I place this class of Ayrshires C-D-B-A. C rises to the top placing over D with her complete package of style, symmetry, and balance. This feminine individual is cleaner through her head, neck, and brisket with smoother blending lines. She displays strength in all areas of her topline, from her chine, loin, and all the way to her level wide rump. She also has a flat, open rib, and a cleaner hock than D. Her height and width of rear udder is accented by a fore udder that blends tightly into her body wall. I do grant that D is wider in the floor of the chest.
D places over B as her cut closely mimics the style of our winner. D is longer in her neck, displaying a cleaner, angular cut. D shows more openness and spring to her rib, as well as more depth to her rear rib section than does B. Her quality of bone, especially through her refinement of hock and strength of pastern, gives her a decisive advantage of legs. She has a higher rear udder, displaying a distinct advantage of depth of median suspensory ligament. Granted, B is more correct in teat size and placement.
In a close placing, B places over A in that she is longer and cleaner in her neck and has an advantage in a more desirable rump, as A is high in her pin setting. B displays a higher and wider rear udder and has an advantage to her udder structure, being more level on her udder floor than A. I do grant A an advantage in having a cleaner, flatter bone and stronger pasterns than B, but she lacks the quality of udder to place any higher in the class.
Richard Caverly
Benton, Maine.
Caverly placed the AYRSHIRES. The 2013 Klussendorf-MacKenzie Award winner began on his home farm in Maine where he worked with the famous 97-point Ayrshire Belinda and the 1978 World Dairy Expo Champion Helga. Caverly then worked for farms in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Brazil and later became the first herdsman for Arethusa Farm, Litchfield, Conn. Then he moved back to Maine to work for Flood Brothers Dairy. Today, Caverly and his wife, Beverly Donovan, have a 40-cow Ayrshire and Holstein herd that includes Sweet Pepper Black Francesca, the two-time Ayrshire Grand Champion at World Dairy Expo.
