The on-ground milking competition at Queensland shows is always a fierce battle with the prize of All Breeds Champion Butterfat Cow highly sought after by competitors. In this competition at least, everyone starts equal with stewards supervising the strip out and subsequent milkings with testing of the milk done by an independent umpire.
This year at the Brisbane Ekka the Jondene, Riverwood and Den Dia teams were all housed in the one alley so owners Jock Johnston, Steve Ledger and Di Pratten could all keep an eye on each other's production comp entries - Jock 2 cows plus 1 heifer, Steve 1 cow and Di 2 cows.
Lack of time for these three exhibitors means that three times a day milking doesn't start until the Ekka so its a lottery as to how the cows' components react when also taking into account being housed at a noisy show.
The stress level for Jock started early with his main hope, Jondene Nell 44, increasing her milk supply considerably which to that old timer meant her components were going down. His second hope Jondene Jessie 9 also increased her milk yield. Jock went looking for tissues. Riverwood Joan 6 and Den Dia Minnie 5 were neck and neck in milk yield but behind the Jondene animals. By the end of the second milking Jock was looking for a box of tissues. By the end of the final milking, Greg English gave Jock a feed bucket to hang around his neck to catch his tears just in case the water went off. With no knowledge of what other breeds' entrants were doing, both Di and Steve lost their fingernails.
As it turned out, the old timer was right. While Jondene Jessie 9 and Jondene Nell 44 both produced more milk, 46.16 kgs and 48.84 kgs respectively, they didn't qualify for components and therefore were ineligible. Di Pratten's Den Dia Minnie 5 was named All Breeds Champion Butterfat Cow with figures of 41.42 kgs of milk for 3.20kgs Fat Plus Protein and the Ledger Family's Riverwood Joan 6 took out the All Breeds Champion Weight of Milk Producing Cow with 42.76 kgs of milk for 2.92 kgs Fat Plus Protein.
A great result for the Illawarra breed.
In 2014, Den Dia Minnie 5 was named Queensland's On Farm Challenge Overall Champion.
Pictured at Brisbane Show 2015 - Den Dia Minnie 5 (Photo: Kelvin Cochrane)
