Australia's Biggest Annual Dairy Competition Underway
Australia’s biggest annual dairy livestock competition, involving close to 3000 cows and 500 farms, is once again in the starting gates. The Semex/Holstein Australia On-Farm Competition enters its 13th year this month, and the nationwide spectacle is now widely accepted as offering producers a key additional income stream from the associated exposure of winning regional and state championships. Semex initiated the competition to acknowledge quality, functional dairy cows – often the unsung heroes of Australia’s dairy industry. It now includes a special application because cows that may not have enjoyed a profile before have a chance to shine and/or be discovered in the farmer-friendly time-efficient format. “This competition has a lot of momentum and is held in high regard – very high regard – both here in Australia and overseas,” Semex’s Jim Conroy said. He said the On-Farm Competition’s role was well accepted by the industry. “The breeding industry is alive and well,” Jim said. “There is always good money to be made in selling high-end livestock. “This competition is all about helping our producers gain exposure and marketability for their animals without the workload and costs usually associated with showing, picturing and/or marketing cattle.” Each of Holstein Australia’s 29 sub-branches involved have or are kicking off their local competitions (which involves one judge per sub-branch). Entries peak at more than 250-head in some of the sub-branch strongholds. All the cows are judged for their conformation on-farm without preparation. The first and second placegetters in each class at the sub-branch level then move forward to the state finals where they will be re-assessed by a fresh over-judge in early November to find the state champions. The state lines are divided into Northern Queensland, Southern Queensland, New South Wales, South-Eastern Australia ... Read More...
