Winner 2008
OURWAY SHOTIME JACKIE 8-ET

RISING 13 years of age, Ourway Shotime Jackie is almost approaching legendary status. She is near the top of the list of Star Brood Cows and her progeny fill herds across the country.

Jackie was perhaps always destined for great things. Her dam, Elite Leadman Jackie, was acquired in 1993 as a nine-month-old heifer at the Riverina Artificial Breeders sale. At that stage the Daleys had a half share in her. Jackie went on to found a cow family and breed some very influential animals. And one of the most important was our 2008 Cow of the Year. “The thing that was most pleasing to us is the influence she’s had around the nation,” says Colin Daley. “Because she’s got one Excellent and 12 Very Good daughters, but they’re spread across nine herds in four states.” She also has quite a few sons and grand sons with high quality proofs. In fact, Colin says, one of her sons, Ourway Jack Don ET, is the highest rated bull in Australia for somatic cell count. “I only learned about that because Holstein International ran a story on lowering cell count,” he says, “and they listed the top three bulls in each country. Ours was the best bull in Australia.”

Surprisingly, Jackie may not have made the contribution she has had circumstances been different.
She was sold as a yearling at IDW in 1997 for $14,000 “which was a lot of money in those days”. However, the new owners asked the Daleys to continue managing her suggesting they go halves in both ownership and Jackie’s female progeny.

As most people are aware, she has flushed well and a lot of embryos have been obtained and sold, which is the reason she has so many offspring around Australia. In 2005 the Daleys bought the half share back. “She’s been bought and sold a couple of times like that. We’ve always had at least a half share of her, anyway,” says Colin. And it looks as though there will be even more progeny from Jackie. She has been dried off and will be flushed again shortly.

The Jackies are now one of two main cow families in the Ourway herd at Millaa Millaa; the other is the Phyllis family. Colin and Shelley have bred more than 200 of each.

So were they surprised to win COTY? “It was a big thrill,” says Colin. “She was a finalist last year and again this year, we were hoping we were in with a chance, but we acknowledged that she was up against some good competition as well.”

And added to the win was the awarding of Master Breeder status to Ourway Holsteins, an accolade that came via an award search. “We had absolutely no idea, so that was a real surprise on the night ... Shelley and I have only been married for 20 years and one month, so we’ve only just become eligible for it time wise.”

Colin says it’s not just he and Shelley who owe a lot to the Elite sales of the early 1990s, it’s the entire industry.“I think back to that sale where we purchased Leadman Jackie and if you look back through the animals that were introduced to the Australian population from that sale it is quite amazing how many of them have gone on in herds around the country and started magnificent families.
“They probably might have been disappointed at the time because none of the brothers to a lot of the cows they sold that day came up with outstanding proofs, but they really made a contribution to Australian genetics when you look at the families that have come out of those Elite sales, as they called them, in the early nineties.” And we know of at least one Cow of the Year to emerge from them also.

OURWAY SHOTIME JACKIE 8-ET

Herd Book: 760844
Birth Date: May 8, 1996
Classification: VG88
Breeder: C J & S J Daley
Current Owner: C J & S J Daley
Lactations: Seven
Awards: STP 11* LIFE (1)
Sire: Shoremar Perfect Star-ET-IMP EX1E
Dam: Elite Leadman Jackie-ET-IMP-TL EX3E
Best lactation: 9473 litres, 3.1% protein 296kg, 353kg fat

Progeny Performance
32 Progeny: 19 Female (15 ET), 13 Male (11 ET);
16 Fem Classified (1 EX, 12VG, 3GP)
217 Grand Progeny (17VG, 39GP, 5G&F)
471 GGProg
189 GGGProg
18 GGGGProg