Cairnbrae Jersey's final dispersal to have special Daisy heifer

Alan and Janine Carson will farewell the last of their notable dairy herd, Cairnbrae Jersey, in just three weeks at their final dispersal sale at Paraparap.

Mr Carson said he invited each Jersey breeder in Australia, about 420 invitations, to join the final dispersal that will feature 65 heifers.

"We've already had four dispersal sales, we had sales in May and October in 2021," he said.

"The heifers we're selling now are the calves that were born out of the cows we had between the May and the October sale, and the October sale we sold 190 cows."

Mr Carson said they set a Jersey record for a dispersal sale after they averaged $5800.

"We had some very, very special cows, but there were probably seven or eight cows that made over $20,000 and to average $5800 was phenomenal," he said.

"They went to every state in Australia, and they've gone on and won shows and have gone on and done all sorts of things."

"It's been phenomenal."

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Mr and Mrs Carson moved to Paraparap after selling their Irrewillipe property where they housed Cairnbrae Jersey, which Mr Carson's parents founded 75 years ago.

"The biggest change was when we stopped milking," he said.

"My grandfather bought our property back there in 1897 and then Mum and Dad got married in 1947 and they split the farm in half and developed Cairnbrae.

"And then Janine and I got married in 1976 and we took over.

"I left school at the end of 1969 and as a 15-and-a-half-year-old, I lived at that farm every day of my life until 18 months ago and all I ever wanted to do was milk cows.

"We've had a high-profile Jersey herd and I've been a classifier or type assessor for Jersey for 40 years."

Mr and Mrs Carson will travel to Scotland and Ireland in August to visit the original family farm, before they return and continue building on a new beef stud, Cairnbrae Angus, with Mr Carson's son Tim.

"I've been very fortunate," Mr Carson said.

"We have bulls in AI that have had an influence on the breed and we're very fortunate, we're proud of what we've done and what we've achieved.

"We had a cow [Cairnbrae Valentino Daisy 11] that won International Dairy Week in 2019 that was one of the highlights and she is still the number one cow in Australia.

"Her son is the number two bull in Australia at the moment and he's got semen going all over the world and her daughter, she's really, really special."

Mr Carson said her daughter, Cairnbrae Casino Daisy 34, would be the heifer to watch on the day.

"If you sell your best two or three it sort of takes the edge off your sale, we decided we wanted to sell them all in the sale and if someone wants to buy her, then the 21st of June is the day," Mr Carson said.

The herd will be up for sale on June 21 at 11am.