02/02/2010

WINTER HOLSTEIN CLASSIC

The Border & Lakeland Winter Holstein Classic Herd Competition kindly sponsored by Dodd & Co Accountants took place this week with the highest number of entries for several years. This was very heartening considering the difficult month our members have had with the severe weather conditions.
Our Judge this year was Hugh Neilson from the noted Overside Herd in Lanarkshire. He had 3 full days of herd visits covering a great deal of miles to see the entries.
The competition was changed slightly this year in that instead of the “Top Ten” cows we had the “Top Team” which consisted of 5% of the herd so 100 cow herds put forward their 5 best cows up to 200+ cow herds who put forward 10. This proved to be popular & resulted in a good few more entries. There was also the usual Best Cow, Heifer, Family Group & Iron Grandma.
Hugh Neilson said he had greatly enjoyed the judging & had seen some fantastic cows on his travels, many of which could quite easily be in the top line up at a National show. He said his hardest task had been judging the “Iron Grandma” class. The entries consisted of some top show cows having given over 50 tonnes on high yields over a less number of lactations  along side some older cows showing tremendous longevity & having given well over 100 tonnes of milk in their lifetime. He had difficulty deciding which way to judge this but in the end opted to acknowledge the tremendous longevity of some of the entries.
Prizes were awarded at a Dinner Dance held at the Shepherds Inn on Friday evening.
Full results were as follows:-

“Top Team”  – Boustead Memorial Trophy

1st B&V Davidson  ERROLSTON 
2nd Messrs Dennison  DENMIRE 
3rd R & E Butterfield   INGLEVIEW
4th RW Bainbridge & Son  TWINFIELDS 

Best cow – CM Chester Plate

1st Messrs Dennison  DENMIRE LLEROS PAMELA 8
2nd B & V Davidson  ERROLSTON GIBSON WENDY
3rd RW Bainbridge & Son RIDGEFIELD STORM IVORY
4th R & E Butterfield ARDS DUPLEX RUTH

Best heifer – Harkness Trophy

1st B & V Davidson  SEAVILLE LOADER ANGELA
2nd R & E Butterfield INGLEVIEW ZENITH DOLLY
3rd WM Hutchinson&Sons BOWBERHILL ALLEN GAIL
4th P Oliver & R Martin ROEVALLEY GOLDWYN CHARTREUSE

Best Family Group – KM & KM Mawson Trophy

1st Firm of RP Shanks KIMO family QUEENSCAIRN
2nd B & V Davidson  DELIA family ERROLSTON
3rd Messrs Dennison  PAMELA family DENMIRE
4th M & D Wilson  DAISY family  HAILSTONE
    

Iron Grandma (50t plus cow) – Bill Threlfell Trophy

1st  Brian Harrison  EMPINGHAM ANNE 6(Ex94(4)3star LP140 SP)
2 E Moffit & Son  ANSA BASAR LINDA
3rd B & V Davidson  LLIWE ROSETTE 25 Ex94 4E
4th RW Bainbridge & Son TWINFIELDS JOGGER ABBIE

Best New Entrant

Messrs Brough     CARROCK Holsteins