicated in administration and keeps accurate book keeping of all events that are organized by Bles Dairies East Africa, such as sales of bull semen to dairy farmers, organizing trainings, field days and workshops.