ON GROUND MILKING COMP - BRISBANE EKKA

The on-ground milking competition at Queensland shows is always a fierce battle, with the prize of All Breeds Champion Butterfat Cow highly sought after by competitors.  In this competition, at least, everyone starts equal, with stewards supervising the strip out and subsequent milkings, with testing of the milk done by an independent umpire.

This year at the Brisbane Ekka, the Jondene, Riverwood, and Den Dia teams were all housed in the same alley, allowing owners Jock Johnston, Steve Ledger, and Di Pratten to keep an eye on each other's production competition entries - Jock had two cows plus one heifer, Steve had one cow, and Di had two cows.

The lack of time for these three exhibitors means that three times a day milking doesn't start until the Ekka, so it's a lottery as to how the cows' components react, also taking into account being housed at a noisy show.

The stress level for Jock started early, with his main hope, Jondene Nell, 44, increasing her milk supply considerably, which, to that old timer, meant her components were going down.  His second, Hope Jondene J, also increased her milk yield.  Jock went looking for tissues.  Riverwood Joan 6 and Den Dia Minnie 5 were neck and neck in milk yield but behind the Jondene animals.  By the end of the second milking Jock was looking for a box of tissues.  By the end of the final milking, Greg English gave Jock a feed bucket to hang around his neck to catch his tears just in case the water went off.  With no knowledge of what other breeds' entrants were doing, both Di and Steve lost their fingernails.

As it turned out, the old timer was right.  While Jondene Jessie, 9, and Jondene Nell, 44, both produced more milk, 46.16 kgs and 48.84 kgs, respectively, they didn't qualify for components and were therefore ineligible.  Di Pratten's Den Dia Minnie 5 was named All Breeds Champion Butterfat Co, with figures of 441.42 kgof mmilk and 3.20 kg of fat plus protein The Ledger Family's Riverwood Joan 6 took out the All Breeds Champion Weight of Milk Producing Cow with 42.76 kgs of milk for 2.92 kgs Fat Plus Protein—an excellent result for the Illawarra breed.

In 2014, Den Dia Minnie 5 was named Queensland's On-Farm Challenge Overall Champion.

Pictured at Brisbane Show 2015 - Den Dia Minnie 5 (Photo: Kelvin Cochrane)