Nearly a year ago Wade Francis was using sport gym mats in his dairy yard for the cattle to have somewhere to escape the mud, after relentless rain.
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At that time he had reduced his dairy herd by 50 per cent and any seed he had planted for fodder was washed away by back to back floods on his property at Kempsey.
To make matters worse more than 2500 millimetres of rain saturated his land in a six-month period.
But he never gave up.
And his dedication and passion for the dairy industry saw him take home Kempsey Show's supreme diary exhibit with Roseanne Holsteins Kaloola Solomon GD Chain.
"I've only been dairying for three years and this is my first champion ribbon so this is amazing considering what we have gone through in those three years," Mr Francis said.
"I almost gave up last year when the floods got so bad but I stuck with it as this is all I have ever wanted to do my whole life and I would have regretted it if I didn't have a go myself.
"So this win was extra special, it felt like relief winning this, that I never gave up."
Mr Francis, a first generation dairy farmer, got his start in the industry at the time of a once-in a-100 year flood event, which was followed by another major flooding event and prolonged rain.
But he said the turning point came in August last year when the rain finally stopped and he was able to get on with the job of farming.
"Up until then my farm was under water and it was pretty muddy making it difficult to dairy," he said.
"It's definitely not as wet now."
Since then he said the season had been great and he was back to 100 per cent in herd and miking production.
Back then he was only producing 600 litres a day but now it's up to around 2000 litres.
"I've been able to rebuild the herd buying in some well-bred cows and we are back on track with our pasture plan replanting rye grass as we are a 100 per cent pasture based dairy," he said.
"Milk prices are good so the future is looking bright.
"I'm passionate about the dairy industry and breeding good cows. We just need the next generation of dairy farmers to come through, we need to make the industry attractive to young people so it can continue to thrive."
In the meantime the sporting mats he used to keep his herd dry in the floods have been packed away in the shed for the next extreme weather event.
"They will certainly come in handy for next time because there will be a next time," Mr Francis said.
