Reserve intermediate champion Jersey dairy cow, Stormhill Madison Design, stole the limelight from winning entry, Miami Verbatim Cowslip, on Tuesday with a fairytale backstory.
The young woman who raised and, prepared the three-and-a-half-year-old for show and led her into the show ring at Sydney Royal is Mali Dillon, a 14-year-old young lady from Picton, who comes off a family hobby farm on the outskirts of western Sydney, where just under three hectares of land supports two cows and three heifers – somewhat modest compared to the assets of other breeders in the ring who chose between hundreds of cows on acreage best described as expansive.
There is plenty support for “Miss Mali” and her mother Helen credits the wider Jersey breed community, saying so much sharing of knowledge and enthusiasm has been a large part of their success.
Helen, has fond memories of her own grandparents, Robert and Eileen Murdoch, who ran a dairy farm at Camden. These days Mali’s mum teaches cheese making to appreciative foodies and so has an appreciation for butterfat and protein in abundance, in other words the Jersey breed.
Helen bought Mali’s first cow, Diamondhill Jacinta Opals Design, in calf to Bralock Tequila Madison, four years ago as an animal companion for her young daughter.
The family “farm” is fairly intensive and Mali’s father, Brad, manages Kikuyu in summer and grows oats and clover in winter, sowing seed from an imported flat-packed spreader, now towed behind the ride-on lawnmower.
Meanwhile, Mali studies Jersey bull catalogues and carefully selects the right sire for her cows. She entered Stormhill Madison Design in Sydney two years ago, placing last but the judge at the time encouraged her to go further, noting the young heifer had potential to become a “great milker”.
Fast forward to Sydney and the Dillon family was ecstatic with reserve intermediate ribbon from American judge, Mike Berry, who commented on her dairy strength.