"From little things, big things grow..."
A split-second decision made at auction almost two decades ago still impacts on one of the state’s highest performing dairy herds, Fairvale Holsteins. It was 1990 when Ted Dobson found himself bidding on a six-moth-old calf at International Dairy Week, two hours north of Melbourne. He hesitated when the priced reached $8000, fearing it was too much to spend on a baby calf. One of the country’s most progressive Jersey breeders, Reg Broad, was sitting behind Ted. Reg leaned forward and uttered what would become a life-changing sentence for the Bracknell breeder: “Go for it, boy. She’s a bloody good one.” Ted did go for it that day. He bought Paramount Inspiration Butter, and last week the EX-5E matriarch’s great grand daughter, Fairvale Morty Butter 120, became the latest family member to win the state’s Semex/Holstein Australia On-Farm Competition’s two-year-old title. The nationwide spectacle, in its ninth year, has a number of unique points of difference. All the cows are judged on-farm for their conformation in their working cobber by judges, who move between individual farms in a collective logistical marathon involving thousands of kilometres and an army of people throughout the country. Today Fairvale is run by Ted’s son, Ross, and his wife, Leanne. The couple milk 350-head. Morty Butter is the fourth member of the Butter family to win her age-group in the On-Farm Competition within the last two years and the fourth Semex-sired Stouder Morty daughter from the double Master Breeder Dobson herd to win in the last three years. Although the Dobsons have become famous on the mainland for being the birthplace of two International Dairy Week champions, Fairvale Jed Bonnie 94 (2005 and 2007) and Fairvale Leader Josie 5 (2006), Ross says the Butter family remains a personal favourite and one of their best. “The Butters are right up there with the Josies for me,” Ross said. “I believe it is one of this country’s elite cow families and they just ... Read More...
