An opportunity exists to purchase quality heifers from the renowned Ovensdale Illawarra Stud (Rob & Maree Newton, Whorouly, Vic) at the Annual Autumn Sensation Sale on Thursday, March 16 at the Shepparton Selling Centre. The sale starts at 11am with the Ovensdale Annual Illawarra Heifer Sale commencing at 1pm. Selling agents are Dairy Livestock Services, contact Brian Leslie 0418365934 or Ben Minogue 0438145926. Download the catalogue by clicking on the following link:
Extract from a story written by Lloyd Peters:
The Ovensdale Illawarra stud joins the township of Whorouly, on the Ovens River about midway between Wangaratta and Bright. Although Ovensdale does not have a river frontage, a decent flood will certainly inundate the Ovensdale property. The property is now owned by Rob and Maree Newton, the fourth generation of the family managing the property. “Ovensdale” was commenced in 1928 by John Marks Newton.
Top cow families are now well established in the herd with main cow families being Pearl (now numbering 558) coming from the Hillview herd at Jamberoo. The Beautys and Buttercups, both now over 400, also came from the NSW South Coast, as did the Violas. The Roses and Pixies were from the Dongawarra stud at Wodonga. In early 1970’s the Scarlets came from Tabbagong, and have been a most successful family now numbering close to 400. The Jenny’s and Little Princess’ lines came from Lemon Grove.
The Ovensdale stud showed large teams at Melbourne and Shepparton over many years. In the early 1980’s showing was discontinued, with the family concentrating on the milk production side of things.
Type is not forgotten in Ovensdale breeding. While Ovensdale cows no longer grace the show ring, they are active in classification. There are 5 Excellent cows in the herd at the present time, along with 22 cows scored 87 pts or higher.
Ovensdale Pixie 95, Ex Hon Mention Cow OFC 2016;
Champion OFC 2014.
Dam of AI bull, Ovensdale Pixie’s Treble
Ovensdale was most successful exhibitor in the most recent Victorian On Farm Challenge. The Illawarra herd of 270 is currently being milked in a 14 unit, swing over herringbone dairy. General feeding regime: Cows are fed 4kg pellets while being milked. Cows feed on pasture overnight, and again after morning milking till around 10am. They then have access to lucerne hay until afternoon milking time. The lucerne hay is purchased and 1.5 tonne per cow is budgeted for.
Official production averages for 2015/16 are 252 cows 8927 litres 3.9% 348 kgs Fat 3.32% 294 kgs protein. It is interesting to note that in the last recording year, Ovensdale had 52 cows in the herd that had lifetime production over 50000 ltrs milk. 243 cows have produced in excess of 10,000 ltrs in 305 days during the last 4 years. These 243 cows had an average Illawarra purity % of 69%.
When asked about the Illawarra purity level, Rob Newton said “I would like to keep it (Illawarra purity) around 70-75% because I feel with that % I have retained the traits Illawarras are known for, such as ease of calving, fertility and temperament. I also would like to steer away from white teats and hoofs. I do not want the problems I see on neighbouring farms. I am aiming to breed trouble free cows that can match production with any breed. We have two calving periods, both of 4 weeks and having cows go in calf, and calve without assistance(generally) is a great plus.”
