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DAIRY PEOPLE » Tim Barclay
NZ Dairy
The whole Barclary family is involved in the competitive showing of their holstein friesian cows - and the Barclary’s have tasted plenty of success.
Family simply in love with the holstein friesian • From page 36 potential,” explains Rob. Features judges look for include good udder height, width, texture and vaination, feet, legs and mobility, a lot of capacity and good dairy strength. In the case of Theresa, when full of milk and in top condition, she will weigh in at close to 800 kg carrying 50 litres of milk. Tending to these beautiful animals year in year out also causes relationships to evolve as Rob explains. “The more you get to deal with a specific animal well it changes their personality and makes them more calm. “If we see a young one with showing potential we will deliberately break them in to get them used to being close to people and being worked with up close.”
Tim, Rob’s dad, says it is good to see the next generation of keen young breeders and fitters coming up through the association, entering competitions and having two sons who he describes as ‘perfectionists’ when it comes to fitting both wanting to carry on the family legacy of showing the cows is very satisfying. “There is real skill in preparing a cow for a show. The difference between one cow receiving Champion or Reserve or not featuring at all can come down to the smallest factor,” Time says. While the whole family is involved in the competitive showing of their prize cows, Mum Jo has the unenviable task of giving names to every cow in the herd. “Each cow has a name starting with the same letter as its mother. It becomes quite challenging the more progeny that are born to find a good name,” says Jo.
Attributes judges look for include good udder height, width, texture and vaination, feet, legs and mobility, a lot of capacity and good dairy strength.