The Jersey Master Breeder title recognises achievements over the past 20 years, but the current team behind Jugiong Jerseys understands the importance of a long history.
Started by Phillip and Veronica Nicholson, Jugiong Jerseys has been in the family for more than 90 years and is run today by brothers Pat and Brendon.
“It’s an honour to be recognised as Master Breeders, not only for Brendon and myself but for our parents, uncle and aunt who were involved and our grandparents,” Pat said.
“The Master Breeder takes into account the past 20 years but a lot more years have gone into where we are today. We owe much of that to generations before us.”
The stud’s name came from the NSW town Jugiong where Veronica was born and raised. For the first 20 years, the Jersey stud was just a sideline as they developed a sheep and cropping farm at Tatyoon in western Victoria.
Their son Arthur and his wife Iris continued the stud, farming at Moyston near The Grampians, and their two sons, Bill and Phillip and their wives Evelyn and Amy, kept the farming tradition going.
Pat and Brendon, the sons of Bill and Evelyn, together with their wives Carmen and Tenealle are the fourth generation to run the stud.
In 1973 the family moved from Moyston to Girgarre, where Pat and Brendon milk about 450 Jerseys.
Jugiong has had many notable cow families over the years, dominated by Daydream and Leonie.
The first Leonie cow was bought two years after the stud was established and has been part of the herd for nearly 90 years. The foundation cow for the Daydreams was purchased in 1943 and that family continued to prosper as the breed improved.
“Production and higher milk flow cows have always been our number one priority through all the generations,” Pat said.
“We’ve always liked good type cows but not at the expense of production.”
The Nicholson family has always used the best bulls from anywhere in the world to achieve their production goals. Today they mainly use Australian-bred bulls, mostly from long-established Australian cow families, along with a few from the United States.
“That reflects the strong status of Australian Jerseys,” Pat said.
In the past 20 years the best cow bred by the stud has been Jugiong Petunia 5574 who was classified Excellent 94, the third to reach such classification following Jugiong Daydream 193 and Jugiong Daydream 349. The stud has had multiple classified as Excellent 90+ over the decades.
High index ratings haven’t been a priority over the years, with production and type taking preference, and consequently Jugiong hasn’t had a lot of bulls enter the AI system.
However, one bull in partnership with Troy Mauger, Rowantree Jugiong Megastar, proved to be quite popular.
Over the years Jugiong has had a lot of show success, particularly with the prominent Daydream family.
Although they haven’t shown as much in recent times, Jugiong Daydream 8042 won the 2023 three-year-old in milk title at International Dairy Week and was intermediate champion at the Gippsland Jersey Fair.
The Nicholson family remains committed to Jerseys.
“For total solids produced for the size of the cow and for what they eat, you can’t beat a Jersey for their economy and efficiency, and they’re much easier to handle,” Pat said.
Next week: The Akers family’s Loxleigh Jerseys from Tallygaroopna.
