When Ovensdale Scarlett 351 won Grand and Senior Champion of the Illawarra Show at International Dairy Week this year it was quite the feat, considering she literally walked out of the paddock and into the ring.
Owned by Nathalia’s Phil, Sam and Mikaela Daniel, the nine-year-old hadn’t even worn a halter before IDW.
But all that was irrelevant when she was crowned champion.
“This is not something I ever thought we would be part of,” Phil said.
“The crew did a great job getting her ready and standing up in the ring as a winner was just a whole different game.”
Scarlett is the only Illawarra the family has in its predominantly Holstein herd.
She was purchased as a maiden heifer.
“At the time Mikaela wanted to milk some Jerseys, but I was dead set against that idea, and I said to her let’s milk an Illawarra instead,” Phil said.
Phil said he spotted Scarlett at an Ovensdale sale at the Shepparton yards.
“I said to Mikaela let’s give her a crack and she come home with us and has milked her butt off ever since. She gets in calf and walks in and out of the dairy with no trouble at all — she is the real deal and a great cow,” Phil said.
“Scarlett has always done well in the on-farm competition and we just decided if we didn’t show her now we never would and here we are, with an IDW champion.”
Phil said he was happy for Scarlett just to walk out in the ring and he had absolutely no expectations on her whatsoever.
For daughter Mikaela the win has revived her interest in showing and she is definitely looking to IDW in 2025.
“I just love showing cows and I have had a bit of a break but this win has made me want to bring along my own team next year.
“Scarlett is such a great cow and now I have a couple of stud Jersey cows to add into the mix as well,” Mikaela said.
It was Scott and Pip Robinson, who had the job of preparing Scarlett for IDW, and Scott said from the moment he laid eyes on her she just stood out.
“Her frame was just phenomenal along with her mammary system, and for someone who has had seven calves, to look that good was amazing,” Scott said.
“There was no way we were leaving her out in the paddock.”
Scott said Scarlett was a delight to work with and picked up the IDW drill no worries.
“She was an absolute sweetheart, and we are so pleased for her to do so well,” he said.
The Robinsons took 27 head to the show and were not expecting to do as well as they did either, with their senior team winning Grand Champion Illawarra with Scarlett, Reserve Grand Champion Brown Swiss with Sundar Total Shadow owned by Todd Brown, and Reserve Honourable Mention with Elmbanks Doorman Lou Lou owned by the Gleeson family.
“It is always a busy eight to 10 weeks getting the cows ready and it is hard work, but if you want the results you have to do the work,” Scott said.
“We were just lucky this year the weather was good which makes it easier on everyone, including the cows.
“We already have some animals booked in for IDW next year.”