Semex Holstein Queensland, Australia On-Farm Competition

@ QUEENSLAND

LINDSAY MOXEY, Newington Holsteins, Hunter Valley, NSW



Winner swept away

Nine months after being swept away in flood waters while heavily in-calf, Wellstrand Finalcut Georgia, has won her second Queensland state title in the Semex Holstein Australia On-Farm Competition.

Georgia, who is owned by Kelvin and Ronnie Cochrane and Chad and Carita Parker, of Wild Oats Holsteins at Kenilworth has given the young breeders an exciting ride. The young Western Australian bred Gillette Final Cut daughter joined their prefix after they bought her in a “spontaneous” moment as a joined heifer at International Dairy Week.

After delivering them a heifer calf she went on to win Reserve Intermediate Champion at the Brisbane Royal in 2010 and was Queensland’s two-year-old On-Farm Champion the same year.

They were looking forward to her calving for a second time. However, flash flooding in March left Chad watching in shock as 34 of his dry cows – many of them show animals – were washed away. Chad said he could not get within 500m of them because of the deadly water. Among the group feverishly fighting for their lives was Georgia. But he had no idea where she was because she was swept from his sight.

He used jet skis to free the cows he could find from under debris, ignoring advice to shoot them. Georgia was missing for 12 hours and she was the second to find her way home. She remarkably held her pregnancy.

Now she has not only been named the four-year-old Queensland Champion, judge Lindsay Moxey made her his Judge’s Choice of all ages for her State after five days of judging. Kelvin and Chad were shocked.

“It was really wonderful just to have Georgia win her class in the state, particularly backing up from winning the two-year-old class in 2010 when she was last entered,” Kelvin said.

“But to have Lindsay Moxey name her as his ‘Judge’s Choice’ for the entire competition across all age groups in the State was just unbelievable. Lindsay had some really great comments about her and it was very humbling.

Both Chad and I have always placed such a high value on the cows that win the On-Farm because it’s the cows in their working clothes really doing the job, so we are just stoked with the win.

“And I think the floods earlier this year really proved how much ability Georgia has to bounce back. It was amazing that she held her calf during such a traumatic experience and it is a true testament to her nature to persevere and thrive – she is now experiencing 40-degree days and she is still producing over 50 litres a day. We love her.”

The Betts family, who bred her, established the family from some of the earliest embryos that were imported from Canada in 1986. Georgia’s third dam went on to classify EX 5E and become a six Star Brood Cow.

Judge Lindsay was glowing in his description.

“That four-year-old has a huge amount of potential,” Lindsay said. “She was quite outstanding. I loved her wide rump, her open frame, she walked on an incredible set of feet and legs and she was so balanced. Your first impression is your last impression and Chad is doing a great job of looking after her. I couldn’t have seen her in better form. “To think she’s come through all that flooding and calved is amazing. There’s not a mark on her. It makes her achievement even more incredible.”

Kelvin confirmed that Georgia has been joined to Pine-Tree Sid although an IVF programme is not far away. Her Shottle daughter will calve in January and she has a maternal Goldwyn sister milking, who has been joined to WIndbrook. Georgia will head to the Toowoomba Royal in April if everything goes well for her.

This year’s two-year-old Champion was Kaloola Goldwyn Liz-ET, owned by Tony and Lisa Northfield, of Tatham. Classified VG-85 on December 5, the Braedale Goldwyn daughter from and EX-91 3E Mr Marbuck daughter impressed Lindsay.

“She was a big two-year-old as two-year-olds should be. She was really deep ribbed with tremendous frame and an incredible height and width of rear udder and beautiful fore and rear attachments.”

He gave her an advantage of Dan Brown’s Showcase Pronto Debbine-ET for Liz’s form.  “They were very similar heifers, but the winning heifer had more height and width of rear udder.”

The three-year-old class belonged to an Anne Well entry from the well-known livewire breeder Leesa Ison and her partner, Alan Little, from Black & Gold Dairies at Monto. They farm with the support of Leesa’s parents, Max and Sue. They won the three-year-old Championship with Anne Well Wild Fairy VG-85 and they were Reserve Champion in the four-year-old with Anne Well Igniter Fairy GP-82. “It really made my day when I got there and saw what they had on offer,” Lindsay said.

The three-year-old Champion impressed Lindsay from the get go.  “She was just a super dairy cow. She had such an open rib, tremendous sweep to her fore and rear rib. It was a close placing over Clarkdale’s entry (Clarkdale Advent Blossom). There was just more cow in the Champion. It was only small things that split them.”

The five-year-old class belonged to Arabella Farms, of Brookstead, winning Champion and Reserve Champion with Arabella Lucky Sonia VG-88 and Tamrook Champion Rae-Imp-ET EX-90 1E respectively.

“The five-year-old was a very close placing in first and second. I admired the front teat placement in my Champion and she had a little more depth to her fore and rear rib. They were two very, very good cows.”

The mature cow Champion is a name well-known to many in the industry. Ardylbar Dundee Noodle EX-93-2E, owned by Adrian and Sheryl Barron, of Ardylbar Holsteins at Combooya. The seven-year-old was named Reserve Champion at the Brisbane Royal in August. In 2010 she was Supreme Champion Dairy Cow at the Ekka.

“The mature cow just looked fantastic. She was incredibly dairy and her udder was right up on her and she walked on a really good set of legs and feet. She was an easy winner for me.”

The Clark partnership of Caniaba was in the hunt all day, winning two Reserve Champion banners.

Two Year Old


1. Kaloola Goldwyn Liz-ET, T & L Northfield (Kaloola Holsteins, Tatham)
2. Showcase Pronto Debbine-ET, D Brown (Showcase Holsteins, Maleny)

Three Year Old


1. Anne Well Wild Fairy, Black & Gold Dairies (Anne Well Holsteins, Monto)
2. Clarkdale Advent Blossom, Clark Partnership (Clarkdale Holsteins, Caniaba)

Four Year Old


1. & Judges Choice: Wellstrand Finalcut Georgia, C & C Parker and K & R Cochrane (Wild Oats Holsteins, Kenilworth)
2. Anne Well Igniter Fairy, Black & Gold Dairies (Anne Well Holsteins, Monto).

Five Year Old


1. Arabella Lucky Sonia, Arabella Farming Company (Arabella Holsteins, Brookstead)
2. Tamrook Champion Rae-Imp-ET, Arabella Farming Company (Arabella Holsteins, Brookstead).

Mature Cow


1. Ardylbar Dundee Noodle, A & S Barron (Ardylbar Holsteins, Cambooya)
2. Clarkdale Windstar Cascade-Twin, Clark Partnership (Clarkdale Holsteins, Caniaba).


Write up, results and photos provided by Crazy Cow