Genus ABS Long Life Cow Competition 2011

And the winner is...
 Gladwake Neptune Collona EX90

 Gladwake Neptune Collona EX90, owned by Messrs W&P Ives of Park Farm, Herriard near Basingstoke was announced as this yea's winner of the Genus ABS Long Life Cow Competition at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

The Long Life Cow Competition was created to celebrate those cows who have made an outstanding lifetime contribution, comments Genus ABS Andrew Rutter, Breeding Programme Manager who was part of the judging panel. There are many attributes which mean a cow will last longer.  She will suit the management system, she will get in calf regularly over several lactations, and she will be a high producer with good compositional and hygienic milk quality.

To farmers, a Long Life Cow has a variety of meanings so the criteria were deliberately left open so participants could describe what they thought made their cow a worthy competitor.

In her 11th lactation, Gladwake Neptune Collona was born in August 1998 and has amassed a lifetime yield of over 132,000 litres with a total yield of over 9 tonnes of combined fat and protein.  She has a lifetime daily yield of  28.05kg/day and her average calving interval is just 376 days.  Collona is classified EX90.  The 287 cows in the herd average 10,400 kg.

Collona has been a remarkable cow who has improved with age, comments a delighted Ives family.  She classified G78 in 2001 but is now EX90.  She is a medium sized, quiet-natured cow with good legs and feet and you hardly notice her, she just gets on with producing milk.  If we had a whole herd of cows like her we would be very pleased.

Overall the competition attracted over 70 entries, averaging 10.3 lactations each and producing on average 107,334 litres of milk.  The total lifetime yield of those cows entered amounts to over 7.5 million litres of milk.

Gladwake Neptune Collona was selected as the national winner from four regional finalists.  The other regional finalists were:

• Ballydrum Celsius Betty EX91, a 12th lactation cow with a lifetime yield of 114,000 kg owned by Mr R Woolsey from Toomebridge, Co Antrim
  
• Cimarron Even Jenny EX91 (4E), a 14 years old Brown Swiss currently in her 12th lactation who has produced over 117,000kg and is owned by The Cimarron Partnership, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
  
• Astonoak MT Sundae EX95, owned by Messrs Dennison from Ulverston, Cumbria is in her 10th lactation and has already produced 162,000kg.

I think the competition clearly demonstrates that the modern dairy cow is capable of outstanding production while maintaining good levels of reproduction and withstanding disease threats.  It also showcases the exceptional levels of stockmanship on UK dairy farms.  A cow won last this long without top quality and skilled staff taking an active interest in her well-being, Mr Rutter concludes.