Our Holsteins can have their family tree traced back to the 1970's when we registered the first Mawley cows with the breed society.
Mawley Town Farm had a commercial herd of 180 cows when David and Margaret moved here in 1978. Whilst Adrian was still of school-age, David employed the help of excellent herdsman, Rob Walker. Rob started the long path of upgrading the herd to pedigree status and establishing cow families. As herdsman, he milked the cows twice a day, 6 days a week. He managed the health and breeding of the cows, and could even be seen buck raking silage when times were busy.
Rob twisted David’s arm into purchasing our first ever pedigree cow, Parbold Hall Telmat Lady PI (Pure Imported bloodline from Canada). The rest of the herd were graded from Friesians up to Holsteins over many generations. Another of Rob’s acheivements was breeding record breaking cow, Mawley Supreme Christine, who gave 14.5 gallons of milk in 24 hours.
Around the time Adrian left school, Rob had decided on a change of direction to join his father in a business venture. Adrian took over the day to day running of the herd building on the foundations created by Rob. The herd continued along Robs path, with the introduction of new cow families, notably the Sugar/Honey family, bought as embryos from one of the top families in America.
The herd received a massive blow in 2009, when 90 cows were lost to Bovine TB.
The herd received a massive blow in 2009, when 90 cows were lost to bovine TB. This saw the end of some prolific cow families and their breeding lines are gone forever. To make up for the shortfall in numbers, new cows were purchased. The long journey began to recreate new cow families with traits we achieved over many generations of cows we so tragically lost.
We have many cows traced back to the original pedigree bloodline
Dispite the losses in 2009, we have many cows who are traced back to the original pedigree bloodline from the late 70’s/early 80’s. Some of the names and numbers in the herd today – Christine (4), Lady (47), Honey/Sugar (30), Edna (7), Amelia (34), Wilson (11). Other original Mawley Holsteins include Jane and Bequest. Newer families since 2009 include Wilma, Tia, Jenny, Fran, Honest & Leonie.
