Ben Govett with his partner Michaela Shrimpton and their son Cooper after winning grand champion brown Swiss at International Dairy Week in 2018 with Tandara Jolt Sarajevo 55. Sarajevo 55 was aged 11.5 years with seven calves to her credit that year. She had been grand champion brown Swiss in 2015, reserve in 2014 and honourable mention in 2017. Photo: Claire Swale.
Few dairy breeders in Australia have tabled more achievements before deciding to host a sale than Tandara Genetics.
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The Govett family’s 320-cow herd operates on 600 hectares at Dingee. It’s an even split between brown Swiss and Holsteins, with a smattering of Jerseys.
This year, the focus has been fully on its brown Swiss exponents because Tandara is opening its gates for the first time for the Tandara brown Swiss “Diamonds in the Dingee Dust” sale on Friday, March 6.
Tandara has won the premier breeder (brown Swiss) banner at International Dairy Week 19 times and the IDW Premier Exhibitor banner 17 times.
To earn the right to take home those banners, a team must bring consistency together with stand-out individuals. Tandara has done both, breeding and/or owning 10 IDW brown Swiss grand champions in the past 12 years.
Some of its highest profile individuals are included in this offering.
Established by Bill and Judy Govett, Tandara is now operated by their son, Ben.
In this offering of 50 brown Swiss, Tandara will sell 15 lots directly from IDW championship winners, including seven lots from IDW grand champions. Young cows sell classified to excellent and 14 sell from excellent dams.
Ben appreciates they have waited a long time to market a group at auction, but he says it has been a curated journey.
“I finally felt the time was right, and there was a bit of pressure to do it coming from a few different avenues,” Ben said.
“We’ve had 10 or 12 years of decent success at IDW, the on-farm challenges, two years at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (intermediate, senior and grand champion brown Swiss in 2021 and junior, senior and grand champion brown Swiss, as well as premier breeder of all breeds, in 2023) and good classification.
“We felt the time is right because there is also pretty good demand for Swiss at the moment. both from within the breed and from other breeds. It’s time to recoup some of the investment I’ve made in showing, IVFing and flushing.”
Tandara Aldo Heidi 320 VG87, who is this year’s reigning IDW intermediate champion, sells at Lot 3. Photo: Bradley Cullen.
The highlight generating a lot of early heat is Lot 3 — this year’s reigning IDW intermediate champion Tandara Aldo Heidi 320 VG87. The three-year-old calved in October 2025 and her dam, Tandara ETVEI Heidi 217 EX90-2E (EX91 Mam), was the 2020 grand champion and champion Brown Swiss at IDW. It’s a powerful pedigree on top of an outstanding in-milk offering.
Ben admitted she would be the hardest to part with.
“I think just because we showed her dam at IDW 10 times and she was grand champion there. Plus, we love this young cow,” he said.
“That branch of the family has been successful, without being prolific, so we had to think about it.
“But we wanted to sell a young cow with the runs on the board who is ready to market, and who we believe under the right management is a potential future grand champion. You’ve got to sell your best and be confident you can breed another.”
Ben said the Holsteins infiltrating their herd was more a mark of balance than favouring one breed over the other.
“The Swiss and the Holsteins complement each other well with regard to size, management and style. They also keep each other honest. The Holsteins keep the Swiss honest for production and the Swiss keep the Holsteins honest for durability, temperament and longevity.
“Swiss cows amongst the Holsteins definitely also help with a calmness the breed has. They are natural leaders and people always love how they lead the cows home from pasture. The Swiss are also always a favourite amongst children, wives and girlfriends, which helps encourage the next generation.”
The Dairy Livestock Services sale will be held at Tandara, at 3668 Tandara-Elmore Rd, Dingee and will be livestreamed on www.stocklive.com.au from noon on Friday, March 6.
Ben Govett has championed the brown Swiss breed for his entire career. Photo: Supplied.
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