Mount Torrens and District best heifer gets awarded to local share farmer

The competition had four categories which included Best Heifer, Best Mature Cow, Best Heifer in Milk and Best Group of Three.

The requirement to enter the best heifer in milk was that it had to have been exhibited the year prior in the group of three competition.

The guest judges for this years competition was Clem Mason judging in milk heifers and mature cows while Courtney Afford judged the group of three heifers and best heifer.

Mr Mason said he was thankful for the opportunity to return to judge the competition.

"You're all winners for being in this and being a part of this competition - that is just so important," he said.

"Rodney Herrmann with his cow, which I loved, was the winner for me today on your senior cows.

"The overall best heifer was also Rodney and Ben (Wilhelm) was second with the mature cow - so they both come from Herrmann's.

"I'm very confident with my choice that (Shane and Kylee) Mieglich's heifer with three quarters was my second placed heifer - I still like that heifer.

"Third place cow was Michael Kowald's and third place heifer was Ben's."

Ms Afford said every single exhibitor had some really nice heifers.

"There was one standout heifer pretty well at each place, which was really awesome," she said.

"It's a credit to every one of you"

"My winning heifer is my pretty little heifer at Kowald's.

"She wasn't the biggest heifer but she was the third youngest heifer in the competition by a few months.

"I thought she was super sweet and she's super stylish - it's my kind of heifer, and I think she's going to grow into something really nice one day."

She said Ben's heifer got second place followed by the white heifer of Mr Herrmann's.

"Ben also won the group class on 229 points, he had the most consistent group out of the lot," she said.

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"You just had that little bit more quality throughout, from the top to the bottom heifer.

"Second went to herd mate Herrmann's, with the third place going to Mieglich's and fourth to Kowald's, with only a few points splitting second third and fourth places."

Michael Kowald, Mount Torrens, said he picked out the heifer which had the characteristics he would like in a dairy cow.

"It's more about how she looked in the mob, and she was a bit better condition than the rest of the animals and had a good frame and development of a good udder," he said.

He said they had been doing the competition since the 1960's.

"It's a great thing for this district to have going and continue to go and the learning opportunities that are there just by being part of it," he said.

Mr Herrmann, Mount Torrens, said the winning heifer in milk was the best one of the lot from last year.

"The other two weren't quite up to scratch," he said.

"She has stood out, she's got a good breeding background and the mother was good."

He said the decision to put his mature cow into the competition was from a push from his share farming milker Ben.

"She's just been a really good cow over the years, we know she's just a good all round performer and classified well," he said.

Mount Torrens dairyfarmer Ben said he was looking for strength, balance and a good construction of animals when he was making his selection his group of three entry.

"Number two when she was a calf, was very strong, she never got sick and she was always the pick of the pen," he said.

He said the acknowledgement meant he was heading in the right direction and he would keep trying to breed good cows.

Stock Journal's KIARA STACEY was on the ground among the action and took these photos.