The dairy contest will be one of the golden moments of the 18th Fenasul and 45th Expoleite, which takes place from May 15th to 19th at the Assis Brasil Exhibition Park, in Esteio (RS). The person who decides is the president of the Association of Dutch Cattle Breeders of Rio Grande do Sul (Gadolando) and president of the Brazilian Federation of Breed Animal Breeders’ Associations (Febrac) Marcos Tang.
The director highlights the simplicity of the process. “The dairy contest is very easy to follow: the champion will be the one who produces the most milk. Holstein cows will be milked five times, 8 hours apart. The two biggest brands will be discarded. The three smaller milkings, thus totaling 24 hours, will count as a note. And this will be the result in which we will appoint the champions of the dairy contest, both in the Young and Adult categories,” he explains.
Cows that are two or three years old are considered young. Adults are considered to be from four years of age. “So we have two champions of the dairy tournament, Young and Adult. Of course, there is a cow that produces more, normally it is the adult one, but sometimes a young one can surpass it. We expect several registrations, but mainly strong competitors producing good milk numbers”, she projects. Tang points out that, generally, the champion produces around 80 liters, but considers that, above 50 liters, they are already considered very good productions. The director is keen to point out that any injectable additive substance is prohibited in the Gadandondo dairy competition. “Therefore, the cow needs to produce this amount of milk by feeding naturally, which makes the dairy contest very real, clean and safe”, he guarantees.
The champion will be announced on May 16th, a Thursday, and afterwards there will be the traditional milk bath in the breeders and huts of the dairy contest champions. The material used in the celebration is a mixture of discarded milk, therefore unfit for human consumption, warm water and lime. Finally, Marcos Tang also highlights that this dairy contest is mandatory for anyone competing for the Supreme Excellent Cow award, which will be awarded at the 47th Expointer, in August. The winner will be the cow that scores the most points in both the dairy and track competitions, the morphological one. The scores of three fairs will be added: one in the interior, which is part of the official Gadolando circuit, plus Fenasul Expoleite and Expointer.
Fenasul Expoleite is a promotion by Gadandondo and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation (Seapi), with co-promotion by the City of Esteio, Farsul, Fetag/RS, Febrac and support from other entities. Entry to the fair is free.