ST Genetics breeding consultant Jean Macky is taking a strong message back to farmers in New Zealand – it’s time to look at Aussie Jerseys.
“I love the capacious style of the Australian cow and I need to convince more New Zealanders about them,” she says.
“There is a misconception that cows are treated differently in Australia and there is a different style of farming, but in reality, it’s very similar.”
ST Genetics distributes Genetics Australia semen in New Zealand and she says New Zealand farmers need to reconsider Australian Jerseys.
Jean joined her Genetics Australia colleagues on the recent World Jersey Conference tour hosted in Australia, enjoying the local farms alongside several Kiwi farmers.
“Generally, the New Zealand Jersey has become too small, in my opinion, and I think they lack a bit of the depth and strength of Australian Jerseys,” she said. “They seem to be getting smaller and winters are very tough in New Zealand but we can learn a lot from Australia.”
“A lot of farmers have gone into KiwiCross but if they could see this modern style of Jersey cow, they probably wouldn’t have gone into the crossbreed. They wanted to get away from the smaller and bigger cows so they’ve created this mid-sized cow – but that’s what the Jersey is in Australia.”
Jean was pleased to see so many New Zealand farmers joining the Australian tour. While Jersey numbers are growing in most countries, they have been declining in New Zealand.
“Hopefully after this trip, demand will really grow because we’ve seen so many good cows and I will be trying to spread that word.”
Jersey Australia, Genetics Australia and Agri-Gene will have a site at Mystery Creek Field Days in June to promote the breed.
After finishing farming, Jean worked in dispatch for Genetics Enterprises which sold Genetics Australia product and was eventually acquired by GA. She moved from dispatch to sales for Genetics Australia. STgenetics New Zealand took the selling rights of Genetics Australia in 2021 and Jean joined the new enterprise and has been selling now for about five years.
“I’m very much farmer focused,” she said. “For me, selling is a great life after farming because I’m still seeing farmers, still seeing cows and still going on farms.”
Jean is particularly active on social media and said the response to her photos of cows from the Australian tour had been amazing.
Before moving into the genetics field, Jean and her husband Duncan farmed sheep, beef and dairy.
Today Duncan manages a farm and Jean is also involved with its day-to-day decisions. “On weekends after I finish my breeding job, I come back to farming, which is I love,” Jean said.
“When you’re born to the farm, you can never take the farm out of the girl.”
