It all began with Cheryl and Adrian Dee’s passion.
Clydevale Holsteins is celebrating its golden anniversary with an on-farm sale.
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It will be held on Wednesday, May 21 at 161 Borella Rd at Macorna, in northern Victoria, from noon.
Established in 1975 by Adrian and Cheryl Dee, Clydevale has developed into a dual master breeder herd, featuring cows from some of the best cow families in the country.
Adrian and Cheryl grew their registered herd by select stud purchase and registering their commercial cows via the Holstein appendix system.
The family is proud many of these foundation families remain in the herd today and they have managed to breed 155 excellent cows over the past 50 years.
In 1980, Adrian and Cheryl moved their dairy operation from Clyde North to Macorna, starting out with just 60 cows and 206 hectares.
Supported by their children Adam, Mark, Colin, Kevin and Clare, Clydevale has grown to 1092ha and 1300 registered females, including a milking herd of 500.
Lot 23 Clydevale Rubels Juno Red VG 85.
A few years ago, the family’s long-held dream to build an eight-unit robotic system was realised.
Clydevale is one of the most respected Holstein herds in the country, and the family has taken home a ribbon from every big show in the country.
Notable wins include International Dairy Week, Winter Fair, On Farm Challenges, and of course, many agricultural show society wins.
Hosted by Dairy Livestock Services, the 74 lot sale includes some of Clydevale’s big hitting names.
Lot 1 Clydevale Sugarush Integral, a nine-month-old heifer with 13 generations of VG and excellent in her pedigree; Lot 8 Clydevale Lambda Cleaver ETVG85 a two-and-a-half-year-old from Clydevale Doc Cleavage IMP-ET EX91, who was reserve intermediate champion and best udder in class IDW 2024, and Lot 12 Clydevale Lambda Sunstar ET GP83, a daughter from the famous Hullabaloo Bolton Sundae EX95 Winter Fair champion in 2017.
Lot 69 Clydevale Mirand Frappe PO VG87.
“One of the best purchases our family ever made was to buy into the Sunspot family when we purchased the pregnant heifer Hullabaloo Bolton Sundae EX 95 at the North West Stars of the Future Sale in 2012,” Adam said.
Descendants of Sundae have gone on to win many accolades over the years, and buyers, for the first time ever, will have the opportunity to purchase her progeny across nine lots.
Investing in the Irene family has also been a big winner, with the popular cow family a firm favourite.
“We have been able to breed high type and production cows, AI Bull dams, show winners, All Australian winners and state on-farm challenge winners from the Irene family, and we have seven lots available in this catalogue,” Adam said.
Auctioneer Brian Leslie said across the sale, buyers would find 19 daughters from excellent dams.
“Young cows are selling with records to 12.569 litres, 418kg of protein and 486kg fat, while dams have production to 17,010 litres, 552kg protein and 717kg fat.
“Not only will you find amazing offerings right across this sale, you are also invited to view the state-of-the-art indoor robotic milking facility where 500 registered Holsteins are milked,” Brian said.
The Dee family is looking forward to sale day and the opportunity to share some of its best genetics with other breeders.
“It will be hard to see some of these animals go, but it will also be rewarding to watch them in the future,” Adam said.
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