Bangle cow shines as queen of the Ayrshires

Colac region farmers Greg and Kim Wilson took out top Ayrshire honours at International Dairy Week in Tatura

Grand Champion Ayrshire — Greg Wilson from Irrewillipe with Hillcrest Ambush Bangle, owned with wife Kim Wilson. Photo by Chloe Smith.

IT WAS an unexpected win for Greg and Kim Wilson who took home the Ayrshire grand champion cow title at International Dairy Week last week.

The Wilsons purchased their feature breed winner, Hillcrest Ambush Bangle, at the Hillcrest dispersal sale in October last year as a production cow without any intention of showing her.

“We didn’t purchase her thinking that she’d go to Dairy Week,” Greg said.

“We were planning on breeding from her, I’ve got a keen interest in Ayrshire cows.”

The judges praised the seven-year-old milking cow for her dairyness, length and vessel.

“We couldn’t be prouder of the cow to be honest. She’s a magnificent animal and presented really well,” Greg said.

“She was in probably the strongest class (of Ayrshires) that had a lot of cows and she won best udder as well.”

The Wilsons run a 1000 cow milking herd comprising of mostly Holstein with a handful of Ayrshires on their dairy farm in Irrewillipe.

Growing up milking Ayrshires, Greg has had a long interest in the breed and bought at the Hillcrest sale for their long history of cow family genetics, in particular the Bangle family.

“My brother and my father saw a Bangle cow here at Dairy Week in 2008 and they were really taken by her. They’ve spoken about her ever since and that’s where our interest I that cow family comes from I suppose,” he said.

For their Dairy Week preparation, the Wilsons enlisted the help of show cow experts Brad and Jess Gavenlock from Cherrylock Cattle Company where their cow spent over a month.

“I rang Brad and got him to come have a look at her because they’re really particular with the kind of cows they prepare and I wanted Brad to tell me whether she was good enough,” Greg said.

“We sent her up to them and they’ve done a magnificent job with her, you wouldn’t see her look any better than what she does today.”