134 | nzdairy ON FARM » Amy Green Amy bought her first Ayrshire in 2017 Russell Fredric Amy Green with her wife Samantha Sargent. Full Baleage, Cultivation & Aeration Services Call Tom 0272368074 Robert: 027 439 5096 Email: rivertonfarmdrainage@xtra.co.nz LIVESTOCK CARTAGE • BULK FERTILISER CARTAGE • STOCK FEED CARTAGE SOWING • GRAVEL & CONTRACTING • FREIGHT andy@rivertonrural.co.nz Avid Ayrshire breeder Amy Sargent (Green) has been associated with the breed since she was a little girl in Victoria, Australia. “We had about a third of the herd Ayrshire cows and then we moved over here in 2006,” Amy says. In Southland, Amy helped on the dairy farm where she lived that had Ayrshires and enjoyed leading, showing and being involved in breeding. Now 31, she bought her first Ayrshire in 2013 from Ken Eade in Moa Flat. She has since finished working as a herd manager on a dairy farm at Scotts Gap near Otautau. Her responsibilities included training new staff, which has been a good learning curve and good for her career development and thoroughly enjoyed working on this farm and is going to miss working there, she says. She is now working alongside her wife on farm at Avondale where they continue to grow their herd, Kilmarnock Ayrshires, and Shorthorns. In 2023 she won the Ayrshire New Zealand Bell-Booth Achiever Award and was kept busy travelling around Southland and Otago with some of her animals and took the opportunity to take two or three youth along with her to the shows. She also took on responsibility for organising of the cattle section of the Winton A & P show from 2023, as well as judging and is now organising the Otago/Southland Calf Club where she’s had 50-plus entrants each year. She is the dairy marshal for the southern districts Royal Agricultural Society and runs the Otago Southland Herdsperson Competition. A “keen active member” of the Southland/Otago Ayrshire Club, Amy is proactively trying to encourage other young people to join along with being an Ayrshire New Zealand member. “There’s 20 breeders down here that have got Ayrshires and it’s really nice to see red and white cows when out driving. I’d also like to see more youth involved in the breed” Amy now owns 19 registered Ayrshires and is focused on building her own herd. “Initially I really liked them because of their colour, but now I’ve been able to get cows in from around the country and continue to produce more milk. ” She selects genetics mainly from the Ayrshire New Zealand catalogue, World Wide Sires and St Genetics focusing on udders, feet, and capacity. She has also used some of well-known Southland breeder Mervyn Livingstone’s medium-framed home-bred bulls over her young stock for calving ease. “I’m hoping to get enough animals that I can go out 50/50 sharemilking or one day hopefully own a farm. My wife’s father is using some of her Ayrshire’s genetics in his cows now which is exciting.” Despite their favourable traits, Ayrshire comprise only about 1% of the national herd which means there is only a small genetic pool to draw from within New Zealand. However Semayr breeding services (part of Ayrshire NZ) are importing semen from Finland where Ayrshire are the most popular breed and have the biggest progeny-tested Ayrshire population in the world. “My previous bosses have really enjoyed having my Ayrshire cows there the last few years, and with the last test results my cows have proved themselves to produce 450-550 [kilograms of milk] solids every season.” “I’m hoping to get enough animals that I can go out 50/50 sharemilking or one day hopefully own a farm.”
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