A lot of interest in 'special' Maine Anjou heifer who was sole entry in ring
There may have only been one exhibit in the Royal Adelaide Show's Maine Anjou judging ring, but its breeder is very passionate about getting the breed's name out there.
BlueDrop Maine Anjou stud principal Jared Mackelmann made the journey from Invergordon, Vic, to Adelaide with his 12-month-old heifer.
The heifer was crowned champion female of the breed by default, but still received great praise in the showring.
Mr Mackelmann said he had had a lot of interest in her at the show.
"She's too special to let go of, so I'm going to keep her," he said.
"I want to make her my foundation for the next generation, and sell progeny out of her while the interest is strong.
"I bred her sire, and he won supreme at the Melbourne Royal Show as a nine-month-old, so he was pretty special, too.
"Her mother was a cow I bought from a very old NSW stud that has really nice cattle.
"I've collected her sire and do have straws off him if there's any interest out there."
He said he was running half a dozen cattle at the moment.
"I've had to scale back a bit because of the drought, which was unfortunate," he said.
"I'm slowly building the numbers up to keep the quality strong.
"I've got a few nice heifers coming through like this one, which is really positive."
Mr Mackelmann started the stud in 2014 when he was ten years old.
"I'm 21 now, so I'm still a junior member, but I've been breeding and showing cattle for the last few years," he said.
He strongly believed in quality over quantity.
"Regardless of whether you bring 10 or 20 or just one exhibit to the show, you want it to be a quality animal," he said.
"I want to show people that there's still good quality in these small breeds."
Despite being a Victorian, his show of choice in recent years has been Adelaide due to its "relaxed" nature.
"Maine Anjous haven't really been seen in South Australia for a few years now, so it's good to bring them back over here and show them against the other breeds and get interest back in the breed," he said.
"They've got great nature, a beautiful dark red colour, are easy calving with great milking, and they're just very easy cattle that look nice in the paddock."
