One of the more experienced judges at the dairy cattle showing said the turnout at this year’s Shepparton Show was pleasing.
Craig Cochrane, from Geelong, said the Shepparton Show cows and calves would do well at future events.
“I think that this area is still one of the strong dairy areas in Australia — we’ve had some strong heifers come out today,” Mr Cochrane said.
“I am sure they will get out to dairy week in Tatura in January.”
Mr Cochrane said there were several key features he looked for in selecting the best cows.
“You want udders that are really capacious and have that right quality because that generates milk flow.
“Also, you want animals that can fill the udder, so they need to be able to eat, therefore they need a wide muzzle, deep open chest and angled rib.”
Mr Cochrane also delineated the differences from what judges looked for in beef cattle, where common feedback for beef cows was too much fat on udders.
“In the dairy cattle you really want an udder that is full every day, so it’s also really important to have good feet and legs so they don’t knock the udder around.
“You want them to be the opposite of beef, so we don’t want fat on them, we want them lean so then they are putting all they consume into their milk.”
