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Vol. 66 No. 1 - January-February 2013 Lindsay, Todd and Brian Wilson.
COVER Shirlinn Jerseys Developing and Promoting the Jersey Breed
Jersey Australia Board Members President: Trevor Saunders 495 Araluen Rd, Yarragon VIC 3823 Telephone: (03) 5626 6373 saunders-day@dcsi.net.au Vice President: Milton Johnston 118 Edinburgh Drive, Taree, NSW 2430 Telephone: (02) 6552 5915 Secretary: Scott Joynson PO Box 292, Ascot Vale, VIC 3032 Telephone: (03) 9370 9105 jersey@jersey.com.au Hon. Treasurer: Peter Ness PO Box 93, Mt Compass, SA 5210 Telephone: (08) 8556 8270 nyowee@activ8.net.au Andrew Younger 50 Zeerust School Rd, Zeerust Vic 3634 Ph: 03 5829 8352 Mob: 0409 572 484 Email: motor5@bigpond.com Geoff Heazlewood PO Box 87 Latrobe TAS 7307 Telephone: (03) 6426 1169 Chris MacKenzie 859 Cooriemungle Rd Timboon VIC 3268 Telephone: (03)559 87222 jireh859@skymesh.com.au Troy Mauger The Willows Willawa Rd Jerilderie NSW 2716 Telephone: (03) 5885 9294 tmmauger1@bigpond.com Rohan Sprunt 235 Kaarimba Hall Rd Kaarimba VIC 3635 Telephone: (03) 5826 9506 kaarmona@bigpond.com Lisa Broad 388 Johnson Rd Lockington VIC 3563 Telephone: (03) 5486 2624 lisa.broad@bigpond.com.au Brian Wilson 204 Wallamore Road, Tamworth NSW 2340 Telephone: (02) 6761 5783 vicki.brian@bigpond.com AJBS Website: www.jersey.com.au
Shirlinn Icy Eve EX94: Champion Jersey and Supreme Champion Dairy Cow Sydney Royal 2012. 1st 5yrs IDW 2012. Shirlinn Caesar Starfinch EX92: Champion Production Cow NSW State Show 2012. 1st 6yrs IDW 2012. Shirlinn Connection Priscilla EX92: 1st Best Udder and Reserve Champion Cow NSW State Show 2012. 1st 4yrs Sydney Royal 2012. Shirlinn Verify Pet VG88 (max): 1st 3yrs and Intermediate Champion NSW State Show 2012. Shirlinn Free Dawn EX91: Intermediate Champion Sydney Royal 2012. 1st 2yrs IDW 2012.
THE WILSON FAMILY
Brian and Vicki Wilson & family 02 6761 5783 – 0407 176 425 (Brian) Todd & Sarah - 02 6761 5767 0404 081 352 (Todd) Lindsay & Shirley - 02 6765 5378
Cover design: Sharon Clark
IN THIS ISSUE... CONTENTS
ADVERTISERS INDEX
4 Behind the Scenes 9 Jersey engineer adopts robot milker 12 Semex-Jersey Australia Great Southern 24 28 32 33
Challenge Great Aussie Cow Family - The Wynne’s No-frills Jerseys thrive in on-farm challenges NSW State Show and State Youth Show Agri-Gene IDW Blue Ribbon Specials
ADVERTISING DEADLINES JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 Advertising Bookings: NOVEMBER 15th If you are supplying press ready artwork from an outside source the final deadline is DECEMBER 3, 2012 If you require your ad to be designed - all copy must be received by NOVEMBER 23, 2012
ABS Australia 2 Agri-Gene IBC Araluen Jerseys 22 Bushlea Farms 16-17 Cairnbrae Jerseys 7 Central Gippsland JBC 23 Central Sires 19 Colac JBC 26 CRV 21 Davies Way 10 First Choice Investments 18 Goulburn Murray JBC 6 Homelands Jerseys 20 Jugiong Jerseys 27 Katandra Park Jerseys 15 Northern District JBC 31 Semex BC Shirlinn Jerseys FC Wallacedale Jerseys 30
Editorial and Advertising to: SHARON CLARK Clark Graffix - PO Box 1576, Shepparton VICTORIA 3632 T: 0437 066 077 | F: 03 5821 0165 | E: jersey@clarkgraffix.com PO BOX 292, ASCOT VALE, VIC 3032 Telephone: (03) 9370 9105 Fax: (03) 9370 9116 Email: jersey@jersey.com.au www.jersey.com.au Pre-Press Editor & Graphic Design: Sharon Clark - Clark Graffix Printed by: Shepparton Printing Service P/L (03) 5821 4707 Email: sps@shepprint.com.au NEW SOUTH WALES State Secretary - Milton Johnston Phone: (02) 6552 5915 Fax: (02) 6552 5915 johnston_jersey@yahoo.com.au
QUEENSLAND State Secretary - Diane Reeves Phone: (07) 5485 4585 Work: (07) 3221 3182 Fax: (07) 5485 4575 Email: ajbsqld@bigond.com SOUTH AUSTRALIA State Secretary - Amy McDonald PO Box 13, Greenock SA 5360 Phone (08) 8562 8113 Fax (08) 8562 8520 Email: carcoola@chariot.net.au TASMANIA State Secretary - Max McCormack PO Box 1258, Devonport TAS 7310 Phone: (03) 6424 1250 Mobile: 0409 252 232 Email: pegandmax@southcom.com.au
VICTORIA State Secretary - Andrew Younger 50 Zeerust School Rd, Zeerust Vic 3634 Ph: 03 5829 8352 Mob: 0409 572 484 Email: motor5@bigpond.com GENETIC RECOVERY OFFICERS Chris MacKenzie (Western Districts) Phone: (03) 5598 7222 Margaret Cockerell (Northern Vic) Phone: 0407 641 132 (03) 5864 1133 Barry Monson (03) 5625 3176 or 0429 343 903 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Susan Lutey Feast Rd, Serpentine WA 6125 Phone: (08) 9525 2407 hope1@iinet.net.au
Opinions expressed in The Australian Jersey Journal are not necessarily those of Jersey Australia Inc or its Board of Management or Compiling Editor, and no responsibility whatsoever is taken for their authenticity. While every effort will be made to publish advertisements as ordered, no responsibility is taken for the failure of an advertisement to appear as ordered. Jersey Journal – November/December 2012 3
JJ JERSEY AUSTRALIA
A
by Scott Joynson
Behind the Scenes
s the Jersey Australia financial year comes to an end the temptation is to look back at the year from the point of view of pure numbers as a measure of how successful or how active the Association has been.
The release of Jersey Genomic ABV’s during 2012 has been an exciting shift in the way the AI Industry calculates the genetic value of Jersey’s here in Australia. The 2012 public release comes on the back of years of lobbying by the Board, donations of proven semen from members and associated businesses along with the hard work of Ben Hayes and the DPI Laboratory staff. The final hurdle in getting this latest technology available for our members was the Dairy CRC Jernomics 5000 cow genomic testing project where over 100 Jersey herds were selected to participate by submitting tail hair from nominated animals so as to be genomically tested and results added to the Australian Jersey reference set. This project has also taken several years with 2012 being the year where this vital Jersey research finally came to a conclusion. Jersey Australia also launched a Genomic testing service that began in November 2012. This service not only became available as a result of all the work leading up to the Jersey ABVg release but also as a result of over 12 months of talks with Holstein Australia who now provide Jersey Australia with a convenient method of processing members requests for genome testing. The Jersey Australia Board and Holstein Australia have been working closely over the past year on a number of projects which includes the All Breeds Show Ring Code of Ethics that will be on show at International Dairyweek 2013 and represents a strong alliance between the two like organisations.
Jersey Australia in conjunction with major sponsor Central Sires launched the iJersey online database late in 2011 (www. jersey.com.au click the iJersey icon) with the Board spending a further $9000 during 2012 to update the very popular site to include the online registration facility known as iReg. Members can log on to the service via the iJersey link at www.jersey. com.au and the office has already received plenty of positive feedback on how easy the online registrations service is to use. While sponsorship has been at the heart of the online success it is also crucial for the upcoming WJCB Tour in May this year. Many thanks to; Alta Genetics, Genetics Australia, Semex Australia, Dairy Livestock Services, CRV Australia, National Australia Bank and more recently Central Sires all of who have pledged much needed funds so as to make the tour a success and showcase the quality of Australian Jersey genetics.
4 Jersey Journal – January/February 2013
Unfortunately Jersey Australia was not able to secure a sponsor for the very popular Jersey Calendar which means at time of writing that the Jersey Calendar will not be distributed throughout the membership during 2013. The Board will continue its search for sponsorship for this publication and consider alternatives such as a financial year calendar ie. June 2012 to June 2013.
Congratulations to all members who participated in the 2012 Semex/Jersey Australia Great Southern Challenge which was again a wonderful success and creating an ever increasing fan base given the amount of people visiting the Jersey Australia website to view results and pictures taken during the event. I must thank Peter Ness for judging the event and of course where would the event be without the tireless efforts of Stu Mackie from Semex who took photos and video of all finalist then collated the footage into the presentation video that was enjoyed by the 70+ people who made the trip to the Witchmont Winery, Rockbank to see the crowning of the 2012 Champions.
The 2012 Great Northern Challenge was also conducted during December 2012 and congratulations to all finalists throughout Northern NSW and Queensland along with organisers of this event as it has also seen plenty of people visiting our website looking for information. We all look forward now to further announcements from the Jersey Australia Board with regard to the much anticipated 2013 Great Australian Challenge where the winners of the Great Northern and Great Southern Challenges will compete for national honours. Members please note the list of updated fees for 2013 below and the fact that the Jersey House staff will be posting membership renewal notices late in January for the coming year. Your membership helps our organisation to continue work for positive change for our breed as well as provide financial support for the long list of services we offer on an annual basis.
Finally I would like to thank the Northern & Districts Jersey Cattle Club for the invitation to attend their 21st On Farm Challenge at the Moama Bowling Club. A terrific night out where all judges and winners over the past 21 years were recognised on the one evening and captured wonderfully in a very professional looking magazine that has been added to the Jersey House archive. Aside from seeing all the wonderful cows it was great to be in the big crowd when Trevor Campbell wrestled the microphone from the hands of Bill Cochrane just long enough to present both Bill & Kay with NDJBC Life Membership - seeing Mr Cochrane caught out was a treat and the award truly well deserved!
JJ JERSEY AUSTRALIA
JERSEY AUSTRALIA FEES - AS AT JANUARY 2013 REGISTRATION FEES Total 0 - 3 Months Male or Female $12.10 each 3 - 6 Months Male or Female $14.30 each 6 Months + Male or Female $18.70 each Associate Members (5 registrations per year) $18.70 each Bulls Born after July 1st 2007 - dam must be classified. Bulls Born to a GR cow cannot be registered Telephone Emergency Registrations Surcharge - $55.00 GENETIC RECOVERY Live animals (1st Year) as at July 1st Dead Animals
$12.10 each No Charge
SEMEN PURCHASE Jersey Marketing Services
$11.00
TRANSFER CHARGES Whole Herd - Walk In-Walk out Under $1,000 $1,000 - $1,999 $2,000 - $2,999 $3,000+ Within Family Within Syndicate Bulls to AI Companies
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Udderly Admin
Cassandra Lowes, Office Co ordinator
to come
No Charge $1.10 $2.75 $5.50
MEMBERSHIP 1st March 2013 – 28th February 2014 All Jersey Australia memberships come with a Jersey Journal subscription Full $220.00 Family $240.00 Associate $110.00 Junior $80 Jersey Journal Subscriber (Aus & OS) $71.50 CLASSIFICATION Herd Visit fee Adult Cows Animals resubmitted 2 year olds (all) 2 year olds (selected)
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COMING EVENTS • ALL BREEDS YOUTH CAMP, JANUARY 2013 Visit www.jersey.com.au then go to the Youth Page, details will be added as they become available. • INTERNATIONAL DAIRY WEEK, 20-25 JANUARY 2013 www.internationaldairyweek.com.au • 2013 JERSEY AUSTRALIA/PFIZER YOUTH SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS Visit www.jersey.com.au for information. Applications open December 2012 and close 31st January 2013
Jersey Journal – January/February 2013 5
Goulburn Murray Jersey Breeders Club President: Ron Baker (03) 5864 6246 Secretary: Margaret Cockerell (03) 5864 1133
NEW MEMBERS ALWAYS WELCOME
GM
GLENARRON JERSEYS Ron, Glenyss & Grant Baker 14 Hutchins Lane, Katunga (03) 58646246 glenarron@origin.net.au YENOLAM JERSEYS Neil, Wendy, Dick & Lyla 1119 Boals Rd Numurkah 3636 Ph (03) 5864 1064 Fax (03) 5864 1025 yenolam@iinet.net.au
FRESH START JERSEYS Toni Adams & Mark Norman Ph (03) 5865 5060 M 0427 229 505 YALCARA JERSEYS Peter & Lyn Sprunt 926 Sandmount Road Katunga 3640 (03) 5873 2583 yalcara@cnl.com.au
HHH
Thank you to all volunteers for your time and effort to run the on farm challenge and judge Max Hyland. Congratulations to Jason Hayes on having the highest pointed cow
Waianiwa Star Madeline bred by fellow club member Lindsay Hamilton.
LOXLEiGH JERSEYS Geoff Akers Victoria Rd Tallygaroopna 3634 (03) 5829 8478 geoffakers1@bigpond.com
WARRAiN JERSEYS John & Margaret Cockerell 1219 Rendells Rd Numurkah 3636 (03) 5864 1133 warrainjerseys@mcmedia.com.au
GLENFERN JERSEYS Peter & Bev Farrell 579 Healesville-Kooweerup Rd, Healesville 3777 M 0409 503 352 peter.farrell7@bigpond.com
JBC
KADDY JERSEYS Andrew Younger 50 Zeerust School Rd Zeerust 3634 (03) 5829 8352 motor5@bigpond.com www.jersey.com.au/ jweb/uploads/kaddy/ kaddy_intro.html
PiNNACLE PARK JERSEYS Darryn Smith 226 Crera Rd Invergordon 3636 M 0428 557 080 HOMELANDS JERSEYS Phil Hentschke & Warren Schutz 142 Youanmite Rd Invergordon 3636 (03) 5865 5171
Also congratulations to Phil Hentschke & Warren Schutz on taking out the aggregate award and the Akers family for being runner- up.
Another strong challenge that we look forward to making bigger and better next year.
HHH
New members welcome
GENTEEL JERSEYS Brad Adams 553B Mywee/Koonoomoo Rd Strathmerton 3641 (03) 5874 5388 genteeljerseys@hotmail.com
GARCOLA JERSEYS Gary & Christine Maddern 305 Kenny Rd Koonoomoo 3644 Ph 03 5873 2330 M 0417 898 340 maddern@adam.com.au WAiANiWA JERSEYS Lindsay Hamilton 1045 Hawkers Rd Nathalia 3636 (03) 5864 1380
KAARMONA JERSEYS Graeme & Robyn, Rohan & Claire Sprunt 228 & 235 Kaarimba Hall Rd Kaarimba 3635. (03) 5826 9506 kaarmona@bigpond.com HAZELVALE JERSEYS Jason Hayes M 0410 135 420
words: Michael Porteus
Jersey engineer adopts robot milker
F
ifth-generation Jersey breeder Lindsay Anderson is using technology including solarpowered robot milking to position his Gippsland farm for a new era of efficient milk production with minimum inputs of labour, feed and energy.
Lindsay grew up with Jerseys. He says his family has been dairying ever since the first ship cows came to Australia, moving their operations east as Melbourne expanded. He the studied mechanical engineering and worked on design and construction of Victorian power stations before he returned to dairying in 1989. He set up his Kings Vista Jersey Stud at Athlone near Warragul, 110km southeast of Melbourne. He now runs the farm with wife Jacinta, daughters Melissa 23, Simone 20 and Renee 16, his eldest daughters’ partners Ricky and Tyson, and his 11-year-old son Patrick, who can already work the robot. Lindsay says his experience as an engineer helps him bring a different perspective to farming. He was always interested in robotic milking which would lessen the constraints caused by the shortage of reliable workers and having to milk twice a day. He looked
8 Jersey Journal – January/February 2013
further into adopting the technology after an illness and problems getting enough reliable staff for a farm which was milking 400 cows. “I got very ill some five years ago, and I’m still not 100 per cent” he says. “I could do the odd milking, but not every day. That pushed us down the line of employing more people and with that more problems came, such as not turning up for work and their minds not being on the job, and not doing the job properly. “This caused problems down the line with milk quality, animals not getting in calf, and other issues around the herd. It was becoming a bit of a nightmare.” It came to a crunch when an employee’s lack of focus lead to a $14,000 bill. “I had to make up my mind whether to put up with it, get out, or do something else.” Lindsay says. “I decided to look at robotic milking.” He started research on the internet, then made a six-day trip to Europe to see robots milking cows. He asked Australian
equipment suppliers to tender for the job, and chose to be the first Australian farm with a machine manufactured in the Netherlands, an Insentec Astrea 20:20. The manufacturer had been discussing agency arrangements with an Australian company Daviesway Dairy Equipment, where Lindsay knew staff. He uses spreadsheets to do wholeof-life-cycle evaluations integrating all factors in major purchases. “You’ve got to make sure you are getting the best value for your money,” he says. “Astrea came in considerably under the others, and also its power consumption was only 60 per cent of the others. How the robot milks cows “It has two milking boxes, but only one arm which swings over between the two boxes. It has a laser and a camera system that scans for the teats, and works out where the teats are to put the cups on.” Lindsay says Astrea has an electricallydriven full industrial robot arm, and
is more efficient than machines with arms driven by air or hydraulics. “At the moment it is handling the 150 cows on twice-a-day milking, and it has six to eight hours a day off.” He aims to build his milking herd back up to 200 or more cows. He runs the operation as a semivoluntary milking system. “The cows have to come in in herds, which is a bit different to letting the cows be voluntary,” he says. “They are voluntary going to Astrea, but someone brings them into the yard at the present time. “There’s a training process that we go through with new cows. That was a big job early on. A lot of effort went into training cows to a whole new system. Most of them made it, but some didn’t. “When you are training, we actually put the cups on manually to get them used to it. Then Astrea does it, and you just have to observe if the cow is going to behave or not with a mechanical arm moving around her.” Lindsay was surprised that it took longer to break in a couple of his show cows. He was still training new cows in spring last year, but was also seeing the benefits of trained cows who had recalved remembering the routine when they returned to the machine. He says Astrea remembered them, and when told they had calved automatically managed milk withholding and testing. “We just had to watch the robot do the first few milkings with no training,” he says. Lindsay says the system actually does a lot more than just milking, starting with identifying each cow as it enters a box. It can work out if a cow is on heat, and communicate that to him. It adds fresh data from each animal to all the information about its history. “As more and more information gets in there, it’s actually building on that information about individual cows and the herd as a total,” Lindsay says. “The cow is identified and it works out how much feed she should be getting based on production. “It then goes through the process of scanning the back two teats, finding them. It then washes, blow dries and stimulates them, and then goes and puts the cups on those two teats. “Then it does the front two teats in the same fashion. It’s about 90 to 120 seconds in attachment time.” It also sprays the teats after milking. Lindsay recognises that human milkers are much better at some things – such as finding teats that are not well placed. He says Astrea can still do this, but it can take more time.
However, he says you will always get a range of results with human milkers: “A lot of people wouldn’t wash and prep teats -- we would be straight into the milking. “Another feature of Astrea is that it consistently does the same thing,” he says. “It monitors each quarter of the udder at every milking for factors including milk flow, conductivity, volume and colour. It also manages milking time per quarter. We’ve got a ream of information that comes out of every milking. Every quarter is treated individually.” Data flow helps udder health Lindsay saw the benefits of this when his cows were still training and he was putting cups on manually. The first cup he put on one cow was the last one to be released as Astrea detected that there was still milk in that quarter. “When we looked into the history of that cow we found that she’d had problems in that quarter in the past,” he says. “That might mean that we were under-milking her, or we might have been over-milking her. Previous mastitis might have done some long-term damage to that quarter. “From an udder health point of view, Astrea is doing far more than we could ever do. The farmer would only end up seeing the end effect – i.e. she’s got mastitis. But Astrea is doing things well before that -- highlighting that something’s not quite right with this quarter – and letting us know that we better keep an eye on it for a few milkings. “It’s looking at information, and is always comparing that to previous information.
“When a cow comes in -- based on her previous milking and what she’s producing per day -- Astrea expects to see a certain amount of milk. If it doesn’t, we get a whole heap of reports. If there’s a problem, we get alarms coming up to us by the phone. It’s far better than continuing milking with something that’s not working correctly.” Despite a wet 2012, the mastitis rate in the herd fell by 90 per cent. Lindsay looks at the data to enable him to place cows in different herds with different daily milking frequencies at different stages of their lactations. They might milk once a day, twice a day, or five times in two days. But he says Astrea will always carry out precise instructions for each cow, whether she turns up at 1am or 4pm. Astrea also has master drafting unit to manage cow flow. It can send cows back to the paddock if they are not due to be milked. It can also send them to a fresh paddock, or separate them for other purposes such as mating or treatments. It can also direct them back to the dairy yard if it its data indicates that they have not milked out properly. Lindsay says that under-milking or over-milking each quarter of a cow’s udder is an important factor in cow health, yield and longevity. He saw a minimum yield improvement of 5 to 10 per cent per cow in his first ten months, increasing yield to annual rates averaging up to 6000 litres per cow at 4.8 per cent fat and 3.9 per cent protein. He supplies Burra Foods. But the system is still evolving, and he expects to further increase yield gains to Continued on page 11…
Jersey Journal – January/February 2013 9
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Jersey engineer adopts robot milker Continued from page 9…
15 to 20 per cent and to further reduce costs. Lindsay directs Astrea to feed precise amounts of grain to each cow at each milking to maximise the return from every kilo of feed. “In the past, we would have flatly fed them four or five kilos whether the cow gave us 10 litres, 20 litres, or 50 litres,” Lindsay says. “Now I can rob ‘Paul’ and give it to ‘Peter’. In other words, a cow giving ten litres she doesn’t need four kilos -- she can get one or two. But I can go to the 50-litre cow and say instead of giving you four kilos, I should give you eight.” The system has a shock sensor to monitor if a cow is kicking. “It will tolerate a certain amount,” Lindsay says. “But if she really goes berserk, it will eject her out of the box and say go around again, and I’ll get a report.” He says Astrea changes his role on the farm from worker to manager.
Solar panels harvest energy The Anderson family are members of both the South Gippsland and the Central Gippsland jersey breeders clubs. They held a field day in November to let club members view the robotic system and solar arrays. Lindsay installed four 5kw solar arrays when higher feed-in tariffs were available in 2010-11. The farm now receives a cheque rather than a bill for electricity. He expects the solar units will pay for themselves in less than four years. He installed a fifth solar system to power Astrea. Lindsay has a handful of Holsteins and crossbreeds among the Jerseys on his farm which is located 80kms north of Victoria’s south coast. He says data collected by Astrea underlines how much better his Jerseys retain production levels in hot weather.
“Before we would only see it in the vat - now we are seeing it within the cows,” he says. “Now I’ve got 24/7 monitoring of individual production, and we do see a trend. When it goes hot, certain animals tend to drop off a lot more than others.” He says this is a diplomatic way to point to a characteristic which could make Jerseys more suitable for export to parts of Asia with high temperatures. He manages his own breeding with help on corrective mating from his daughter Simone’s partner Tyson, who works for Semex. Lindsay is also treasurer-director of a company that specialises in Jersey semen – Central Sires Cooperative – which aims to endorse and improve Australian Jersey genetics. He thinks his daughters would say that he likes his Jersey “a little bit stronger rather than very fine”. “Probably just strength of a cow is more what I like,” he says. “Those cows tend to last longer, and I’m looking for that animal that will last, and will milk trouble-free for a number of years. The Jersey tends to do that nearly naturally by herself, but there’s always breeding programs in place to help you along with that.” He recognises that teat placement will become more important with the robot milking, but says it will take years for these characteristics to be expressed in his herd. Lindsay says his engineering background enables him to “think outside the square”. He’ll do a spreadsheet of interacting factors before he buys or upgrades equipment. This kind of analysis recently led him to change all his large single-phase motors to three-phase motors using variable speed drives not for speed control, but as phase converters. He says this saves 15 to 33 per cent of their electricity consumption.
Working the numbers can also point towards the advantages of a smaller, more efficient operation, which may work out better than feeding lots of grain to a larger herd just to pay lots of staff. And Lindsay says that even Astrea has its limitations. “Ideally, I just should have put in two of these systems,” he says. “But I decided to put in one, and maximise it for the start, and then worry about putting a second one in the future. It’s the first of its type in this country, so it’s a learning curve.” He says there is also a learning curve for the Dutch manufacturer which is used to supplying equipment to European farmers who think that ‘grazing’ is something that cows do for five hours a day on 100 days in a year.
Lindsay looks for virtual fences But even while he is still evolving his use of Astrea, he is researching another big step -- virtual fencing. He says the technology exists to have a device on each of his cows which could use signals such as noises to enable him to remotely manage where they are on his farm. He says he could monitor both Astrea and the virtual fences from anywhere with his mobile phone, and even send instructions from the other side of the world to send different members of his herd in different directions on his Gippsland farm. “You can ensure that Astrea always has a continuous supply of cows to be milked so that they are not standing in the yard too long,” he says. “I can see big benefits for us - not just for me as a robotics person, but for general dairy farmers. “You can direct the system to have the cows in the cow yard by the time you get home from town. You won’t need the motor bike to go get the cows any more.”
Jersey Journal – January/February 2013 11
words: Dianna Malcolm
SEMEX - JERSEY AUSTRALIA
Great Southern Challenge 2012
T
2009, Champion three-year-old in 2010, Reserve Champion four-year-old in 2011 and this year’s Mature and Supreme Champion. Geoff said they were thrilled to have had a finalist in the On-Farm Challenge every year and while winning a class was always intoxicating; winning Supreme was sweeter in a competition that had come of age. He said Claire runs with their 200head Merseybank herd and last year she
averaged just over 9000 litres in 300 days with more than 400kg fat and a PI of 125. She has two full sisters in the herd, one is classified EX91 and the other is yet to be seen by the classifier. “It is very humbling,” Geoff said. “The cow looks as well as I could get her and while you go to the presentation hoping, you’re always a bit nervous. She was a PT daughter, so that shows you that sometimes, it just clicks.” Claire’s pedigree traces back 35 years to Bemersyde, of the Cox family (Melanie Wallace, of Wallacedale Jerseys’ family), at Swan Hill. Merseybank has an inmilk Lencrest On-Time daughter and a Merchant yearling. One of her sons has been chosen for progeny test (pending Genomics results). Geoff said Claire would not be travelling to IDW in January, saying. “we’ve been there and done that and there’s nothing left to prove with this cow.” Jersey Australia’s treasurer and judge Peter Ness of South Australia’s Mount Compass said he was impressed with the quality of competition he faced in the 44 finalists. “You have the top cows that go through from the clubs and so you always know you are going be dealing with good cows and the four winners were easy winners,” Peter said. “Because using the system we use, they scored highly in all the categories. “It’s been an honour to judge the Great Southern, I consider it probably after IDW as the top judging position. To be asked was definitely an honour and I thoroughly enjoyed it.” He said his Supreme Champion was special. “She’s got what you like. She scored well in all categories – stature, capacity, length of body and her length from hip to pin. She walked on a good set of feet and legs and she had good fore and rear
2yr old - Cairnbrae Tbone Daisy, A & J Carson.
3yr old - Cairnbrae Tbone Benita, A & J Carson.
asmanian breeder Geoff and Anne Heazlewood would have slept soundly the night of the Semex-Jersey Australia Great Southern Challenge finals.
Winning Supreme Champion with Merseybank Eltons Claire EX92-3YRS against more than 1200 entries in a competition that spans 11 regions from Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, completes a bucket list for the Labrobe breeder that few get to experience. “There are things you’d like to win in your life and the On-Farm Challenge and International Dairy Week (IDW) – and now we’ve won both,” Geoff said at the presentation luncheon at Witchmount winery at Melton on December 12. For the rusty memories, the Heazlewoods won Intermediate Champion with Merseybank Fabulous Rondo at IDW 2005 under US judge Herby Lutz. This year’s On-Farm Champion is sired by a former Progeny Test sire Cairnbrae Jace Elton. Claire is almost an institution in the On-Farm results. She was Champion two-year-old in
12 Jersey Journal – January/February 2013
STATE OVER JUDGING:
Great Southern Challenge TWO-YEAR-OLD 1st: Cairnbrae Tbone Daisy, A & J Carson, Cairnbrae Jerseys, Irrewillipe East 2nd: Inverell Fay 375, T & A Saunders, Araluen Park Jerseys, Shady Creek 3rd: Jugiong Damsel 6193, Nicholson Family, Jugiong Jerseys, Girgarre 4th: Aldehneo Black Posh, D Vinnicombe, Aldehneo Jerseys, Mitiamo 5th: Lerida Park Elton Countess, B & J & R & L Smethurst, Lerida Park Jerseys, Princetown
From left – Trevor Saunders, Geoff Heazlewood, Merseybank Jerseys, Semex General Manager Jim Conroy and judge Peter Ness.
udder attachments. She also had a good ligament and teat placement. When you can get all that in one cow, you’ve got yourself a champion.” The other cow to spark conversation was last year’s Supreme Champion and this year’s four-year-old Champion Broadlin Constance 2565 EX91. Owned by the Broadlin stud of Lynton and Lisa Broad, from Lockington, Constance has another one of the strongest resumes in the On-Farm Competition and she was seeing the classifier the week after presentations. She was last year’s Champion three-year-old and Supreme Champion and 3rd senior two years inmilk at IDW 2010. She runs in the Broad’s 210-cow herd that produced 116,000kgMS last season. Sired by Pannoo Abe Vanahlem, she as the couple’s top two-year-old and last season she produced just over 8000 litres. Lynton said the victory had weight. “The On-Farm is an easier way of doing it compared to IDW,” he said.”This is easier, cheaper and has just as much hype. In our club alone, there were 200 entries – it’s definitely growing in stature every year.”
He said Constance would go close to qualifying as the best cow they had bred. Alan and Janine Carson took out the balance of the titles, winning the two and three-year-old with Cairnbrae Tbone Daisy VG-88 Max (for age) and Cairnbrae Tbone Benita EX92-3YRS respectively. The Irrewilipe East breeders also bred the sire of the Supreme Champion. Both young cows were tall, with judge Peter Ness putting them at 52 inches (at the hip) and 54 inches respectively. “When they scored maximum points for height, that gave them a good advantage,” Peter said. “When you’ve got a cow that is tall you usually find she has the length as well. Those two cows were tall and long and they had strength in the chest, width in their rumps and pins. They were two really good animals.” Alan, who was recovering from shoulder surgery, was thrilled. He said the two-year-old was PIing at 120. “She’s a first-shed cow that comes home first, she’s the first cow milked and the first gone to the paddock,” Janine said. “They are just two outstanding animals – there’s not much you’d change
THREE-YEAR-OLD 1st: Cairnbrae Tbone Benita, A & J Carson, Cairnbrae Jerseys, Irrewilipe East 2nd: Mikandan Parades Belle 2051, T & B Edwards, Mikandan Jerseys, Thowgla Valley 3rd: Isycoed Charo Navara’s Girl, C & M Brereton, Isycoed Jerseys, Gunbower 4th: Attaview Brookbi Melaine, R Attenborough, Attaview Jerseys, Poowong North 5th: Lerida Park Navara Sabina 18, B & J & R & L Smethurst, Lerida Park Jerseys, Princetown FOUR-YEAR-OLD 1st: Broadlin Constance 2565, L. & L. Broad, Broadlin Jerseys, Lockington 2nd: Tarralyn Lovely 31, C. & B. Launder, Glenmaple Jerseys, Stony Creek 3rd: Darryn Vale Sultans Vanilla, D. & E. Hourigan, Darryn Vale Jerseys, Milawa 4th: Riverside Country Lollypop, C. & K. Couch, Riverside Jerseys, Nirranda 5th: Warrain Rhumona Dream, R. & A. Heath, Wanstead Jerseys, Camperdown MATURE COW 1st: Merseybank Eltons Claire, G & A Heazlewood, Merseybank Jerseys, Latrobe 2nd: Misty Glen Charade Daydream, F Walsh, Windy Way Jerseys, Tongala 3rd: Waianiwa Star Madeline, J Hayes, Hazel Vale Jerseys, Invergordon 4th: Bushlea Nathan Belle, P & J Price, Springview Jerseys, Leongatha 5th: Cairnbrae Conns Light, A & J Carson, Cairnbrae Jerseys, Irrewillipe East SUPREME CHAMPION Mersey Eltons Claire G & A Heazlewood, Merseybank Jerseys, Latrobe
4yr old - Broadlin Constance 2565, L & L Broad
Mature Cow and Supreme - Merseybank Eltons Claire, G & A Heazlewood.
Baker/Farrell Trophy for MOST SUCCESSFUL JERSEY CATTLE CLUB Colac & District JBC Jersey Journal – January/February 2013 13
about them,” Alan added. “When you see a cow like them in the cow yard, that are both powerful, dairy, tall and eager to be milked they are very, very hard to stop.” The Carsons represented the Colac Club and their efforts helped the club secure the Baker/Farrell Trophy for Most Successful Jersey Cattle Club title. Semex’s General Manager Jim Conroy said the competition continued to gain ground and had so much relevance for the Jersey breed that they were proud to be part of it. He confirmed it was being watched by international breeders, who were eager to copycat its format. “Although there is nothing at a national level yet, I now there are local clubs following our lead in the US,” Jim said. “This year’s competition featured some outstanding individuals and while the senior cows were fantastic, when you also look at the young cows coming through it is very exciting. “The On-Farm has grown in size and recognition beyond anything I ever imagined when we started it, and I would go so far to say that it rivals — in terms of value and recognition for breeders — International Dairy Week [IDW] or the Royal Show events. And I’m not criticising those events, it’s just that it’s up there
when it comes to promotion, recognition and value-adding of livestock. That is what this competition is about. “It is a significant commitment for us, but I’m not thinking that it’s costing too much — you can’t put a figure on what it does for this industry.”
He says milk has a vital role to play in feeding the world. “There continues to be growing interest in the Jersey breed and Australia needs milk. By 2050 the world will need 70% more food than is produced today and Australia has a very important role to play in supplying that demand.”
Great Southern Challenge Finalists
- CENTRAL GIPPSLAND JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Inverell Fay 375 - A G Day & T Saunders. 3 year old - Attenvale Brookbi Melaine - R Attenborough. 4 year old - Araluen Park Refute Sarina - D Mathews. 5 years & over - Langdale Parade Ebony 2nd - D Mathews - COLAC & DISTRICTS JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Cairnbrae Tbone Daisy - A & J Carson 3 year old - Cairnbrae Tbone Benita - A & J Carson 4 year old - Warrain Rhumona Dream - R Heath 5 years & over - Cairnbrae Conns Light - A & J Carson
- NORTHERN DISTRICTS JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Jugiong Damsel 6193 - Nicholson Family 3 year old - Eurarie Flower Progress - C & C Smith 4 year old - Broadlin Constance 2565P - L & L Broad 5 years & over - Misty Glen Flowers Charade Daydream - F Walsh - MURRAY VALLEY JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Aldeno Black Posh - Dehene Vinnicombe 3 year old - Isycoed Charo Navara’s Girl - CR & ME Brereton 4 year old - Kaarmona Legion Babe 133 ET - Three Men & a Baby Syndicate 5 years & over - Merindah Jace Glenda - Brown Family
- SOUTHERN RIVERINA JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Invergelly Vavoom Glam 27 - G & J Fleming 3 year old - Miami Braser Gladys 4137 - Philmar Dairying 4 year old - Miami Country Eileen 4070 Philmar Dairying 5 years & over - Invergelly Jace Radiantmaid - G & J Fleming - NORTH EAST JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Wallacedale Belnet Melanie - D Hourigan 3 year old - Mikandan Parades Belle 2051 - A & B Edwards 4 year old - Darrynvale Sultans Vanilla - D Hourigan 5 years & over - Darrynvale Jackels Cowslip 3 - D Hourigan
14 Jersey Journal – January/February 2013
- JERSEY AUSTRALIA (TAS) 2 year old - Minstonette Varnish Almira 12 - J & K Sykes 3 year old - Broadlin Illusion - N Chilcott 4 year old - Merseybank Grand Nona - G & A Heazlewood 5 years & over - Merseybank Eltons Claire - G & A Heazlewood
- WESTERN DISTRICTS JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Lerida Park Elton Countess - Smethurst Family 3 year old - Lerida Park Navara Sabina 18 - Smethurst Family 4 year old - Riverside Country Lollypop - C & K Couch 5 years & over - Lerida Park Astound Lucy 25 - Smethurst Family - SOUTH GIPPSLAND JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Meldan Vasilis Countess - B & M Scott 3 year old - Gelbeado Park Navara Bonita - Moscript & Thomas Syndicate 4 year old - Tarralyn Lovely 31 - CA & BK Launder 5 years & over - old Bushlea Nathan Belle - Peter & Jenna Price -JERSEY AUSTRALIA (SA) 2 year old - Carcoola Darlene Donna 3 - JA & EV Kernich 3 year old - Ashtaney Whiskey Jingles - D Rieger 4 year old - Homelands RBR Whisper - D Rieger 5 years & over - Stewartdale Saber 2807 Poppy - JA Haebich & NK Nagel - GOULBURN MURRAY JERSEY BREEDERS CLUB 2 year old - Glenarron Dalene 154 - Baker Family 3 year old - Homelands Thunders Sarah - P Hentschke & W Schutz 4 year old - Waianiawa Star Madeline - J Hayes 5 years & over - Homelands Sleeping Beauty - P Hentschke & W Schutz
*The Great Northern Challenge results will appear in the next issue.