Floridale Angus stud owner Jane Jenkins’ young cow with a heifer calf at foot led the field in the Meat and Wool Cup at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch.
The eye-catching programme with finalists inching ahead on points awarded by each judge was again a crowd-pleaser.
Ms Jenkins was searching through the names on the trophy to recall if this was the second or third successful tilt in the event by her and late father Harley. They have won twice, the first time with Floridale Vanity in 2008, and been runner-up three times.
The latest convincing win by Floridale Nicki and calf had five of the six judges giving the pair the nod.
The Darfield woman was being congratulated by farmers as she struggled to put words together on the significance of the win.
"It was very unexpected and very cool, as she’s a nice wee heifer." Ms Jenkins said. "She’s two years old and her dam’s sire is Banquet Exclamation, an Australian bull and one of 11 embryos that we bred and they did very well for us and we sold most of them at our dispersal sale, but she hadn’t calved and that’s why she stayed in the herd."
The sire of the heifer is Millah Murrah Navigator from Australia.
Floridale’s smaller herd is down to nine breeding cows on a lifestyle block, including four heifers remaining from the winning heifer’s age group as Ms Jenkins has moved on to a truck driving job. The commercial stud has become a part-time gig now.
That was what made the win so unexpected, she said.
"I was just coming to make up numbers and support the crowd because historically since 1932 my great-great-grandfather, W.J. Jenkins, was president [of the show] and in 1954 so was my grandfather, M.E. Jenkins, and so was Dad’s cousin and Mum’s brother and my second cousin Tim Black was president a couple of years ago, so it’s very much a family thing and tradition with the camaraderie of all the beef breeders and dairy guys. All the cattle people are good mates."
A South Devon was runner-up in the Meat and Wool Cup, with a Lowline third, followed by a Speckle Park in fourth.
One judge commented that the calf could’ve been stronger with the winning Floridale pair.
Ms Jenkins accepts the feedback with arguably the heifer winning the day in an overall package result.
The winning heifer will go into Floridale’s breeding programme.
"There’s another one at home which I think has a better calf, but I only took one so I was really surprised.
"She’s working really hard and a good working Angus, really."
She said the win was good for the Angus breed and showed its strength.
"I can’t be a farmer, so I’m just doing the best with what I’ve got and hopefully my children will come back to it."
Ms Jenkins praised her team of niece Renee McLennan, who led the heifer, and nephew and niece Finn and Lucy Jenkins who shared the calf-leading duties. Young handler Caitlin Brooks assisted with their preparation.
