Taranaki cow reigns supreme

 The 4-year-old pure bred Jersey took out the supreme champion award for the best cow at the Horowhenua A&P show much to the delight of its owners Paul and Christine Vanner and their family. 

The Vanners are Jersey stud breeders and run 180 cows and produce about 67,000kgMS on their 54ha hectare property. The Vanner family have owned the farm for 54 years.

Paul Vanner says Lochraven Ace Rylee was bed from a cow they bought some years ago.

“This is the 4^th or 5^th supreme winner we’ve had,” he says. “The cow’s mother has won three or four shows and we bred out of her and got this one.  We  do our own local A&P show at Hawera and the Stratford A&P show  and we are a member of the pure breds association and then we have come down to this show at Levin. It’s a big family effort but we all enjoy it.”

Vanner says Taranaki has had good spring and early summer but it has started to get dry in the last two weeks. 

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says A&P shows are hugely important because they provide an opportunity for rural and urban communities to connect.

The Horowhenua A&P show decided to hold its event on Wellington Anniversary weekend in a bid to attract people from the city.

“It’s the closest agricultural event to the capital city of New Zealand,” he says. “We have seen there is an opportunity to connect rural and urban together. For example the animal nursery is fantastic because children can hold a young chicken in their hands, have an opportunity pat calves and other animals. The A&P shows like Horowhenua bring our urban cousins closer to what happens on a farm.”

The Horowhenua show has been running for 109 years and Guy says three or four generations of families have been competing in various ways over these years. In some cases it’s for the best pikelets or fudge or showing farm animals. 

Guy says the show has been a big part of his life and he’s missed very few over the years. For young people it can be pretty demanding. As a youngster he recalls the long busy weekend at the show and then back to school on Monday. As a young lad he competed at the show with some success and the occasional mishap. 

“The most embarrassing moment I had was when I was calling my pet lamb and it wouldn’t come because it saw a bit of clover in the paddock and started eating it. Then I had one pet lamb that bolted, jumped the scrim fence and took off,” he says.

Events such as the vintage machinery parade demonstrate how much progress the farming sector has made over the years, he says. The Horowhenua has some of the most fertile soils and productive land in the country.

“Horowhenua commercial growers supply 20% of all the lettuces, broccoli and cabbages produced in the country. As well it provides 1400 jobs for local people,” he says.