A LABERTOUCHE Jersey cow walked away with the top honour at this year’s Leading Edge Genetics On-Farm competition, in which a judge assessed dairy cows at home, mud-and-all.
The 13th annual Gippsland competition is one of the largest of its kind in Australia, with 387 head of cattle from 51 farms entered this year.
More than 100 farmers attended the presentation at a lunch at the Drouin Golf Club with judge Cameron Bawden.
Mr Bawden said it was a very busy four days of judging in Gippsland.
“It was certainly a competition of great depth. Each farm had animals of tremendous quality,” he said..
“There could only be one winner in each class unfortunately. But for me I was looking for the most correct, well-balanced cow.”
The overall champion and mature cow class went to the Jersey entry 112 sired by Bontino and owned by Hine and Phillips at Labertouche.
This well-balanced dairy cow was on her fifth lactation and was a standout for Mr Bawden.
The two-year-old class was won by Deenan and Mackie with their Holstein 2440 sired by Sidekick, while the three-year-old class went to entry 3632 by Delta Lambda, owned by MPH number two at Labertouche.
A Mogul daughter 5986 owned by Bill, Faye, Brett, and Jodi Loughridge at Poowong North won the four-to-five-year-old class. This animal also won the three-year-old class in last year.
One of the most coveted prizes was the group class in which the judge looks at three animals by the same sire.
This year’s winning pen was owned by the Loughridge family at Poowong North with their three-year-old Mogul daughter group.
This was back-to-back for the Loughridge family, who also won this class last year with a Mogul group.
The most successful exhibitor was a tie between the Loughridge family and Mark and Trish Hammond from Labertouche.
The highest placed non-registered Holstein breeder was awarded to the Hammonds.
Leading Edge Genetics owner and manager, Brad Aitken, said he “marvelled” at the quality of cows presented each year.
“It truly has become one of the leading on-farm competition’s here in Australia,” Mr Aitken said.
“Based on the large attendance today, there is no doubting there is not only great fellowship in our dairy cattle industry, but also great pride that everyone has in their animals.”
