Australian Jersey Journal March / April 2024

SENIOR & GRAND CHAMPION

A2/A2 BB

A PROVEN PEDIGREE TO MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE

GREAT UDDERS +20.10 JUI®

ADDS TEAT LENGTH +0.20 | +3.40 FORE UDDER ATTACHMENT

OUTSTANDING OVERALL TYPE +1.50 PTAT | +6 CHEST WIDTH

EX-97 SHOW WINNING DAM

2X GRAND CHAMPION ALL AMERICAN JERSEY SHOW 2018, 2021

2X ALL AMERICAN LIFETIME CHEESE PRODUCTION COW 2018, 2021

Developing and Promoting the Jersey Breed

JERSEY AUSTRALIA INC

5 Ring Road Bundoora Vic 3083

P: +61 3 9370 9105

E: jersey@jersey.com.au

W: www.jersey.com.au

Regos: rego@jersey.com.au

Class: class@jersey.com.au

Accounts: accounts@jersey.com.au

PRESIDENT

Lisa Broad

E: Lisa.Broad@jersey.com.au

P: 0427 862 624

VICE PRESIDENT

Geoff Akers

E: Geoff.Akers@jersey.com.au

P: 0427 298 478

TREASURER

Jamie Drury

E: Jamie.Drury@jersey.com.au

P 0427 008 088

BOARD MEMBERS

Wayne Kuhne

E: Wayne.Kuhne@jersey.com.au

P: 0438 088 660

Jane Sykes

E: Jane.Sykes@jersey.com.au

P: 0422 640 533

Con Glennen

E: Con.Glennen@jersey.com.au

P: 0408 527 898

Robert Anderson

E: Robert.Anderson@jersey.com.au

P: 0400 987 702

David Boyd

E: David.Boyd@jersey.com.au

P: 0427 830 213

PROMOTIONS

Jane Sykes

GENETICS & BREED DEVELOPMENT

Wayne Kuhne

GENERAL MANAGER / SECRETARY

GLEN BARRETT

E: Glen.Barrett@jersey.com.au

P: 0418 466 371

GENETIC RECOVERY OFFICERS

WESTERN DISTRICTS

Chris McKenzie 03 5598 7222

NORTHERN VIC

Margaret Cockerell

M: 0407 641 132 Ph: 03 5864 1133

Barry Monson

M: 0429 343 903 Ph: 03 5625 3176

March brings the new financial year for the Association and always an exciting time to look towards the AGM, Board elections and a great opportunity to catch up with members.

We will soon commence the call for nomination for the Board and I encourage all those interested in taking on a Board member role to reach out to our current members or myself to have a discussion on what the role and expectation are.

The Board’s key role and responsibility is overseeing and driving and policy, strategy and financial management for the Association, they meet regularly including 4 face to face meeting in Melbourne and regular zoom meetings, participation on Association subcommittee and maintain regular contact with members across Australia.

Jersey Journal

Over the coming months we will be undertaking a review of the Jersey Journal. With member advertising declining over the last 18 months, the Association will need to take steps to address this issue if this is not reversed and the Jersey Journal at a minimum is cost neutral. Options available to the Association are 1) a reduced number of editions; 2) digital copies for members who prefer to receive the journal electronically or 3)consider multi breed options.

If 20% of the Association’s membership placed 1 ad per year to promote and enhance their stud, the Jersey Journal would not need to be reviewed for its viability. Unfortunately, less than 5% of our membership have placed an ad over the last 2 years. These we thank greatly as your support has been critical to support the continued publication of your Jersey Journal.

Thank you, David.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank our Field Officer David Anderson whose role completed with Jersey Australia at the end of February. David has done a tremendous job in getting around the country over his time in the role and it has been advantageous for the Association to have boots on the ground in our regions supporting members, members growth and Association objectives, budget limitation does mean that we can no longer continue this as an ongoing role.

David has been instrumental in chasing up new members and contacting many other potential new members across the country and work with a number of herds in bringing their herd books up to date and or into the national herd book.

Best Regards,

Glen Barrett

General Manager

Around the Grounds

REGISTRATIONS ASSIST PROGRAM

Jersey Australia’s Registration Assist Program enable members to register their heifers without having to fill in any JA forms or files.

The program is available to all Jersey Australia members who herd test or genomic test calves at an early age and maintain a high-quality data record for all animals from early age and use a corresponding within herd ID and tattoo number.

Jersey Australia can access your pedigree data and information from DataVat every 2-3 months and register the animals for you. All animals will be registered with each member typical naming convention and any new progeny identified with the same dam will be considered ET and referred to members for conformation or correction.

For more information or to register for the program, contact Glen on 0418 466 371

NEW MEMBERS

We welcome the following new members to the Association:

WALKING EAGLE JERSEYS

OWEN & NIKITA WALKER, DORRIGO NSW

STRATHERICK JERSEYS

JOHN & HAYDEN WATTS, PYREE NSW

MCKORRINA JERSEYS

KORRINA MCINTYRE, HANNAM VALE NSW

BONDED JERSEYS

TARYN BOND, NANGKITA SA

FORTUNA JERSEYS

MATTHEW & ROSALIE COLEMAN, MAFFRA VIC

MASTERMIND JERSEYS

RENEE ANDERSON & KATIE MACDONALD, YARROWEYAH VIC

ROSEBROOK JERSEYS

KAITLYN WISHART, MAFFRA VIC

KANBOWRO JERSEYS

NADINE & LUKE LYNN, GUNBOWER VIC

SHONAS JERSEYS

SHONA HUGHES, MANILLA NSW

DOUBLE M JERSEYS

MURIEL VAN DER NEUT & MAARTEN VAN TILBORQ, YARROWEYAH VIC

MT LITTLE JERSEYS

BETHANY EAGLES, GOOLOOGONG NSW

LILYVALE JERSEYS

RUBY STEPHENS, JASPERS BRUSH NSW

PONDEROSE JERSEYS

KAYLEE SCHELLEN, COWIRRA SA

RUBY VALLEY JERSEYS

RUBY FERRIER, TERANG VIC

ROSEMONT JERSEYS

ANGUS FRASER, TANDARRA VIC

KYGA JERSEYS

KYLE BARKER & JUDITH COUTTS, PANMURE VIC

BOYLAND FARMS JERSEYS

THOMAS & CYNTHIA BROOK, BOYLAND QLD

FORTUNA JERSEYS

MATTHEW & ROSALIE COLEMAN, MAFFRA VIC

INNESVIEW JERSEYS

SHANE DEBRECENY & NICOLE O'KEEFE, COMBOYNE NSW

AVALON JERSEYS

ASTRE MODRA, GUNBOWER, VIC

LATTE LANE JERSEYS

GREG MATTHEWS & ANABEL BLAKE, SOUTH RIANA TAS

SAXON PARK JERSEYS

MEGAN PETERSON & MARK DIREEN, ACTON PARK TAS

OWENDALE JERSEYS

GARY & SAM OWEN, BUDGEREE VIC

GOLD WYOMING JERSEYS

JADE NORDHEIM, SINGLETON NSW

Join us in welcoming our new and returning members.

AroundtheGrounds

WJCB 2025 CONFERENCE

Jersey Australia is excited about hosting the 2025 World Jersey Cattle Bureau Conference. Throughout the conference we will be looking to create a CELEBRATION OF AUSTRALIAN JERSEYS with key events and farms visit that will enable Jersey Australia and our members to put on show for our international visitors our great cow families, world leading bulls and just as importantly our outstanding breeders who strive to breed #Dairy’sFinest Cow the Australian Jersey.

The tour will cap off a multiyear investment by Jersey Australia in global marketing where we have strived to increase the markers and opportunities for Australian Bulls, heifers, and embryo exports.

The conference tour will take in and or include key events such as.

Central Gippsland Autumn Fair in Gippsland Trade and Cows display in Western Victoria

• Dairy’s Finest Sale in Northern Victoria

• Royal Easter Show in NSW

• Herd visits across the regions

These events will be great opportunities for member to showcase the outstanding qualities of deep Australian cow families and Australian bulls, and just as importantly, how international genetics have helped shaped the Australian Jersey to the cow it is today.

We encourage members to start thinking about these events and how you can play a role in these to showcase your cows to the world. Jersey Australia will have required some expectation across the events the events.

DAIRY’S FINEST SALE

We will be seeking between 25 to 35 lots of both live heifers and export quality embryo’s which are expected to have at least the 1st 4 generations of dams with Australian prefixes and Australian bulls in some of the dam sire lines.

We encourage members offering live lots to embrace offering opportunities to continue to host the heifers post sale for international buyers which will provide a great chance to enable you to forge or enhance relationships with international breeders who may wish to buy.

HERDS VISITS

Herd visits throughout the conference will showcase herds that incorporate a high percentage of Australian bulls into their breeding programs and will include daughters from Australian bred bulls on display for our international guests to appreciate.

Farm will also need to have capacity to safely take a large number of visitors, room for multiple buses to park and manoeuvre and have reasonable facilities to accommodate guest in adverse weather.

COW DISPLAY

We will be looking to put a small group of cows together that are representative of top classified, BPI and production cows to be part of the sponsors trade day.

If you would like to find us more about these events and express your interest in participating, please contact Glen on 0418 466 371.

Feature...

IDW HITS NEW HIGHS

International Dairy Week has returned to pre-COVID levels, with increased crowds and high-quality exhibits and a lot of interest in Jerseys. The Jersey contingency was up with the best ever seen and the introduction of a Jersey tour to two local Master Breeders was a highlight of the January 13th - 18th event at Tatura.

“It was a great show with great crowds,” Jersey Australia general manager Glen Barrett said.

“Numbers were up significantly from Sunday with the Youth Challenges and Youth Show on Monday and it kept up for the entire show.”

Glen said the Jersey presentations were of the very high quality befitting the importance of International Dairy Week.

“Everyone was impressed with the quality of cows in the Jersey show.”

The positive impressions continued into the first Jersey tour, run with support from IDW to two Master Breeder herds – the Sprunt family’s Kaarmona stud and the Nicholson family’s Jugiong stud.

About 50 people joined the tour, including bus and car travellers, and they were treated to high-quality herds. Thanks to ABS for putting on breakfast for the group at

Kaarmona and to the travelling coffee van 'Andrew Carr Coffee Van' for providing coffees and donating more than $200 to Dolly’s Dream.

Speaking of coffees, Jersey milk coffees were again a hit onsite for the whole week, especially on Wednesday morning when directors delivered coffees and donuts to exhibitors as they prepared their Jerseys for show.

Coffee sales during IDW raised more than $200 for the new Australian Dairy Youth Group.

While Jersey cows shone in their classes, a Jersey stalwart was also honoured during IDW with Winsome Anderson being named this year’s Bette Hall Power of Women in Dairy winner.

Winsome, from Nar Nar Goon, has been part of the Jersey world for more than 60 years and has previously been presented with a Distinguished Services Award from the Central Gippsland Jersey Breeders Club in recognition of her ongoing promotion and involvement in the Jersey breed.

Her passion for Jerseys is well known across the country and beyond, as is her Kings View herd established with her late husband Bert and now living on in new incarnations with their sons.

IDW organiser Stacey Leppert described the 2024 event as an outstanding success, saying “We are so pleased with the way everything has kicked off this year,” Ms Leppert said.

“We are back to pre-COVID levels and this year was really strong across all classes.”

Australia's National Jersey Cow Show

Premier Breeder Award Sponsored by Jefo

Brookbora Jerseys, Tennyson, Vic

Premier Exhibitor Award Sponsored by NAB Agribusiness

Brookbora Jerseys, Tennyson, Vic

Exhibitor Encouragement Award Sponsored by NAB Agribusiness

Todd Brown, Stanhope, Vic

Premier Sire Award

Elliotts Regency Casino

ADADALE COLTON ROWENA 32 EX93

6 year-old, IDW 2024

COW WINNER, GREAT NORTHERN CHALLENGE 2023

Rowena

IDWResults...

INTERNATIONAL DAIRY WEEK

Class 01, Winter Calf Born on or after 01/07/2023

1st Ocean Acres Kv Roulette Navidad. Exhibited by: C Couch, P Anderson & K Shields, Kolora, VIC; 2nd Impression Fcg Nu Chardonnay. Exhibited by: Luke Randle, Dianna & Jake Annear, Newry, VIC; 3rd Heartland Chocochip Princess. Exhibited by Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC; 4th Cherrylock Roulette Violet-ET. Exhibited by Penny Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 5th Parrabel Vip Flawless. Exhibited by Brookbora & Parrabel, Tennyson, VIC

Class 02, Autumn Calf Born on 01/04/2023 to 30/06/2023

1st Fireworks Rocking Buttercup. Exhibited by K Coburn & J Eagles, Moto, NSW; 2nd Foleama FC Bashful Gorgeous Gift. Exhibited by Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC; 3rd Ocean Acres Chocolatier Emerald. Exhibited by Corey Couch, Kolora, VIC; 4th Signature Askn Rosey. Exhibited by H Boyd & A Bowden, Pyree, NSW; 5th Kings Veldt OH Broadways In Vancouver. Exhibited by P Anderson, K Shields & O Henry, Kolora, VIC

Class 03, Summer Calf Born on 01/01/2023 to 31/03/2023

1st Impression Victor Olive. Exhibited by M & L Flemming, Newry, VIC; 2nd Rivendell Gigawatt Progress. Exhibited by Kaitlyn Wishart and Jess & Stephen Knight, Stratford, VIC; 3rd Impression Nuance Flirt-Imp-ET. Exhibited by M & L Flemming, K & H Van Wees, N & K Gannon, Newry, VIC; 4th Cherrylock Roulette Vogue IVF - ET. Exhibited by B & J Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 5th Impression BT Bushfield Illusion P. Exhibited by John Lindsay, Newry, VIC

Class 04, Rising Star

1st Ocean Acres Kv Roulette Navidad. Exhibited by C Couch, P Anderson & K Shields, Kolora, VIC; 2nd Fireworks Rocking Buttercup. Exhibited by K Coburn & J Eagles, Moto, NSW; 3rd Rivendell Gigawatt Progress. Exhibited by Kaitlyn Wishart and Jess & Stephen Knight, Stratford, VIC; 4th Impression Nuance Flirt-IMP . Exhibited by M & L Flemming, K & H Van Wees, N & K Gannon, Newry, VIC; 5th Foleama Fc Bashful Gorgeous Gift. Exhibited by Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC

Class 05, Spring Yearling Born on 01/10/2022 to 31/12/2022

1st Heartland CC & Sprite. Exhibited by Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC; 2nd Kathleigh Bontino Gret. Exhibited by Kathleigh Farms, Nanneella, VIC; 3rd Signature Askn Priscilla. Exhibited H Boyd & A Bowden, Pyree, NSW; 4th I-Star Chocolate Fudge. Exhibited by S Reid & B Egan, Trafalgar East, VIC; 5th Mayfair Casino Twizzler. Exhibited by Iszi Crawford, Moama, NSW

Class 06, Winter Yearling Born on 01/07/2022 to 30/09/2022

1st Mastermind Casino Silvermine. Exhibited by Sun Vale Holsteins, Numurkah, VIC; 2nd Impression Fcg Ferdinand Rosel-ET. Exhibited by Junnash Holsteins, Kyabram, VIC; 3rd I-Star Ferns Felicity. Exhibited by Robert & Ashley Wilson, Jamberoo, NSW; 4th Rivendell Getaway Vienna. Exhibited by Riverlane Dairy Pty Ltd, Numbaa, NSW; 5th Rockstar Swb Gentry Jenny 3. Exhibited by M & L Flemming, R Love, L Randle, Newry, VIC

Class 07, Autumn Yearling Dry Born on 01/04/2022 to 30/06/2022

1st Lightning Ridge MB Victorious Telsa. Exhibited by B & J Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna; 2nd Avon Valley Jetfighter Eran. Exhibitor: Tim & Kate Wilson, Attunga, NSW; 3rd Lightning Ridge MB Victorious Tesla Imp-ET. Exhibitor: Rachael McGrath, Koroit, VIC; 4th Lightning Ridge MB Bontino Rosie-Imp-ET. Exhibitor: Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC; 5th Brookbora Askn Deronica 2nd. Exhibitor: Brookbora, Tennyson, VIC

Class 08, Summer Yearling Dry Born on 01/01/2022 to 31/03/2022

1st Cedar Vale Oliver Countess-P. Exhibitor: Ashley Rosolin, Glenfyne, VIC; 2nd Adadale Victorious Lady. Exhibitor: Paulger Family, Kenilworth, QLD; 3rd Rivendell Chocochip Teagan. Exhibitor: M & L Flemming & D Bacon, Newry, VIC; 4th Topshelf Victorious Charo. Exhibitor: L J Swadesir, Finley, NSW.

Class 09, Senior Spring Yearling Dry Born on 01/10/2021 to 31/12/2021

1st Heartland Craze Merle. Exhibited by Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC

Class 10, Milking Yearling Born on 01/10/2021 to 31/03/2022

1st Sweet Webcam Delicious. Exhibited by Rocky Allen & Parrabel Genetics, Cobargo, NSW; 2nd Froglands Oliver P Rory 2. Exhibited by Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 3rd Foleama Joyride Rose 29. Exhibited by Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC

JUNIOR CHAMPION

Heartland CC & Sprite. Exhibited by Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC

RESERVE JUNIOR CHAMPION

Lightning Ridge MB Victorious Telsa. Exhibited by B & J Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna

HONOURABLE MENTION JUNIOR CHAMPION

Impression Victor Olive. Exhibited by M & L Flemming, Newry, VIC

JUNIOR PREMIER BREEDER AWARD

Impression Jersey, Newry, VIC

JUNIOR PREMIER EXHIBITOR AWARD

Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC

Class 11, Junior 2 in Milk Born on 01/07/2021 to 30/09/2021

1st Froglands Askn Ranunculus. Exhibitor: Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna; 2nd Brookbora Bashful Sweet Elfa-P. Exhibitor: Brookbora, Tennyson, VIC; 3rd Rivendell Valentino Verity. Exhibitor: Riverlane Dairy Pty Ltd, Numbaa, NSW; 4th Brookbora Grant Adrienne. Exhibitor: Brookbora & King, Tennyson, VIC; 5th Cairnbrae Bontino Estelle 4. Exhibitor: P Buckley & A Browne, The Oaks , NSW

Class 12, Senior 2 in Milk Born on 01/01/2021 to 30/06/2021

1st Mytee Tequila Maid-ET. Exhibited by: Melissa Perrett, Kongwak, VIC; 2nd Silverlie Bontino Merle 2. Exhibited by: B & J Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 3rd Cherrylock Winning At The Casino Merle-ET. Exhibited by: B & J Gavenlock, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 4th Kings Veldt Chrome Prize 2. Exhibited by: P Anderson & K Shields, Kolora, VIC; 5th Foleama FC Matt Circus. Exhibited by: Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC

Class 13, Junior 3 in Milk Born on 01/07/2020 to 31/12/2020

1st Rivendell Gentry Toffee. Exhibited by: D Patten, Frank & Diane Borba & TR Investments, Traralgon East, VIC; 2nd Wallacedale Matt Madge. Exhibited by: L & M Wallace, Poowong North, VIC;

HEARTLAND CC & SPRITE

3rd Sunshine Farm Lovely 322. Exhibited by: Jackie Collins & Sunshine Farms, Byrneside, VIC; 4th Kings View Aileen 224. Exhibited by: I Anderson & C Brewster, Kolora, VIC; 5th Sweet Winning Pie. Exhibited by: Rocky Allen & Parrabel Genetics, Cobargo, NSW

Class 14, Senior 3 in Milk Born on 01/01/2020 to 30/06/2020

1st Cherrylock Dreaming Of Olives. Exhibited by: Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 2nd Moonpah Clusto Dawn. Exhibited by: Janelle Mcdonald, Kyabram, VIC; 3rd Rivendell Gentry Cleo. Exhibited by: Rocky Allen & Parrabel Genetics , Cobargo, NSW; 4th Camelot Tequila Regal. Exhibited by: Don Spence, Cobargo, NSW; 5th Pasadena Casino Olive. Exhibited by: J C Falls, Finley, NSW

Class 15, Best Udders from Classes 10 - 14

Cherrylock Dreaming Of Olives. Exhibited by: Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC

INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION

Cherrylock Dreaming Of Olive. Exhibited by: Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC

RESERVE INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION

Moonpah Clusto Dawn. Exhibited by: Janelle Mcdonald, Kyabram, VIC

HONOURABLE MENTION INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION

Mytee Tequila Maid-ET. Exhibited by: Melissa Perrett, Kongwak, VIC ;;

DREAMING

Class 16, 4 Years in Milk Born on 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2019

1st Heartland Crazily Gorgeous Girl. Exhibited by: Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC; 2nd Warrain Askn Express. Exhibited by: RK & JL Easterbrook & Jett Easterbrook, Tatura, VIC; 3rd Ashtaney Topsy Belle. Exhibited by: Ashtaney Jerseys, Moculta, SA; 4th Q-Bee Oliver Gin P. Exhibited by: R Love & A Mcrae, Newry, VIC; 5th Brookbora Love Lies 812. Exhibited by: Carissa Davis, Tennyson, VIC

Class 17, 5 Years in Milk Born on 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018

1st Jamber Colton Veronica. Exhibited by R & A Wilson and B & J Gavenlock, Jamberoo, NSW; 2nd Ashtaney Topsy Mistymia. Exhibited by Ashtaney Jerseys, Moculta, SA; 3rd Wilgo Samson Queenie 2. Exhibited by A & E Salway & M & N Templeton, Cobargo, NSW; 4th Whyndell Velocity Jenny. Exhibited by RK & JL Easterbrook, Tatura, VIC; 5th Cairnbrae Citation Althea. Exhibited by Winvarl Jerseys, Fernbrook, NSW

Class 18, 6 Years in Milk Born on 01/01/2017 to 31/12/2017

1st Adadale Joel Primrose. Exhibited by Paulger Family, Kenilworth, QLD; 2nd Adadale Colton Rowena 32. Exhibited by Paulger Family,

Kenilworth, QLD; 3rd Rockvale Buttercup 5341. Exhibited by BJ & JL Dickson, Garvoc, VIC; 4th Adadale Joel Pride. Exhibited by Matt & Nicola Templeton, Tarwin, VIC; 5th Brookbora Vanahlem Enchantress. Exhibited by Brookbora, Tennyson, VIC

Class 19, 7 Years & over in Milk Born Prior 31/12/2016

Sponsored by Vytelle

1st Brookbora Love Lies 678. Exhibited by Brookbora, Parrabel & Rockstar, Tennyson, VIC; 2nd Cairnbrae Valentino Daisy 16. Exhibited by Gavenlock & Polson, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 3rd Adadale Sleeping Jingles. Exhibited by Paulger Family, Kenilworth, QLD; 4th Blue Chip Galaxies Rory. Exhibited by Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 5th Brookbora Irwin Sandy. Exhibited by Brookbora, Tennyson, VIC

Class 20, Best Udders from Classes 16 - 19

Jamber Colton Veronica. Exhibited by R & A Wilson And B & J Gavenlock, Jamberoo, NSW

Class 21, Genomic Merit Award

Cairnbrae Valentino Daisy 16. Exhibited by Gavenlock & Polson, Tallygaroopna, VIC

Class 22, Dams Progeny or Two Daughters from same Dam

1st Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 2nd Ben Pedretti, Tallygaroopna, VIC; 3rd Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC

Class 23, Pen of 3 - Breeders Group

1st Brookbora, Tennyson, VIC; 2nd Paulger Family, Kenilworth, QLD; 3rd Foleama Jerseys, Macorna, VIC

SENIOR CHAMPION

Jamber Colton Veronica. Exhibited by R & A Wilson And B & J Gavenlock, Jamberoo, NSW

RESERVE SENIOR CHAMPION

Heartland Crazily Gorgeous Girl. Exhibited by: Heartland Jerseys, Bamawm, VIC

HONOURABLE MENTION SENIOR CHAMPION

Adadale Joel Primrose. Exhibited by Paulger Family, Kenilworth, QLD

GRAND CHAMPION EXHIBIT SPONSORED BY JERSEY

AUSTRALIA

Jamber Colton Veronica. Exhibited by R & A Wilson And B & J Gavenlock, Jamberoo, NSW

JAMBER COLTON VERONICA

CHERRYLOCK

OF OLIVE

SHOW STAR OVERCOME HICCUP

National IDW Jersey Show

Senior Champion Jamber Colton Veronica was bound for success, even with a severe hiccup just weeks out from the show.

Co-owned and exhibited by R & A Wilson and B & J Gavenlock, Jamber Colton Veronica is one of the rare cows that claim Excellent 97 on both sides of her heritage.

She came from an embryo imported from the USA by Rob Wilson from a granddaughter of Veronica, arguably the most famous Jersey cow.

“Veronica is referred to as the Queen of the Breed,” co-owner Brad Gavenlock said. “She has more Excellent progeny than any other cow in the breed; she has bred a lot of sons and grandsons into A.I and she won all the biggest shows right through North America.

“She is a cow that just bred on so well which is her real claim to fame.”

Huronia Centurion Veronica, who died about five years ago, was one of only six cows at the time in the U.S. to ever be scored Excellent 97. She was the 2004 National Grand Champion, a three-time Grand Champion of the World Dairy Expo, Supreme Champion once at World Dairy Expo and Reserve Grand Champion at the Royal Winter Fair as a two-year-old.

Jamber Colton Veronica’s sire Colton is no slouch when it comes to pedigree.

“Colton was an Action son whose lineage goes back to the Circus family which has been a really good cow family in the breed,” Brad said.

“The original Veronica was Excellent 97 and the grandmother on the sire’s side, Circus, won the All-American Show and was also Excellent 97. That’s quite remarkable; you wouldn’t get that on top and bottom too often.”

That pedigree was part of what attracted both Robbie and Brad.

“We showed her for the first time for Robbie at Dairy Week 2023 and we fell in love with her when she was with us at home,” Brad said.

So strong was the connection that they decided to enter intro partnership with Robbie as co- owners.

“She’s just so well balanced, so well made, so youthful,” Brad said. “You just can’t get cows like her quality that close to the original Veronica cow these days.

“ The pedigree was something that really excited us.”

Brad said Robbie had made a wise investment with the embryos. “It’s easy to say now, but it was a smart move. You don’t get those sorts of embryos for nothing and you could have got all bull calves. The fairytale doesn’t always arrive but in this case it did.”

Jamber Colton Veronica was third at IDW last year, with Brad noting that it was very late in her lactation. “We took her on to the Royal Sydney Show just before she went dry and she won her class. She was a different cow this year. She was in better form; she wasn’t milking as long as the previous year. She’s always an easy cow so show but she really took off on this year’s preparation. She knew what she was doing.”

However, just a few weeks before the show things didn’t look so good. In what Brad describes as “a decent hiccup”, his Cherrylock Cattle Co. farm at Tallygaroopna was flooded just three weeks before IDW.

There was only one only cow out of the whole team that got sick with mastitis - Jamber Colton Veronica.

“Of all the cows to get mastitis, she was the last one I’d want to get it but she was probably the first cow able to recover from it,” Brad said.

“To her credit, she bounced back really well. No-one would have had any idea she’d been sick. We had to work hard and do whatever we could for her but she had to play her part as well. Luckily, she’s tough and resilient.”

The owners share Jamber Colton Veronica on their farms for six months of the year.

“She comes here in November to start preparation for Dairy Week,” Brad said. “We’re doing some IVF work on her now and we have some calves from last year’s IVF that we will sell in our sale on March 8. She will stay with us

and we’ll take her to Sydney show and then she will go with Robbie to his farm at Jamberoo on the south coast of New South Wales.”

For Rob Wilson, the Senior Champion title is the pinnacle so far of his showing career, which has included a couple of reserve champions and a Junior Champion in 2023 with Jamber VIP Crystal.

“I was happy to get Junior Champion last year and then come back this year It’s really special to do it again with a different cow,” he said.

Rob likes everything about Jamber Colton Veronica, most particularly her very good personality. “She has been my daughter Amelia’s favourite cow since she’s been interested in it. She was pumped to see her win.

He purchased the embryos based on the family history and says he got a bit of a bargain.

“The cow is exceptional herself but to have that cow family behind her makes her even more special. It was actually fairly cheap. I don’t know how I did it – everyone else mustn’t have been paying attention.”

Rob milks 330-350 cows on the family farm, predominantly Holsteins but Jerseys numbers are starting to build up.

Leo

IDWFeature...

STEPPING OUT ON THE BIG STAGE

Although relatively new to the game, Ben Pedretti is notching up an impressive string of achievements on Australian dairy’s biggest stage.

Ben won this year’s Jersey Intermediate Championship at International Dairy Week with Cherrylock Dreaming of Olives but he’s not sure if that achievement surpasses his self-bred Junior 2year-old class winner Froglands Askn Ranunculus or his 2018 Premier Breeder title.

All up it’s a solid performance for someone who’s only 30 and has a relatively small herd of Jerseys at Tallygaroopna in northern Victoria.

Ben admits he’s a bit hooked on showing, which follows his interest and commitment in breeding high-quality cows.

“I just really enjoy breeding good cows,” Ben said. “I went to Dairy Week a couple of times when I was young and helped people at the local shows like Geoff Akers and Pat Nicholson and then starting showing cows next to them.

“It was a bug I caught and I can’t get rid of it.”

Cherrylock Dreaming of Olives was purchased from Brad Gavenlock as a 5-6-month-old calf.

“We were just looking for one to buy to support his multi- vendor sale,” Ben said. “I’ve always admired her maternal line, the Daydream family from the Nicholsons which I personally think is the strongest branch of that family.

“She was a nice heifer and I was confident she would make a nice cow, but it was still nice to see so much potential in the pedigree being fulfilled.”

Ben admits Cherrylock Dreaming of Olives wasn’t a particularly fancy heifer but she was nice and correct with “everything in the right place”.

She was sired by Gold Label Augustus Daydream, a successful cow that Brad Gavenlock and Larry Paulsen brought as embryos at IDW.

“I’m very happy with how it has played out with her; we couldn’t ask for much more,” Ben said.

“ She’s very wellbalanced and has style and femineity. She has so much width as well as being refined and then she has a high and wide udder that fits her so well. There’s nothing to change about her.”

The name Froglands has been with Ben since he was a kid, though on reflection he might have opted for something different when registering his herd.

The future looks good as well. “We have a heifer calf out of her that will calve this winter and she is pregnant for next year too, which is exciting,” Ben said.

The success in the Junior 2 year old class with Froglands Askn Ranunculus was special as it was Ben’s first home-bred in-milk winner under his own prefix.

She’s the fourth generation Froglands animal, all stemming from a kind gesture by former neighbouring Jersey breeder Peter Farrell.

“Peter gave that cow to me when she was about one month old when he was retiring from dairying, which was very kind,” Ben said.

The kind gesture came full circle when Peter was at IDW to witness its achievement. “That was pretty cool to have Peter there,” Ben said. “He was happy to see it.”

“I made up Froglands when I was 8 or 9,” he said. “Dad was never interested in the stud side of it; he’d only register cows to get premium dollar for exports, but I loved it when I was growing up.

“Every name we came up with there was already something similar. Dad suggested Froglands and the lady on the line laughed and said I don’t even have to check that. I thought it was grouse when I was nine but I don’t love it so much anymore. I’d probably pick something more stylish as an adult.”

Regardless of the name, Froglands is making its mark on the showing circuit.

In 2018 Ben’s Blue Chips Galaxy Rory won Best Udder for the show and was second in her class and he went home with the Premier Exhibitor title.

“It’s hard to say whether the individual champion or premier exhibitor titles rank higher,” Ben said. “I was only 25 when we won Premier Exhibitor. Dad never paid top price at a sale.

Everything I bought I pretty much paid for on my own. The highest priced cow the year we won was just $3,500. A lot were just animals I’d seen that I though I could do something with.

“You’re competing against breeders who’ve been established for 50 or 60 years and have got 400 cows or more. I only had 90 Jersey cows on a commercial Holstein farm so the exhibitor award was special.”

Breeding also leads to lasting friendships that bring people together over a long distance. Ben met one of his best mates through breeding, Ricky Nelson and his partner Julia, and they show together as much as possible, even though Ricky lives in Queensland.

“I’m only 20 minutes away in Tallygaroopna but they have to drive 26-27 hours but they bought about five this year,” Ben said.

Ben returned to a bigger team of 11 for this year’s IDW, matching his showing from 2018.

“The first time I took a big string was 2018 when I won Premier Exhibitor and then I had a couple of years working away from the farm and just showed a couple,” he said.

Ben and his partner Kara Blizzard starting leasing in July 2021 and last year kept the show small as they found their feet on the farm and dealt with staffing issues.

“ This year we thought we had some pretty good cows so decided to take a bigger string,” he said.

Based on their success, 2025 might be just as big!

INVESTMENT PAYS OFF

Michaela Thompson admits her family took a bit of flak when they paid a record price at the time for an unproven Jersey heifer.

But today she is having the last laugh with the first daughter of that heifer winning Junior Champion Jersey at International Dairy Week, plus she’s taken home the Junior Premier Exhibitor title.

It has been a huge jump through the ranks considering the family has only had Jersey cows for five years.

Michaela milks at Bamawm near Lockington in northern Victoria with her father Scott. Her partner Hayden King has also joined the farm in the past 12 months.

It’s a 50 - 50 Holstein-Jersey herd, milking 140 year-round on a dryland 170-acre farm.

The Jersey stud was only started five years ago, but Michaela admits they’re taking over.

Their first home-bred Jersey, Heartland Crazily Gorgeous Girl, lives

up to her name, winning Reserve Intermediate Champion at 2023 IDW and going on to win Reserve Senior Champion this year.

“Her mother was the first Jersey we purchased five years ago so it was good to see her come up so well,” Michaela said.

The family had been farming with Holsteins for more than 20 years but after spending time in North America and Europe, Michaela pushed to add Jerseys

“I really liked the Jerseys there and when I came home, I said to Dad that we should get some Jerseys,” she said.

They bought their first stud Jersey five years ago and when they moved to their current farm three and a half years ago, they had a practical reason to introduce more Jerseys.

“Our Holsteins were too big for the dairy so we bought 66 commercial Jerseys to break up the herd,”

Michaela said. “Now we get a couple of big cows and then a couple of little ones and they fit in a bit easier.”

They are also finding that Jerseys

function better in the heat.

“They suit our farm a lot better and there’s potential for more Jerseys to join the herd,” she said.

The 2024 Junior Champion title for Heartland CC&Sprite, sired by Avonlea Canadian Club, is particularly pleasing for the family.

“We purchased her mother Lightning Ridge MB Premier Spritz two and half years ago from Brookbora Jerseys. She was out of Bri-lyn Valson Spritz from North America who was at the time classified Excellent 96 and won World Dairy Expo and has since gone up to Excellent 97 and won World Dairy Expo again.”

They paid an Australian record $34,500 for a Jersey heifer at the time. “We really liked her shape and dairyness but we really bought her for her breeding,” Michaela said.

“Having CC&Sprite win was really good because we got a bit of backlash when we paid that amount for her mother. It was a lot of money for a Jersey that hadn’t calved so we took a bit of a risk in the hope that she breeds well and it has paid off.

“A few years ago, Jerseys weren’t making big money but they’ve come a long way in the last five years and today it’s not uncommon for Jerseys to make just as much as Holsteins at big stud sales.

“We loved Sprite from when she was a calf and thought she had a lot of potential. For her to go on and win was very exciting.”

On the day, she was prepared by Hayden. “She looked great and just did everything right and is well behaved to lead,” Michaela added.

The success had been building. In 2022 after they purchased Lightning Ridge MB Premier Spritz she won reserve Junior Champion heifer at Dairy Week.

To win Junior Champion and Junior Premier Exhibitor is a huge accomplishment, especially with Michaela working full-time offfarm as an accountant.

“We aimed to get in the top 10 with whatever we take. To get a class winner is even better and to win the whole show is just incredible,” Michaela said.

“We’ve only had Jerseys for five years and we’re competing against people who’ve had family studs for decades. It’s not until you sit back and reflect that you realise it’s quite an achievement.

“Dad is on the farm all the time and I’m there before and after work and

Michaela said. “It’s a big team effort to get to the shows and Mum helps on the farm while Hayden and I were at Dairy Week.”

The family’s successes at IDW included:

Heartland Crazily Gorgeous Girl 1st and Best Udder 4 yo and Reserve Senior Champion Cow (pictured right)

Heartland CC&Sprite - 1st Spring Yearling and Junior Champion

Heartland Craze Merle - 1st 2y-o Dry

Heartland Chocochip Princess 3rd Winter Calf

Lightning Ridge MB Bontino Rosie - 4th Autumn Yearling

BROOKBORA LOVE LIES 678 EX94

EX94 VANAHLEM / EX91 BADGER

1ST AGED COW & BEST UDDER, IDW 2024

FORMER OFC, NSW & IDW CHAMPION DAM OF DAUGHTERS TO EX93

HER MARCH 2023 ROULETTE SELLS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARRABEL AND ROCKSTAR

BROOKBORA LOVE LIES 723 EX94

EX94 VANAHLEM / EX91 TBONE / EX91 PARADE / EX90 BIESTAR

CHAMPION NDJBC OFC 2023 | 6TH AGED COW IDW 2024

HER MARCH 2023 ROULETTE SELLS

brookbora

CASINO SANDY EX92

EX92 CASINO / EX94 IRWIN / EX93 VALENTINO

14 FROM15 GENERATIONS EXCELLENT RESERVE CHAMPION, NSW JERSEY STATE SHOW 2023

SHE SELLS AS ‘PICK OF THE PAIR’ DUE SEPTEMBER TO BUSHFIELD P

BROOKBORA EILEEN 130 EX91

91 MAX VANAHLEM / 84@2 VALENTINO / EX92 VIRGIL / EX91 CENTURION / EX90 ASTOUND FORMER CHAMPION AT IDW, GIPPSLAND JERSEY FAIR & SYDNEY ROYAL

HER 2023 GOLDBAND P SELLS

TUESDAY 28th MAY 2024

11.00am Brookbora herd walk and sale inspection.

1.00pm Brookbora Anniversary Edition Sale Followed by cheese platters & drinks

6.00pm Dinner & live music @ Brookbora Jerseys

Bus available from ‘Moama on the Murray’ to Brookbora Jerseys - Bookings essential.

Preceding the Jersey Australia AGM Annual Conference

Hosted by the Northern District Jersey Breeders Club.

Recommended Accomodation - Moama on the Murray

69 Dungula Way Moama, 03 5480 3031

10% Discount if JA AGM is mentioned when booking.

HER DAM BROOKBORA IRWIN SANDY EX94 5TH AGED COW IDW 2024 | 3X CLASS WINNER NDJBC OFC SUPREME INTERMEDIATE GREAT NORTHERN ROCHESTER SHOW 2017

HER DAM

BROOKBORA VALENTINO SWEET ELFA EX94

SUPREME INTERMEDIATE SYDNEY ROYAL 2021

INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION CGJBC JERSEY AUTUMN FAIR 2021

1ST 4YR OLD & BEST UDDER IDW 2022 | 1ST 4YR OLD NDJBC OFC 2022

2ND 5YR OLD IDW 2023

BROOKBORA GOLDEN GLORY 194 EX92

EX92 VANAHLEM / VG88 VALENTINO / VG87 ECLIPES / EX92 ASTOUND / EX90 ALF

7TH 4 YEAR-OLD IDW 2024

SHE SELLS BRED TO GOLDORAK

BROOKBORA INVINCIBLE MELAINE EX90

EX90 INVINCIBLE / EX93 MAX ASKN / EX91 NAVARIAN / EX91 REGION / EX92 JACE / EX92 BARBER / EX90 6TH JUNIOR 3 YEAR-OLD, IDW 2024

RES INTERMEDIATE GREAT NORTHERN AUTUMN FAIR 2024

SHE SELLS BRED TO VANAHLEM

brookbora

BASHFUL SWEET ELFA P

VG88 MAX

VG88 BASHFUL / EX93 VALENTINO / EX91 PREMIER SISTER TO BUSHFIELD P | 2ND J2 IDW 2024

SHE SELLS AS ‘PICK OF THE PAIR’ DUE IN AUGUST TO VENTURA

Only one will sell Team work makes the Dream work

BROOKBORA JERSEYS

434 Tennyson Road, Tennyson, Victoria.

Sandra Bacon  0428 882 320

 bacons@brookbora.com.au

Daniel Bacon  0407 753 324

 daniel@brookbora.com.au

Premier Breeder IDW 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024

Premier Exhibitor IDW 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024

#2 BPI herd | #2 SWI herd | #3 HWI herd

Platinum Production Award (previously named Gold Award) since 1995

BROOKBORA WOODSIDE CHARO

WOODSIDE / EX91 MAX OLIVER / EX93 VANAHLEM / EX90 ACTION / EX91 BERRETTA / EX90 JUDE / EX92 LAD CHARO

6TH AUTUMN CALF IDW 202 | BPI 321 | TYPE 110 | MAM 111

SHE SELLS

AGMPreview THE RIGHT COMPONENTS

Geoff and Yvette Brown are starting to see the positive results of their dedication to developing a high components herd.

More than seven years into their 10-year farming plan, Geoff says his latest production figures and most recent batch of calves are his best yet.

Visitors on the Jersey Australia annual conference tour will get to see Geoff’s cows in action, and his figures promise a good display.

Geoff believes his cows might be a bit different to others in Australia.

“I’d imagine our herd is unique in Australia in that for five years I have used solely Glenbrook Genetics from Cliff Shearer in New Zealand,” he said.

Originally from the north island of New Zealand, Geoff went to school with Cliff and always admired his family’s herd. “

“I’ve used his genetics mainly because of the component factor,” Geoff said. “His base herd was always over 6 per cent fat and he has lots of cows with very high components.”

The genetics are helping Geoff to achieve his goals. “At the moment we’re running a 5.3-5.9 test, which is a long way ahead of the 4.6 - 4.8 when we started out. We’d seldom be under a 5 at any time of the year.

“It’s only happened in the past two seasons as the genetics have drifted in. I’m not saying they’re the best cows in the world because you don’t get the best cows after five or seven years, but I’ve seen the improvement.

This year’s heifers have been the best we’ve had so far.”

The herd is split into one-third autumn, two-thirds spring calving.

The cows currently produce about

19-20 litres, comparable to other herds in the region.

“We’re not going down the American path but they have some American blood in them so there is some focus on litres,” Geoff said. “We might be a litre or two behind average but we’ve only been going seven years.”

Geoff and Yvette farm on 55 hectares at Lockington, boosted by a leased 30 hectares for young stock and making silage.

Their prefix, Royals Green, was originally registered in New Zealand by his parents in 1950 and he reignited the name in 1975.

Geoff moved to Australia in 1997 but finished up leaving farming and instead worked in home and bathroom renovations in Melbourne for 15 years.

He returned to farming with a 10-year “semi-retirement plan” but it turned out a bit more intense.

“The 10 years is the only thing that has remained constant in the plan,” Geoff said. “We started out thinking I’d milk 80-100 cows and drift along and have fun. It is supposed to be semiretirement but we got a bit more serious because we wanted to build up a bit of a buffer for retirement.”

Geoff will turn 65 in May and plans to stick to his deadline and sell in 2.5 years, just keeping a couple of cows for interest.

In the meantime, his easy-to-manage herd of 80-100 has grown to 160 and there might be a few more next year.

“I don’t like selling cows, so we keep them,” Geoff said. “I like my cows and like to keep them as long as I can. I only get rid of them if there is a health problem.”

When getting back into farming, the Browns bought a base herd from Jared and Courtney Ireland, also from

Dylan

the Lockington area, with the Utopia and Rose Vale prefixes.

“There wasn’t any debate bout what breed of cows he was going to buy. “I’ve always been a Jersey man; I like components –I like to see my milk,” he said.

As part of his desire to get more milk and solids, the pastures have been renovated. “We only milk on the 55 hectares so to get more milk, we worked with an agronomist to try to maximise what we can grow on the land,” Geoff said.

“The farm was only growing barley

grass when we got here so we’ve removed most of it which has made a big difference. It is now a mixture of winter ryegrass and some permanent pastures.”

Geoff admits the return to farming was a bit challenging initially. “It was hard at the start when it was dry, water was super expensive and money hard to find but the past couple of years have been kinder financially and that makes it more enjoyable.”

Geoff is also giving back to the breed he loves and is president of the Northern District Jersey Breeders Association.

He’ll pick out the best 20-30 cows in the herd for the conference tour visitors. “They’re looking very good at the moment and I hope they still will be in May,” he said.

President:

ShenstoneJersey Stud

Gordon Lyn & Craig Emmett

12 Curr Road, Stanhope 3623 0428 329625 | 0409 014854

3624 0439 523 687

dylan_baseballrox@live.com.au

Windy Ways Jerseys

Tim, Jodie & Tom Walsh

41 A Finlay Road, Tongala 3621

Tim: 0408 603 982

heatherbelle132@gmail.com

Lincolndell Jerseys

Ron and Val Read & Family

167 Panoo Road, Lockington 3563

03 5488 2266 | 0428 332 793

Sunshine Farm Jerseys

Janelle McDonald

715 Andrews Road, Kyabram 3620

03 5855 2516 | 0428 992 450 janelleabbey@hotmail.com

shenstonejerseys@gmail.com

Over 100 years farming - since 1917

Jugiong Jerseys

Nicholson Family

771 Curr Road, Girgarre 3624

Pat & Carmen; 0438 347 737

Brendon & Tenealle; 0413 022 398

Craigielea Jerseys

Bill & Kaye; 0427 865 474

Andrew & Sharni; 0428 865 474 836 Hansen Road, Bamawm 3561 03 5486 5474 | craigielea3@bigpond.com

Eurarie Jerseys

Charles & Carolyn Smith 80 Rathbone Road, St Germains 3620

Carolyn; 0458 260 374

smith.livestock.farm@gmail.com

Benlock Jersey Stud

Bryan & Lee Rushton 79 Brooks Road, Rochester 3861 03 5484 1551 | benlockj@gmail.com

Sybilgrove & Summer Spirit Jerseys

Collins Family 202 McColl Road, Ballendella 3561

Ph/Fax: 03 5486 5393 | 03 5486 5422

Brookbora Jerseys

Bacon Family

Tennyson, Vic 3572 (S) 0428 882 320 | (D) 0407 753 324 bacons@brookbora.com.au www.brookbora.com.au

Jimann Jerseys

Trevor & Julie Campbell 36 Francis Street, Rochester 3561 0409 424199 | jimann1@bigpond.com Royals

Geoff

geoffbrown9@optusnet.com.au

Kathleigh

Andrew

Farm Gate Signs

Tuesday 28th May 2024 - Friday 31st May 2024

Hosted by the Northern Districts Jersey Breeders Club, the 2024 Jersey Australia AGM and Conference will be based out of Moama on the Murray in Moama, NSW and take in herds visits and local attractions and the 2024 JA AGM and Annual Awards Dinner.

Visiting Prestigious herds such as: Brookbora Jerseys, Benlock Jerseys, Royals Green Jerseys, Craigielea Jerseys, Windy Ways Jerseys, Grand Dream Jerseys and Jugiong Jerseys.

TECHNOLOGY BREEDS SUCCESS

The Rushton family’s farm produced some award-winning cows back in the heyday of the Royal Melbourne Show but they reckon today’s herd is even better.

With a focus on using modern technology to advance the herd, Bryan and Andrew Rushton expect visitors to their Rochester property during the Jersey Australia conference will have an impressive view of the Benlock Jerseys.

Andrew is taking over the farm as Bryan steps back as he moves toward retirement, but both have been keen to embrace technology.

They introduced sexed semen in heifers about five years ago and about 12 months ago added it for the milking herd, with attention given to the better cows but also joining the lower BPI cows to beef bulls

“The processes are a lot better now and you can see better results than you achieved in the past,” Andrew said.

They have also introduced genomic testing to identify the lower end of the group to make early calls on them.

“We’re seeing the genetic gains much quicker than what we previously achieved,” Andrew added.

The use of technology is extended to the irrigation system and the dairy, which has individual feeding, draft gates and heat detection collars.

“It’s all been very beneficial,” Bryan said.

The cows are in good shape, and we are stiving to achieve more than 6000-litre average, despite the farm having to deal with some major floods in recent years.

The farm is on the Campaspe River and was inundated in 2011 and 2022/23.

“It did a fair bit of damage to us but we moved forward,” Bryan said. “The young cattle were okay because we were able to get them off-farm prior to the flood hitting. We were still able to milk the cows but we had to tip milk for about five days because the tankers couldn’t get in.

“We had a bit of dry ground for the milkers but the young stock had to be shifted off farm or housed in sheds.”

The biggest damage was the loss of hay, although they have built good storage infrastructure.

Andrew left school in the middle of the drought and worked with a local engineer and was able to bring that trade back to the farm, building five sheds, including two big hay sheds.

“We’ve bounced back pretty well after the flood but it’s a costly exercise,” Bryan said. “One of the biggest things was that we had roughly 200 acres for share cropping the hay but we lost the lot.”

The farm was impacted again this year and had some damage to lucerne crops but it wasn’t as bad as 2022.

“We have a big focus on keeping laneways in good condition,” Andrew said. “We’ve found that to be very beneficial over the wet periods. They held up very well.”

Bryan’s parents bought the original 200-acre farm at Rochester in 1973 but it expanded to double that size in 2006.

Bryan and his wife, Lee, married in 1983 and bought a 35-acre block with a house on it and lived there for four years.

“My parents were getting on a bit so we shifted around - they went to the 35 acres and we went to the main farm. Now we’ve done the reverse –we’ve shifted back to the 35 acres and Andrew and his wife, Jess and two kids, Brodie and Grace, have moved to the dairy.”

Today we operate on 600 acres and milking 280 cows.

The herd is all Jersey apart from about a dozen Holsteins that are being phased out. They peaked at around 280 cows.

“We originally had a mixed herd but have been breeding Jerseys for more than 50 years,” Bryan said.

Bryan did a fair bit of showing in his younger days and had a lot of success at country shows and ultimately in Melbourne.

“ We went to Melbourne for about six years back in its heyday in the mid-80s and won Champion Cow two years in a row with Benlock Siren 6,” he added.

Today they use a range of bulls, including Borung, Casino, Roulette, Broadway, Valentino and Bashful to develop the herd, looking for teat placement and components as their top trait priorities.

The family has hosted previous tours, including recent visitors from New Zealand, and look forward to explaining their set up.

MemberProfile

CARRYING ON A FAMILY TRADITION

Tim Walsh knows he has big boots to fill but he’s in it for the long haul.

Tim and his wife Jodie and their son Tom and his wife Kylie bought their Tongala farm from his father Frank in September 2021, around the same time Frank was enjoying back-to-back International Dairy Week Grand Champion titles with Windy Ways Galaxies Dawn 7.

The Windy Ways prefix stays and Frank’s still around to help out from time-to-time, and Tim knows he has a rich heritage to preserve.

“The cows are still registered under the Windy Ways prefix. That keeps the continuity going and hopefully we can go on for another 30 or 40 years in the family,” he said.

Windy Ways Galaxies Dawn 7 and her mother are still with Frank, who has moved back up to Tongala after living in Cobden in Western Victoria for two years.

“The cows are enjoying their retirement,” Tim said.

“We agist a bit of land for our bulls and Frank has got a few cows and a couple of young calves on it. He comes out from time to time to help with drenching or drafting and he likes to have a look at them. There are still cows that he bred and he’s still keen on them.

The family partners bought the farm and another 60 acres across the road for young stock, ending 20 years of driving trucks for Tim.

Tom has been working off farm but returned to work fulltime in the business in late February.

“It was a good opportunity,” Tim said. “We’ve got three other kids. They are all interested but Tom was the keenest to keep the farm going in the family.

“We all wanted to keep the herd going. Dad had been breeding Jerseys from back in the late 1960's. He’s had a lot of good cows over time but Windy Ways Galaxies Dawn 7 was probably his best. He bred her himself so it was good that she came along before he retired.

“ He keeps telling me what a good herd of cows we’ve got. He’s a bit biased but I think he’s right.”

Tim doesn’t feel the pressure of taking on an awardwinning herd. “We don’t tend to show. If we get another outstanding cow that’s good enough, we might show again, but we’re just trying to build as good a herd as we can and put the milk in the vat.”

He’s achieving that by careful bull selection. “We just try to use the best bulls available. We think we’ve got good cows and if we use the best bulls over them, they should only get better.

“Since we’ve been here, every calf that hits the ground that we’re going to keep gets genomically tested, which has been a good help. We’ve got too many so that’s a good way to work out which ones we want to keep and which we want to move on.

“We hope that will improve the herd.

The first lot that we genomically tested will milk in the herd this year. We sold about 20 of the spring-calving heifers and kept the rest. There are not many amongst them that we’re sorry we kept. The ones we’re milking now are all pretty good.”

They are milking 320 this year, a drop of 20 from the previous year. “We’re trying to move down to stabilise at about 300 which suits the paddock and yard size.

Anything more than 300 makes everything a bit tight.”

While milking 20 fewer cows, production is running ahead of last year and Tim hopes to reduce to 300, but maintain the current total milk volume.

“We’re hoping to feed them better and with the genomic testing we hope to have less passengers,” he said.

Since taking over they have had a big focus on farm

development and getting things logistically and structurally to work the way they want.

“We’ve done a lot of irrigation upgrades and all the farm is now under pipe and risers, and we lasered 18 hectares of dry land and put that into permanent pastures.

“We’ve got a good water right and we’re low security water which means we can carry over what we need for the whole of next season. We have to buy a bit but we can buy it for the right price at the right time.

“We’ve been growing maize and sowed 22 hectares of lucerne this past spring and put in corn. We want to be more self-sufficient with our feed. They’re already well fed, but from now on we’ll have a focus on improving their feeding even more.”

This year the farm is heading towards about 520kg/Ms, an improvement on just over 500 kg/Ms last year and a good step towards the goal of 550.

“Compared to Friesian herds, that doesn’t sound like a lot but, while we want as many litres as we can get, what we really want is components,” Tim said.

“We’re about 5.4 butterfat and 3.8 - 3.9 protein. Even over summer when we drop away a few litres, the components are hanging in there or going up.”

They are focusing on good bull selection to achieve their goals, while continuing Frank’s split calving system which has been in place since the early 1990s.

One bull is a home-grown success story. “We’ve got a good bull out of the Dawn cow that has left a really good line of heifers.

We have a lot of them calved this year,” Tim said. Other favourites have been Pickstar, Roulette, Impeccable and Broadway. “This spring joining I just cut it down to Roulette and Impeccable,” Tim said.

“We join to conventional Jersey straws for about four weeks and then do three weeks of Angus to tighten up the calving pattern and avoid having too many heifer calves to raise and have to sell.”

The first two years have been a whirlwind of getting the farm they way they want it. “We were so busy doing farm development but we’re getting to stage now that we can see the benefits of what we’ve done over the past couple of years. It’s making the lifestyle a lot easier.

We took too much on but we did it while we could. Tom coming back means there will be a lot more flexibility and we can share the workload a lot more.”

GOULBURN MURRAY JERSEY BREEDERS

President:

Goulburn Murray Jersey Breeders On Farm Challenge was held on 25th & 26th October 2023, which included North East Jersey Club Members.

Many thanks to Rob Anderson who judged across the 2 days. The challenge involved 13 Jersey Studs with over 100 entries. Special thanks to our sponsors Genetics Australia and Agri-Gene.

JUNIOR

Kaarmona Casino Josie 13 - Ruby & Jorja Sprunt

Rivendell Barnabas Roslyn - Sienna Ross

Wallacedale Bono Melys - Sienna Ross

Kaarmona Oliver Josi - Ruby & Jorja Sprunt

Loxleigh Vanahlem Design - Lloyd Akers

PROGENY TEST

1st; Loxleigh Boast Vanessa 7943 (Akers Family)

2nd; Kaarmona Candyman Nellie 29 (Sprunt Family)

3rd; Kaarmona Polledgold Charo 2 (Sprunt Family)

4th; Loxleigh Boast Marie 7978 (Akers Family)

5th; Brunetta Gail 4020 (VanPopering Family)

2 YEAR OLD

1st; Froglands Stoneleigh Invincible Belle (B Pedretti)

2nd; Kaarmona Aldrin Babe 355 (Sprunt Family)

3rd; Loxleigh Olive Christmas Lily 7883 (Akers Family)

4th; Kleinmeer Chive 3478 (Hicks & Sagrera)

5th; Brunetta Betsy 4044 (Van Popering Family)

3 YEAR OLD

1st; Loxleigh Matt Lorna (Akers Family)

2nd; Kaarmona Vanahlem Liz 9 (Sprunt Family)

3rd; Klienmeer Viceroy 3298 (Hicks & Sagrera)

4th; Koolmondoola Hayley Napean 5610 (Baker Family)

5th; Brunetta Jade 3903 (Van Popering Family)

4 YEAR OLD

1st; Darrynvale Valentino Glory (D Hourigan)

2nd; Kaarmona Vanahlem Fancy (Sprunt Family)

3rd; Wallacedale CSC Melanie (Hourigan)

4th; Loxleigh Dazzler Vanessa 7267 (Akers Family) 5th; Kaarmona Valentino Elfa 3 (Sprunt Family)

5 YEAR OLD

1st; Loxleigh Valentino Peace 6650 (Akers Family)

2nd; Froglands Topsy Ranunculas (B Pedretti)

3rd; Loxleigh Vanahlem Marie 6788 (Akers Family)

4th; Darrynvale Bontino Bonnie (D Hourigan)

5th; Kaarmona Valentino Babe 300 (Sprunt Family)

6/7 YEAR OLD

1st; Darrynvale J Narcissus (D Hourigan) 2nd; Kaarmona Caspian Impish (Sprunt Family) 3rd; Kleinmeer Dapper 3058 (Hicks & Sagrera) 4th; Kaarmona Valentino Sandy 9 (Sprunt Family) 5th; Loxleigh Tequila Buttercup (B Pedretti)

8 YEARS +

1st; Cairnbrae Valentino Daisy 16 (Gavenlock Family) 2nd; Loxleigh Valentino Lily 4980 (Akers Family) 3rd; Kaarmona Babaxi Babe 231 (Sprunt Family) 4th; Brunetta Ena 3404 (Van Popering Family) 5th; Kaarmona Celebrity Tulip (Sprunt Family)

MOST SUCCESSFUL FARM: Equal 1st; Sprunt & Akers Family 7554 points each 3rd; Ben Pedretti 7465 points

MOST SUCCESSFUL BREEDER:

1st; Akers Family; 22 points 2nd; Sprunt Family; 18 points 3rd; Hourigan Family; 14 points

HOT AT SUNSHINE FARM DISPERSAL

Temperatures rose to 40 degrees, there was a big crowd in the air conditioned sale shed, the cows looked great and the competition was hot too at the Milking Herd Dispersal Sale for Janelle McDonald on farm at Kyabram of Sunshine Farm Jerseys established 53 years by the late Neville McDonald.

Sale top of $10,500 was reached late in the sale when Sunshine Farm Kim 6, VG 88 sold to Jett Easterbrook of Tatura, this mighty young cow completed 16 gens of EX & VG bred back through the noted Edi Kims back to the Heather View Kims of NZ, she was one of many wonderful young cows sold sired by Loxleigh David Ivan 6235.

$10,000 was reached three times through the sale when Sunshine Farm Fowler 14, VG 88, a 3 year old Valentino completing 10 gens EX & VG sold to Jaynaela Jerseys of Byrneside. Sunshine Farm Finch 11, VG88 (pictured), a 4 year old Valentino grand daughter of former Brisbane Royal Supreme Champion Kenarie Jade Finch, EX sold at the same figure to Fantasia Past Co of Mt Gambier, SA. Also at $10,000 was Sunshine Farm Lovely 337, a correct 2 year old Valentino from an EX 90 David Ivan dam bred from the very strong Lovely family, she sold to Phil Daniel and Family of Nathalia. This same buyer also selected Sunshine Farm Lovely 333, another top 2 year old by Jackiah Mania 9174 at $8,000.

Salter & Griffiths of Barringa Jerseys, Kerang selected several cows through the sale including Sunshine Farm Kim 7, VG 88, a 3 year old full sister to the top selling lot at $9,000 along with Sunshine Farm Lovely 323 by Craze at $8,000 and Sunshine Farm Fowler 11, EX 91 by Valentino at $7,000.

WORDS // DAIRY LIVESTOCK SERVICES (DLS) - BRIAN LESLIE

JMS HEIFER SALES

Many keen judges were full of praise on the 2 year old Valentino Sunshine Farm Cherry 183, she sold at $9,000 to Jaynaela Jerseys..

Selling agents Dairy Livestock Services report the following details:

89 Cows av $3,771

1x Bull at $2,500

1x embryo package at $800

4x baby heifer calves av $765

95 Jerseys gross $342,000

Ave. $3,600

We have been discussing with member on the feasibility of hosting multi-vendor sales within the regions and following feedback from interested members we will be aiming to have 2 sales this year with 1 being in Northern Victoria and the other in Gippsland.

Sales will be for 1st to 2nd calving registered cow, preferably AI bred however heifers/ cows sired by home bred sires will be acceptable as long as the bull has an ABV(g) for promotional purposes.

It is planned for the Gippsland sale to be in July with the Northern Vic sale in August.

Members interested in selling heifers in the sale should contact Glen on 0418 466 371 or email Glen.Barrett@jersey.com.au

LOT 66. SUNSHINE FARM FINCH 11

CENTRAL GIPPSLAND

62nd JERSEY FAIR

Monday 15th April, 2024 - 9:00am start

Judge: Mr Roger Heath of Wanstead Jerseys, Bookar, Victoria

MAJOR SPONSORS

Cairnbrae Victorious Daisy 2, Owned by Michaela Thompson & Hayden King 2023 - 1st Mature Cow, Senior & Supreme Champion

Create the FUTURE SALE

STG Create the Future Sale Tops at $36,000 Highest average seen in Australia for a Multi Breed Sale

Yet again the STG Create The Future Sale at IDW saw a magnificent crowd on site at Tatura along with over 770 viewing online at Stocklive from around the World.

Auctioneer Brian Leslie OAM stated the sale average was a new record for an All Breeds Sale and was the second highest of all sales at IDW in it’s 34 year history.

HOLSTEIN: $13,238

ILLAWARRA: $9,333

JERSEY: $6,667

AYRSHIRE: $9,667

BROWN SWISS: $15,000 GUERNSEY: $10,000

Overall a very successful average of $11,350 and a total clearance of $454,000

It is pleasing to note that the 16 lots sired by STG sires average an incredible $11,437.

Thanks again to all the Australian Breeders for submitting pedigrees of extreme quality to achieve these outstanding results. We wish all the purchases every success with their selections.

TOP CLASSIFIED COWS

Spring 2023 Tours

Western Australia

DM & LM FRY

KATANDRA PARK CASINO DAMARIS EX-93

KATANDRA PARK VALENTINO VANESSA 7 EX-93

KATANDRA PARK JOEL VANESSA EX-92

KATANDRA PARK AMBASSADOR DASHA EX-92

KATANDRA PARK CASINO DASHA EX-92

KATANDRA PARK IRWIN DAISY 3 EX-92

KATANDRA PARK CASINO VANESSA EX-92

South Australia

PYELANDA PARTNERSHIP

PYELANDA VANAHLEM JAVA EX-93

PYELANDA BLACK LAURA EX-92

BRITTANY LIEBICH & DAMIAN WALLIS

JE MAPPELLE VALENTINO WATSONIA EX-92

New South Wales

RIVERLANE DAIRIES

RIVENDELL VICTORIOUS VIENNA EX-92

RIVENDELL VALENTINOS TAMMY @2yo 87

RIVENDELL VALENTINO VERITY @2yo 87

R.J & S.A CONNELL

MOONPAH TYKO DARLENE EX-92

VALLEYROSE JPOD EILEEN 3 EX-91

VALLEYROSE VALENTINO OPAL EX-91

MARKS FAMILY

WINVARL CHROME FINGERS EX-91

JUGIONG SPRAY 7611 EX-91

Victoria

DARRYN HOURIGAN

DARRYN VALE TEQUILA ELLIE EX-93

DARRYN VALE ONTIME GLORY EX-92

DARRYN VALE WILLOW PRIDE EX-92

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