Retirement is agreeing with the cow known around her Undera farm as “The Queen”.
Glencliffe Joyce 468 reigned as the 2012 IDW intermediate champion Illawarra and an outstanding mother, but owners Raymond and Sarah Parker are letting her hang up the ribbons.
“We sold some of her embryos into the US and UK during COVID and those calves have landed on the ground,” Mr Parker said.
“She’s done 93,603 litres in her time (seven calvings).”
The Queen’s most prominent child is Glencliffe Jedi — a top bull for the red dairy breeds.
Mrs Parker said it was fantastic to think the Glencliffe name would exist in the US and UK studbooks for generations to come.
“Now she’ll become a paddock pet,” Mrs Parker said of the Queen’s future.
“She’s still got plenty of years ahead of her. She’s only 14 and we’ve had cows live to 24.”
The Queen’s final round of embryos have drawn particular interest from Irish buyers.