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Tasmania’s mature Champion in the Semex-Holstein Australia (HA) On-Farm Competition is arguably in a class of her own when it comes to longevity, consistency and performance

Jamala Talent Mist EX92-3E has won three State Champion titles under three judges in the last six years. This year’s competition included 159 entries from 17 farms on the Apple Isle. Mist’s class and the four-year-old had the biggest numbers of the competition.

The eight-year-old Semex-sired Ladino Park Talent daughter recently classified 92 points (with a 94-point mammary) after calving for the sixth time. She is owned by James and Alison Hortle, from Sassafras. She was bred, and is still milked and managed by James’ parents, Ian and MaryAnn, in a 220-cow herd, supplying Lion year-round. Mist’s on-farm honour board now includes winning the three-year-old (2009), the five-year-old (2011) and the mature class (2014).

“Well, it was quite exciting for us when we heard she had won,” Ian Hortle said. “We’ve always had great comments about this cow. Whenever you put her in the yard, even though she’s not broken to halter, she’ll go and stand up likes she’s standing in the show ring. She’s just that kind of cow and she’s so easy to work with.”

For judge Murray Polson (Mario Park Holsteins and Jerseys) from Oxley Island in New South Wales, Mist demanded his attention, within a competition that impressed one of the country’s most sought after up and coming judges.

“She was a typical Talent daughter,” Murray said. “She had a big, open frame, a nice wide rump and she walked really well on her legs and feet and finished off with a beautiful rear udder.

“It was her rear udder and the way she tracked on her rear legs that got her over the Igniter cow in Reserve (Datumvale Igniter Butterdawn owned by Marcus and Jacqui Young) in the end. The Igniter was also typical of her sire with a really good frame and open rib. She just didn’t quite finish off as nicely as my Champion.”

Murray said he had visited Tasmania infrequently to judge some local shows several years ago. This year’s competition was his first serious exposure to the state’s wider Holstein population. With his family’s 310-cow operation at home, he knew what kind of cows he liked to milk and to win.

“No matter where you went everyone had good cows,” Murray said. “It’s not just a select few, Tasmania has got some great cows down there and they could stand a lot more competition and a lot more visitors.”

One of those cows was the five-year-old Champion, Fairvale Baxter Josie 64-ET. The third calver was found in the high octane Fairvale Master Breeder herd of Ross and Leanne Dobson.

Based at Bracknell, Fairvale has proved untouchable when it comes to breeding International Dairy Week (IDW) Champion Holsteins. Despite the 240km stretch of ocean between the mainland and Tasmania – which naturally limits their entries because of distance and cost – they have bred more IDW Grand Champion Holsteins than any other Australian breeder. They are also exceptional at sharing their genetics.

Three cows, bred and reared at Fairvale, have collectively won five IDW Champion Holstein titles (for three different exhibitors) between 2005 and 2014.

Ross said sharing their genetics with other breeders has always been part of their programme.

“We love breeding cows and while we also love having them on the place we class ourselves more as breeders than marketers,” he said.

“We prefer the people like Leslie Farms [who won Grand Champion Holstein at IDW with Fairvale Jed Bonnie 94 in 2005 and 2007], Bluechip Genetics [who won with Fairvale Leader Josie 5-ET in 2006 in partnership with Fairvale] and Linsand Farms [who won with Fairvale Morty Lady 51 in 2011 in co-ownership with Matt Templeton, and again in 2014 in their own right] to take them to the next level.”

Last year in the On-Farm competition Fairvale won all five Champion titles. This year they took home two Champions and a Reserve.

Murray said he was excited to see Fairvale’s 2014 entries. And it was Josie 64 who left the biggest impression during his Tasmanian visit.

“I felt the hair raise up on the back of my arms when she [Josie 64] walked into the yard,” Murray admitted. “She was easily the best cow I saw in the competition and as soon as I saw her I knew it would take a great one to get around her.

“She was so well balanced, big, long and open-ribbed with a great bone. And when you got into her udder, she had a really high and wide rear udder and a strong ligament running through her udder.

“She was the total package, and my top-pointed cow. To be honest, she probably needs to go to IDW.”

Josie 64 comes from the Dobson’s deep maternal Josie family that has been traced back to 1926. Ross and Leanne got involved with it in earnest when they married. The Josies were among the first families Leanne’s parents bought into when they started dairying for just $70/head from brothers Stump and Hughie O’Halloran in 1976. The matriarch of the family [a Vale daughter, Willarie Valiant Josephine 2] was the granddam of the 2006 IDW Grand Champion Holstein, Fairvale Leader Josie 5-ET EX93-2E.

Notably, Baxter Josie 64 also shares the Valiant Josephine 2’s lineage close up in her pedigree. She is the third dam behind her VG89 Maughlin Storm dam and her VG85 A Townson Lindy granddam (the dam of Josie 5).

The Dobsons were typically hard on their entries, saying while they had high hopes for the Baxter, they were pleasantly surprised by their three-year-old Champion [Fairvale Bolton Ella 120] and Reserve two-year-old [Fairvale Dempsey Caressa 31]. They had 10 two-year-olds in their first cut to enter. They set five for the day and closed them down to their final two entries half an hour before judging. Josie was their easiest decision of all their entries.

“The Baxter Josie 64 always stood out as a young heifer,” Leanne said. “She’s just a sweet, silky dairy cow with a beautiful udder, which is a bit of a challenge to get done when you’re pushing big production in a bigger herd. We hope that she will go on and hopefully been seen on the mainland – possibly at IDW, if everything goes well for her.”

The Dobson milk 380 (peaking at 440 this season) with an average production nudging 10,000 litres. Their three-year-old [Fairvale Bolton Ella 120] ticked all the boxes for judge Polson.

“She was a really good-uddered cow,” he said. “I think she could have had the highest widest rear udder I saw in the whole trip.  She was a real dairy cow, super long with a real good rump and that cracking udder.

“And it was her udder that took her to the top of the class fairly comfortably. Although the Reserve cow, which was a Gillette Final Cut daughter had a helluva udder too. She wasn’t the biggest cow in the world, but she was really correct. They were cut from a similar mould.”

Leanne Dobson described Bolton Ella as a great young herd cow.

“She’s medium sized and her main feature is undoubtedly the height and width in her rear udder. That comes through strongly from her maternal line,” she said.

The four-year-old Champion, Cradle View Lheros Topsy has had a busy month for her owners, Ken and Tania Walters and their 18-year-old daughter, Jayne, who joined her parent’s operation this year. Topsy also recently classified EX-90 1E and was crowned Supreme Dairy Cow at the Ulverstone Show (which doubled as the State’s Dairy Fair) under well-travelled Dairy Livestock Services’ auctioneer, cowman and judge, Brian Leslie.

Brian’s comments included that Topsy was close to the ideal type of cow for her breed and her age and that she could stand more competition.

Topsy was milking 43 litres at 21 days fresh, after calving with a Stanley Cup bull calf. Last season she produced (in an extended lactation) 12,287 litres, 396kg protein, 403kg fat in 359 days. She is milking in a 150-cow herd on 250 acres.

Tania Walters described Lheros Topsy in a way that sums up the mantra of the On-Farm competition: “She’s just a beautiful cow, who is in the first row at the dairy every day.”

She also noted the importance of her dam, who was a matriarch the family loved – Cradle View Gibson Topsy VG88.

Jayne Walters seconded her mother’s thoughts, adding that the On-Farm competition had plenty of relevance for their operation.

“It’s great that we don’t have to clip them for the On-Farm,” Jayne said. “I guess the judge also comes to the farm, so it saves putting the cows in the trailer to get the show and the judge gets to see them in their working form. She also has a real good personality. She’s just a beautiful cow and it doesn’t matter what you do with her, she’s always looks her best.”

Judge Polson agreed: “She was a big strong, powerful cow,” he said. “She was my kind of cow. She had a heap of strength to her and a big, deep open rib, a terrific rump and a really wide rear udder. She was a super young cow.”

Topsy’s sire stack includes being sired by Comestar Lheros x VG88 Silky Gibson x Combination Supersire x a homebred son x VG86 Shoremar Star of Perfection x VG86 A Hilltopper Warden.

The winning two-year-old, Hindlee Goldwyn Dallas 12088, sired by the world’s favourite bull, Braedale Goldwyn, came from John and Vicki Lillico, at Smithton. The couple milk 780 cows that were averaging 38 litres during the On-Farm visit. They supply Tasmanian Dairy Products.

“She was a typical Goldwyn,” judge Polson said. “She was clean and sharp, tall, long and she had a real good udder. She placed over the cow from Fairvale for that cleaner-bone, but there wasn’t that much between them.”

John said he had bought embryos from Eclipse Holsteins, on the understanding that the powerful Aurora Donor Favour daughter with a New Zealand sire would suit a Braedale Goldwyn joining.

“When Dallas 12088 hit the ground I was shocked at just how big she was for a Goldwyn,” John said. “She continued to grow really well and develop and when she calved this year we thought she might be a bit special and that has turned out to be the case.”

Dallas has got off to a runaway start in her career with the On-Farm win and her classification. A few days later she scored VG-87 with +9 ratings on three traits - stature, rear udder height and rear udder width.

It was a hefty second endorsement for the young cow. John was excited because they had flushed her as a maiden heifer and they have three daughters and two bulls sired by Picola and her natural calf was a bull by Observer.

“It proves that she is also very fertile, because she flushed well and conceived on her next AI service,” John said. “She’s milking very well, Piing at 110 and producing 45 litres. We’re pretty happy with that. And the classifier’s eyes lit up when he saw her, and later when we told him what she had done in the On-Farm he said: ‘Murray [Polson] got it right’.”

John said the competition was important for their operation, and hard to win.

“It’s always very hard to beat Dobbo [Ross Dobson] and Leanne [Dobson],” John said. “And we breed for profitability, rather than high show type.”

 

State Over Judging: TASMANIA

Judge - Murray Polson, Mario Park Holsteins (Taree, NSW)

Entries:  159 (2013 - 107)

Farms:  17 (2013 - 18)

TWO YEAR OLD

1st: Hindlee Goldwyn Dallas 12088 - ET, JM & V Lillico, Hindlee Holsteins (Smithton)

2nd: Fairvale Dempsey Caressa 31, R & L Dobson, Fairvale Holsteins (Bracknell)

THREE YEAR OLD

1st: Fairvale Bolton Ella 120, R & L Dobson, Fairvale Holsteins (Bracknell)

2nd: Hilldari Finalcut Princess, IA & JM King, Hilldari Holsteins (Myalla)

FOUR YEAR OLD

1st: Cradle View Lheros Topsy, K & T & J Walters, Cradleview Holsteins (Kindred)

2nd: Ryanna Allen Topsy 2nd, MJ & JM Young, Datumvale Holdings Pty Ltd (Ridgley)

FIVE YEAR OLD

1st: Fairvale Baxter Josie 64-ET, R & L Dobson, Fairvale Holsteins (Bracknell)

2nd: Pantana Goldwyn Rosebud, IE & M Hortle, Greenbanks Pty Ltd (Moriarty)

MATURE

1st: Jamala Talent Mist, JT Hortle, Jamala Holsteins (Sassafras)

2nd: Datumvale Igniter Butterdawn, MJ & JM Young, Datumvale Holsings Pty Ltd, (Ridgley)