All hands on deck: Clive McLaughlin, Ron Horn, Bruce Pedley, Rodney Hudson and Paul Vanner were at the AP & I Showgrounds in Levin this week helping set up for the Royal Show on the weekend.
All hands on deck: Clive McLaughlin, Ron Horn, Bruce Pedley, Rodney Hudson and Paul Vanner were at the AP & I Showgrounds in Levin this week helping set up for the Royal Show on the weekend.
A cow from Christchurch will travel more than 500km to Levin to show off her udder at the Horowhenua AP & I show this weekend, stopping off overnight at Blenheim for hay and water before making the ferry trip across Cook Strait.
The Christchurch entry will join 107 other cows chasing the prestige of a Royal Show medal, a feature of this show this year. Royal Show medals and red-white-and-blue ribbons were coveted among breeders.
Competition steward Rodney Hudson said a record number of cows had entered the annual show this year, coming from as far north as Whangārei and as far south as Christchurch.
Hudson said the prestige of being a Royal Show was a big carrot for breeders, as was a large prize booty.
Taranaki farmer Paul Vanner with a champion jersey cow at the Horowhenua AP & I Show in 2021.
“A Royal Show medal is not to be sneezed at,” he said.
The winners of each division — Jersey, Fresian, Ayrshire, Brown-Swiss and Milking shorthorn — would each receive $1000, while the overall All-Breeds Champion would get $500 on top of that.
Hudson said the large prizemoney was due to fantastic support from sponsors.
“Most have doubled their sponsorship because it’s a Royal Show. We’re very fortunate,” he said.
Hudson himself was entering cows. He had bred Holstein Fresians for years. Most breeders had been in the game for decades, with cows that had been carefully bred for generations.
Jordan McDonald, Madison Lawson and Otiana Latimer with Supreme Champion cow Sunshine Burdette Dale at the Levin AP & I Show last year.
Before the advent of artificial insemination, showing cattle was a big deal for breeders because it could result in residual value for breeding bulls, or recognition for a line of cattle.
But you still can’t beat having the physical specimens gather in one place for judging as a way of determining superiority. There is still the ability to trade off being a champion breed.
A panel of five judges was coming from throughout New Zealand, including a resident in Sam Cunliffe from Tangimoana. The in-milk cow judging would be held on Saturday starting at 9am, and the dry stock category would be held on Sunday starting at 9am.
Royal events were started in 2001 by the Royal Agricultural and Pastoral Society (RAS) to promote specific sections at agricultural shows nationwide, and were held in a different region each year.
