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<\/span><\/p>\nView Fort also claimed the Red and White Holstein intermediate championship and honourable mention in the supreme intermediate championship. The success at the show is a critical part of the preparation for their on-farm sale later this year. <\/span>The success at the show is a critical part of the preparation for their on-farm sale later this year.<\/p>\n Mr Templeton said Rockwood Park Atley Cretonne, who they picked up in 2020 at Frank Sorraghan’s Andes Holsteins dispersal, was from a great cow family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “She’s got a big Australian pedigree,” he said. “She’s a Cretonne and that family reverts back to the Felicitys, who is probably the greatest known cow in Australia. <\/span>She’s known as Australia’s sweetheart, so <\/span>It’s a pretty cool pedigree to have.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The cow, classified 92, was a no-fuss cow in the View Fort herd. “She goes along with the herd; she gets in calf every year,” Mr Templeton said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This was the first time the cow had been shown. “We’ve just been waiting for the right time,” he said. “<\/span>She ticks all the boxes for us. <\/span>“I want to keep her going and take her to International Dairy Week (IDW). <\/span>She’s only just fresh, we think the best is ahead of her.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Judge Lachlan Fry, Brunswick Junction, WA, and associate judge Courtney Afford, Woods Point, SA, were impressed with the cow’s balance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “She’s a cow that just puts it all together for us today,” Mr Fry said. “A cow that is just so balanced, a cow that’s got that extreme reach, depth of her rib. <\/span>She’s long footed so she’s just so hard on top and she’s got a beautiful mammary system to go with it.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This was the first time View Fort had shown at the Victorian Winter Fair in its own right. Mrs Templeton said coming out on top was rewarding. <\/span>“We brought a nice sample, a selection of animals, but probably with our sale in mind just as part of a promotion,” she said. <\/span>“I think to come out on top has shown the strength of what we have in our herd.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was also rewarding for the couple with the cancer battle Mr Templeton had faced. “We’ve got to stay positive and the reason we get up and milk every day is our cows,” Mr Templeton said. <\/span>“We love farming but we love our cows even more.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mrs Templton said the support they had received from the dairy industry, particularly the showing community, had been amazing. “The people have rallied around us the last couple of months,” she said. <\/span>“We could never have come without the support we’ve had.”<\/span><\/p>\n The show success is a part of the Templetons’ plans to ramp up the livestock sales part of their business at their new farm at Dixie, which they moved to in February. “While seasonal conditions haven’t been as favourable as past years, we are very happy with the farm and the community we have moved into,” Mr Templeton said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Their first sale at the new property will be the Victories of View Fort sale on November 8, 2024. <\/span>They will be selling 70 head, mainly Holsteins and a few select few Jerseys, compromising milking cows, in-calf heifers, yearlings and calves.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n “Some of the star lots include direct daughters of our most recent IDW supreme champions – Jacobonia and Dottie and also a daughter of Atley Cretonne, the recent Bendigo champion,” Mr Templeton said.<\/p>\n The supreme senior udder award went to Winwood Tatoo Lights Out, exhibited by Mal Nikora and Kelly Bleijendaal. Judge Lachlan Fry described her as a beautiful cow with a great future.<\/span><\/p>\n The reserve senior champion was Carisma Samite Piper, exhibited by M & J Deenen, Leongatha, Vic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The senior Red and White Holstein champion was Bluechip Awesome Daisy-ET-RED, exhibited by Alexz Crawford, Mayfair Holsteins.<\/p>\nOther senior award winners<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n