SHEDS

FOR 25 YEARS milking the 100 cows took three to four hours, twice daily. The shed had four bails per side. A cow would come in, you’d lock her in and milk each one from a small pit before letting it out to bring another forward to milk,” Stuart says.

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“It was hurry up and wait. I found it boring after coming from a 16-a-side herringbone. I probably learnt something, but nothing that was applicable here. But I suppose all of your life experiences make you into what you are today.”

Delwyn was brought up on her parent’s Kaimata (north Taranaki) dairy farm. She initially worked as a word processor for a local law firm before marrying Stuart in 1989 and working on the farm.

The only time she didn’t work on the farm was when their children were young and they employed a farm assistant and International Agricultural Exchange Association (IAEA) trainees.

“One of the IAEA trainees was thrown in the deep end when Scott arrived six weeks premature. Admirably, she rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in, even though she’d probably never laid hands on a cow before,” Stuart says.

“For a number of years we worked the farm on our own, but Dad and Uncle Bob were always around to help out, and the kids helped out when they were old enough.”

When Stuart returned from the US he took on a role similar to a contract milker and progressed from there.

In 1984 he bought a few pedigree Ayrshire cows and registered some calves. The farm had traditionally run a Jersey to Ayrshire herd and when Stuart took over he transitioned to pure Ayrshires and began appendix registering them. Many of their cows have been bred up from non-pedigree purebreds to pedigree status.

“The cows resemble Ayrshires in the old black and white farm photos, but you can tell that there’s a little bit of Jersey in them. In those days many farmers preferred the Ayrshire to produce a beef calf and they crossed back and forth to create a more robust animal,” Stuart says.

“Dad and Bob had been running pedigree Ayrshire bulls. When I started, I began keeping records and individually hand-mated the bulls to selected cows at the cowshed. I then started using AI on the herd.”

The stigma of a breed’s poor traits will stay with it for years in the same way that bad news travels further and faster than good news. But breeders have spent many years working on the breed’s temperament.

“My parents were very supportive but I had many debates with people telling me that going with Ayrshires was the wrong decision. I guess it was hard at the time. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a good Friesian or Jersey cow, it just comes down to your personal preference.”

Stuart believes that, like most dairy breeds, if you breed good cows they’ll produce for you.

The Ayrshire is a very versatile, easy-