The Dee family — Adrian, Col, Adam, Mark, Mandy and Hannah — are delighted Pisa won the Holstein Cow of the Year award.
There is no doubt dairying and breeding quality cows is a generational passion for the Dee family from Macorna.
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And over the decades there have been some pretty pivotal cows, including the recently crowned Holstein Cow of the Year, Clydevale Mr Sam Pisa EX91-3E 17* 1xEP 2xM 2xP LIFE2.
The win is a first for the two-time master breeders and the family — Adrian, Col, Adam, Mark, Mandy and Hannah — couldn’t be more delighted.
“We are pretty excited to win this prestigious award,” Adam said.
“Pisa is a fifth generation Clydevale prefix — she goes that far back and has bred some amazing animals for us including a grandson in AI (TLG Crusier) and many daughters in the herd today.”
Adam said there were some pretty well known cows among the 10 entries in the competition this year and after being a four-time finalist, it was Pisa’s turn to shine.
“Pisa’s progeny numbers probably got her over the line along with her high production — she certainly ticks a lot of boxes,” he said.
Over her lifetime, Pisa has produced more than 80,000 litres along with 6120kg of milk solids.
Her top lactation was as a five-year-old where she produced a staggering 12,610 litres, 409kg protein and 489kg fat, with a PI 114.
She has 346 descendants including three Excellent and 68 VG classified cows.
“Pisa has always been a big framed cow and an aggressive feeder which transmitted across her type and production,” Adam said.
“’We still have a couple of her frozen embryos in the tank which we will put into some recipient cows soon.”
Holstein Cow of the Year, Clydevale Mr Sam Pisa, is enjoying her retirement.
Now retired from dairy life, Pisa spends her days hanging out in the paddock with a group of favourite cows the family will never part with.
“She has earnt her rest and we are more than happy to let her spend her days just lazing around,” Adam laughed.
Holstein Cow of the Year judges Simon Tognola and Angela Tweddle described Pisa as a profitable cow that demonstrated a balanced performance across all aspects of breeding.
“Pisa is the whole package. Most importantly, she’s not just a ‘once off’,” Mr Tognola said.
“She is a cow that has given a lot back to the industry and is passing her traits to the next generation.”
While the Dee family have had a lot of breeding success over the years, the only major win that eludes them now is an International Dairy Week senior champion win.
“We have won All Australian, Winter Fair and a Supreme Champion at the youth show at IDW years ago — we would love to one day get a senior champion cow win,” Adam said.
Mark said winning this competition was a huge honour, and the family was grateful the industry had acknowledged the achievements of one of their all-time favourite cows.
“We’ve always rated the cow of the year competition very highly and it’s pretty special to have one of our cows in that elite club,” he said.
The Dee family are currently milking 450 cows, pushing up to 500 over summer.
The herd is averaging around 40 litres.
“We have around 1200 females on the farm and 50 steers and bulls,” Adam said.
“We lease 390ha to help carry the heifers and this season is looking pretty promising with a good silage harvest and hopefully a lot of hay.”
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