2023 International Dairy Week champion Guernsey tagged best in world

Mr Behnke backed his statement as the aged cow, Kerrilyn Pistoll Peach, swept to wins in its class, best udder and broad ribbons for senior and grand champion Guernsey exhibit.

The cow was exhibited by the Wilkie family, Crookslea, Bacchus Marsh, Vic.

Scarily, owner of the cow bought 14 months ago, Neville Wilkie, thinks there is another 25 per cent improvement still to come.

This year's result was a carbon copy of the 2022 IDW and adds to the cow's impressive resume.

As a judge himself, Mr Wilkie said he'd had a lot of good Guernseys and Holsteins over the years, but this cow was "at the top".

"She's a hard cow to fault and if we can get her back in calf in time, she will come back a better cow," he said.

"When we retire her from showing, then we will flush her."

The cow had given them a heifer calf, which was a bonus, and would be artificially inseminated using sexed semen.

Mr Wilkie said buying the cow 14 months ago was a matter of going in knowing what he wanted and this cow had stood out.

"You can find faults in a great cow but I prefer to look for the strengths, not its faults," he said.

Mr Behnke said it was great when a cow entered the ring "and you know it's all over".

"We had really nice cows to work with all day and, nothing against them, but there's a different level of competition when a cow like that shows up," he said.

"It's amazing that she has that much quality and she's only 17 days fresh."

The cow had an incredible udder, incredible frame and was tall, "but not too tall".

"She has got the width she needs to have to be balanced," he said.

Mr Behnke said the junior heifer classes showed that farmers were breeding cows to get a little more "width and substance".

The reserve senior champion was Kearla Latimer Koala 4, exhibited by M & R Shae & T& S Shea, Maddingly, Vic.

In the intermediate judging the broad ribbon went to Donny Brook Knight Delight, shown by the Joyce family, Tongala, Vic.

Mr Behnke said the March 2020-drop cow was a "show cow" with angularity and femininity with a "youthful udder, high, tight and very well attached".

Reserve was Brookleigh Dublin, exhibited by LF & JM Cleggett, Glencoe, SA.

Junior champion heifer was Rockmar Java Koala, shown by M & R Shea.

Mr Behnke said it was a beautiful quality junior heifer show with quality down through the classes.

The top four heifers were "beautiful in their own right".

The junior champion Rockmar Java Koala and reserve Rockmar Drone Graceful came from the same class and were similar with the winner earning the title with its angularity and the way it walked on its feet and legs.

He said that in the past the breed had bred for "tall, tall, tall" and ended up with cows with long teats, long pasterns that weren't able to stand a lot of stress.

"In the past 10 years we've put a lot of width and substance back into them," he said.

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AWARD WINNERS

Grand champion: Kerrilyn Pistoll Peach, N & S Wilkie, Bacchus Marsh, Vic.

Senior champion: Kerrilyn Pistoll Peach.

Reserve: Kearla Latimer Koala 4, M & R Shae & T& S Shae, Maddingly, Vic.

Senior best udder: Kerrilyn Pistoll Peach.

Intermediate champion: Donny Brook Knight Delight, Joyce family, Tongala, Vic.

Reserve: Brookleigh Dublin, LF & JM Cleggett, Glencoe, SA.

Junior champion: Rockmar Java Koala, M & R Shea & T& S Shea.

Reserve: Rockmar Drone Graceful, M & R Shea.

Junior premier breeder: M & R Shea, Bacchus Marsh, VIC.

Junior premier exhibitor: Sean Tomkins, Croom, NSW.

Premier breeder: LF & JM Cleggett, Glencoe, SA.

Premier exhibitor: LF & JM Cleggett.

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