Avonlea Holsteins, Bluechip Genetics and Mario Park take championships at Victorian Winter Fair in Bendigo

He proved that again at the Victorian Winter Fair at Bendigo, Vic, on Thursday taking the supreme senior champion ribbon, as well as the premier exhibitor award for the second year running.

He bought the supreme senior champion, rising five-year-old Cairnsdale Sid Anastasia, from renowned NSW breeders Stewart and Hayley Menzies in August, after the couple decided to concentrate solely on their Jersey herd.

Mr Gardiner had spotted the cow the previous year at the Nowra Show when it was reserve intermediate. 

When he saw it in August, "she was very stale, towards the end of her lactation but because I already had in my mind what I knew the cow could be... I bought her".

"She's had a tremendous udder on her, I liked the long stretchiness about her and the open rib and the hard top on the cow," he said.

"And she had good legs and feet, and I just thought she was a cow that was really going to develop in time."

Judge Justin Burdette and associate judge Henry Bevan awarded the cow, which came from the youngest class in the senior show, the supreme award and supreme udder award.

"We really admire this four-year-old cow's udder' she got an extremely squarely attached udder," Mr Burdette said.

"We like the length of the fore udder and a cow that when you get behind her she's got that beautiful rear udder veination."

The reserve, Mitch Aftershock Irene, exhibited by Mitch Holsteins, Bamawm, Vic, which was intermediate champion at International Dairy Week in 2017, also came from the four-year-old class.

Mr Burdette said the judges really loved the pair of four-year-old cows.

"These cows are beautifully balanced," he said.

"They've got width, capacity, dairy strength, beautiful feet and legs and tremendous mammary systems.

"They have the capacity to give a lot of milk, and they look like they do it easy."

Mr Gardiner said Cairnsdale Sid Anastasia, which calved in February to Doorman, was producing about 45 litres of milk per day

It would start in an embryo flushing program this week.

The cow was one of a team of nine cows and three heifers Avonlea brought to the show.

Mr Gardiner said it was a huge thrill to win the premier exhibitor award.

"It just makes it worthwhile with what you do at home working towards it because it just doesn't happen overnight," he said.

"These cows have been pulled out for at least two months ... from the herd to get them right.

"A lot of credit must go to the guys at home Josh Norton and Kane Hildred ... and the crew at the show.

"Without them, it wouldn't have happened."

Dean Malcolm,  the owner of the Victorian Winter Fair supreme intermediate champion Fairvale Bradnick Josie 118, says it is "one of the best-uddered cows I've seen in this country". 

And Mr Malcolm should know.

With his wife Dianna, he established Bluechip Genetics, which took home a swag of ribbons and premier breeder and exhibitor titles at shows throughout Australia, before the stud was dispersed in 2016.

Mr Malcolm saw the intermediate champion last year at the first stage dispersal of Fairvale Holsteins.

He and Fairvale had owned the cow's dam, EX 94 Baxter Josie 64, which had enjoyed success at International Dairy Week.

Mr Malcolm bought Fairvale Bradnick Josie 118, in conjunction with Fairvale, for $12,500, one of five he picked up at the sale.

But he knew it was special.

Although he had had only dry heifers on his Zeerust, Vic, property since the stud dispersal, he decided to milk Fairvale Bradnick Josie 118, rather than send it to another dairy, where he could not oversee its preparation.

"She is a project cow, I've been milking her at home for the last three months by myself - just one cow - but I knew how good she could have been if she did everything right, so it's pretty exciting," he said.

"I just love her. 

"Her frame is phenomenal and her udder is unbelievable."

Victorian Winter Fair judge Justin Burdette, Pennsylvania, United States, and associate judge Henry Bevan, Queensland, agreed.

Mr Burdette said the cow had excellent size and scale, a "beautiful dairy frame and a tremendous udder".

"She's a cow that when you get behind her,  she has height and width and fullness right to the top of her rear udder," he said.

"She has that beautiful turn to her rear udder.

"You certainly admire the lovely quality she carries through to the fore udder."

Fairvale Bradnick Josie 118 will be sold at Bluechip Genetics Tag Sale to be held from July 13-15.

The winter fair, where Bluechip Genetics also took out the premier breeder award, and the tag sale mark the end of the stud as the Malcolms have put their property on the market and plan to move to Mrs Malcolm's homeland New Zealand.

The couple is already involved in the industry in NZ and will undertake several ventures there.

A commitment to genetics and dairy cattle breeding has rewarded the owners of the 2018 Victorian Winter Fair junior champion.

Jane and Murray Polson's yearling heifer Mario Park Solomon Midas was named the supreme junior champion at the fair at Bendigo on Wednesday.

The winning heifer, which is owned by the couple's eight-year-old son Lachy, is from Mario Park Atwood Midas, which is also being shown at Bendigo.

Atwood Midas's dam is Diamond Sid Midas, a daughter of the famous Coral Hill Roy Midas, and was bought by the Polsons for $7500 at the Globull Fusions sale at Berry, NSW, in 2013.

"I was worried we paid too much for the heifer - she was the second top priced at the sale," Mrs Polson said.

"She's a prolific breeder, a beautiful cow to work with, goes in calf every year, great to milk, and we've just recently flushed her."

Mrs Polson said the stud side of their farm business had been a key factor that had allowed the couple to buy their Oxley Island, NSW, farm from Murray's parents.

The cashflow from the sale of embryos, bulls and heifers from a cow the couple imported had been important in allowing them to get the loans to buy the multi-generational property.

The breeding side of the business also brings other rewards.

"We are very passionate about breeding and genes," Mrs Polson said.

"It is something that pays bills but it is also a real love for us - it gets us through dark times when milk price drops.

"So its great to see rewards for the hard work."

It's been a tough few years for the Polsons.

Three consecutive dry seasons has meant they have depleted all their fodder stocks and have been forced to buy in hay from Victoria and NSW and cottonseed from Queensland for their 320-cow herd.

And the milk price for their farm, which supplies Saputo's Sydney factory, has not been great.

Mrs Polson said they need a better milk price.

"I'd like to see confidence back in the industry, just from a sustainability point of view," she said.

"We've paid a lot for the farm, we've got three children ... we want to be profitable to keep the younger generation in our business."

The Polsons bred for type and longevity - good feet and legs were essential on their farm, where cows sometimes had to walk 3-4 kilometres a day to pastures.

Mrs Polson said cows also needed good udders.

"Murray is just a natural cow man, he just loves it and has since he was a boy, and our son is the same," she said.

Judge Justin Burdette, from the United States, said the champion was a lovely balanced heifer.

"A no-holds heifer, a heifer that's got a beautiful head and neck, she's got a tremendous midsection," he said.

"She's a heifer that's extremely comfortable on her feet and legs, as you watch her move around the ring today."

The reserve was Paringa Solomon Applepie, exhibited by Pam Malcolm, Invergordon, Vic.

Check out https://www.facebook.com/AustralianDairyfarmer for galleries and videos from each class at the Victorian Winter Fair