Some things just get better with age.
And no-one has proved that more than this year’s Winter Fair Senior Champion Bryne Lea Octane Buttersnap, EX 91, or Snappy, as the Wishart family call her.
Rick, Tina and daughters Emmalea, Kaitlyn and April were all excited by the win, if not exhausted after all their hard work preparing and attending the show, and keeping the home farm running where they milk around 430 Holsteins.
The family owns Rowlands Park Holsteins at Cohuna in northern Victoria.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, with Snappy going down in the truck on the way to the Winter Fair.
Purchased at the Bryne Lea dispersal sale when the Wisharts wanted to increase herd numbers in 2021, Snappy was one of 15 or so purchases.
“As a family, we have always liked our Octanes with Buttersnap sired by Octane,” Rick said.
“She was one cow we had pencilled in to look at, and fortunately, we ended up with her.
“She has been a great cow who has just got better and better every year.”
When Snappy came home to the farm she was ready to dry off and looked to be a bit light in one quarter.
“She had a really good frame, and when she calved that spring, her quarter came back — she has been a stylish and very balanced cow ever since,” Kaitlyn said.
Kaitlyn and Rick had the tough job of breaking in Snappy, which started with getting her used to people and touching her.
She is an aggressive feeder, and if ever there is an open gate, she will always make a beeline for tucker — they all agree working with her is better than trying to fight with her.
“You can’t ever really out muscle her. Some of the bigger blokes have said to me how do you hold on to this cow — fighting against her is not the answer,” Kaitlyn laughed.
Snappy was a bit of an unknown when she first hit the show scene.
“She was not overly deep in the rib when we first got her, but we worked hard on that, and now when we take her along to shows, people certainly notice her,” Emmalea said.
The Winter Fair was her seventh show and best win yet.
In 2022, she was first place Senior 3, Best Udder and Reserve Intermediate at International Dairy Week, Intermediate Champion Cow at Cohuna and Reserve Senior Champion Holstein and Best Udder at Sydney Royal.
In 2024, she returned to Sydney and won first place five-year-old, Senior Best Udder, Senior Champion and Supreme Champion Holstein.
She also recently won the North West Sub Branch On Farm Challenge All Breeds Champion Cow.
Getting the show team ready is a team effort, with each family member working within their strengths.
“Our family motto is to work as a team and get it done, no-one is the boss and we all just chip in and work together,” Tina said.
Kaitlyn is the one who usually leads Snappy because she always has, but now she has moved off the family farm, she won’t be as involved, leaving more of the show work to Emmalea and April.
April spends a lot of time working with the genetics of the herd alongside Rick.
“We have been using Dropbox, PSG, Hoa-P, Epiphany and this joining we actually used some fresh IVF embryos for the first time,” April said.
The family has some exciting two-year-olds coming through the ranks, including some offspring from Snappy.
They currently have a Lambda daughter in milk (GP84), who has a great udder like her mother and a nice-looking autumn born Hulu calf.
There is also a sidekick heifer and PSG heifer getting ready to join the herd.
The family has been showing cattle for 21 years and the win was a popular one among exhibitors at this year's show.
Judge Lisa McKay from Irrewillipe said Buttersnap was an amazing cow.
“She had a great udder along with a great width and depth to her frame, she really was the complete package,” she said.
Rowlands Park has shown at every Winter Fair since its inception and the family liked this year’s introduction of the new owner bred class.
“We think it is great and will encourage even more people to bring a few more head to the show,” Emmalea said.
“When I went to America last year, they actually had their own breed and owned youth show with a championship line-up, and it was amazing.”
Snappy has just been joined and the family will see how she is looking when International Dairy Week comes around in January.