Clydevale Doc Integrity EX-92: In 2024 she went on to be Grand Champion of the Victorian On-Farm Challenge.
On the 21st of May, Clydevale Holsteins at Macorna North, in northern Victoria, will hold their Golden Anniversary Sale to celebrate 50 years of breeding Holsteins. Their cow Clydevale Doc Integrity EX-92 was Grand Champion of the 2024 Victorian On-Farm Challenge, a competition that included 1,255 cows from 150 farms. Integrity’s identical sister, Clydevale Doc Inga EX-90, will be one of the feature attractions of the sale.
Doug savage Han Hopman
This year marks 50 years since Adrian & Cheryl Dee established Clydevale Holsteins. The sale in May will also mark 4 years since the 500-cow Clydevale herd joined the growing ranks of Australian herds moving to intensive housing rather than extensive grazing management. The giant compost pack barn is divided into four main sectors by 8 Lely A-5 milking robots. ‘Moving the herd indoors has made a huge difference for cow comfort and production, especially for keeping the cows out of the heat in summer and out of the mud in winter,’ comments Adam Dee, who along with brothers Mark and Colin, their father Adrian and the rest of the Dee family, runs Clydevale Holsteins. ‘The shed is a better way to deal with the extremes of our environment and to get the cows out of the elements. We are in an area here in northern Victoria where there is a lot of crop-growing rather than all pasture grazing, so for 6 months of the year we used to keep the cows confined to feed them. It was just the next step to go to housing the herd indoors year-round,’ explains Adam. The TMR mixer wagon feeds out three times a day, and robotic feed-pushers circulate regularly to keep the feed pushed up to the bunk. The cows have certainly responded positively to the move. The top cow peaked at 85kg/187lb per day, while the list of lactation figures includes records as high as 18,000kg/39,683lb. ‘It’s not just the improved production but all the data captured by the milking robots help make managing the cows so much easier,’ comments Adam. ‘They give you early warning of ketosis or mastitis so that you can treat them before the symptoms have really developed. It really helps to keep the cows healthy.’
COMPOST PACK
The compost pack is rotor-tilled once or twice per day, and every second day deep rippers are used to prevent too much compaction. In addition to the 4 main sectors, there are some smaller pens, each with robot access – a hospital pen and a show-cow pen. One sector of the barn is for milking 2-year-olds. ‘It’s not till they are back in calf that we move them on to other pens,’ explains Adam. ‘We don’t want 2-year-olds coming on heat when they are with mature cows that might knock them down or hurt them.’ Large fans are located throughout the barn and there is also a sprinkler system for cooling. Each of the 4 main sectors have access to outside loafing pens for exercise. ‘The cows won’t go out during the day. It’s only at night when its cooler that you will see them outside,’ explains Adam. ‘It’s 43⁰C (110⁰F) here today so there are certainly no cows outside at present.’ All heifers and dry cows graze pasture till about three weeks prior to calving when they are moved to a second, smaller compost pack barn, the maternity barn. The sale in May will be held in this barn.
IDENTICAL SISTERS
One of the stars of this two-time Master Breeder herd is Clydevale Doc Integrity, who appears as the picture cow with this herd report. Now classified EX-92 on her third lactation, she peaked at 72kg/160lb per day and was first prize 4-year-old and Grand Champion of the 2024 Victorian On-Farm Challenge. Her identical sister from a split embryo, Clydevale Doc Inga, is more recently fresh on her third lactation and scored EX-90. Inga will be one of the headliners for the Golden Anniversary Sale in May. The sisters are from an EX-92 Palermo backed by a 93 Integrity and a 90-point Storm from the Irene family that has produced many successful cows over the past 35 years. The foundation cow of the family won the Adelaide Royal four times. Another prominent family is the Pisa family that includes Australia’s 2023 Cow of the Year, Clydevale MrSam Pisa EX-91 17*, who was a 15-year-old when she won the title. She traces back to the famous Murray Pines “P” family. Backed by a Goldwyn dam, Pisa was a top brood cow with 29 progeny and was the icon of the largest family in the herd.
CLEAVAGE
Eleven years ago, the Dee’s purchased a 2-year-old heifer Hullabaloo Bolton Sundae who has gone on to be one of Australia’s highest scored cows at EX-95 and was a finalist for the Cow of the Year title in 2022, 2023 and again in 2024. Sundae had been Grand Champion at the Victorian Winter Fair, won an All-Australian title, and has developed a family that now totals 30-40 head. ‘Sundae is now a 13-year-old and our sale will include the very first animals we have ever sold from the family,’ remarks Adam. Bred by Murray Varcoe, Sundae is out of a VG-89 Gillette Final Cut and then an 85 Terrason x 87 Leader x 89 Skychief. Sundae’s daughters include Clydevale Solomon Sunset EX-91, who was National Champion of the Holstein Online Spectacular in 2022. Another cow having a major impact is Clydevale Doc Cleavage who was Reserve Intermediate Champion at DairyWeek and at the Victorian Winter Fair, and went on to be Reserve All-Australian 3-year-old 2024. ‘We imported embryos from Kings-Ransom Mogul Cleavage and her full sister Cleo, both scored EX-95,’ explains Adam. ‘We only got the one from Cleavage but we have three Doc’s and a Sidekick from Cleo so we have a really nice nucleus for the family now.’ The pedigree of the Mogul sisters traces back through Goldwyn x Champion to Scientific Beauty Rae, the Rubens sister to Scientific Debutante Rae, from the great Roxie family.
VALANA
A newly emerging family in the herd that Adam is excited about comes from Canada. ‘Some years ago, when I was on a trip to North America, the best cow I saw was Jacobs Goldwyn Valana EX-95,’ explains Adam. ‘We ended up with some Sidekick embryos out of Jacobs Doorman Velvet, the daughter of Valana. We expect this to develop into quite a strong family for us too.’ World class cow families housed in world class facilities at Clydevale Holsteins.
Clydevale in Australia
The Dee family: Colin, Hannah, Adam, Mandy, Mark and Adrian. Hannah is Mandy & Mark’s daughter. Along with three full-time and one part-time worker, the Dee family run the 500-cow Clydevale herd.
Located at Macorna North, Victoria. Owned by the Dee family 2,700 acres/1,100ha plus 960 acres/390ha leased. Growing maize (corn) silage, grass & vetch pasture, oats, ryegrass and cereal hay. 500 cows with 1,300 head total Average production: 490 cows 305 days 11,424kg/25,186lb 4.3% 3.4% Feed Ration: corn silage, vetch hay, cereal hay, barley & wheat plus canola meal, cottonseed meal or almond hulls when seasonally available. Current Sires: Davinci, Anahita, Migos, Dawning, Yarrawood, Ballistic, Parbo-RC, Lifestyle-RC, Goliath-PP, Raeban-Red & King Doc.
