Continuing the calf club tradition despite heightened biosecurity is a welcome initiative in the Templeman household.
Jason and Amber Templeman who farm at Linkwater near Picton were involved in calf clubs and pet days when they were young and have passed on their love of animals, especially calves, to their four children.
Issac, 8, Katie, 7, and twins Matty and Max, 6, entered two calves each in the Calf Club NZ online competition.
All four children and their calves were selected in the top 10 for their region and were recently visited by judge Kerry Robbins from Holstein Friesian New Zealand.
Issac and Katie say they were nervous but twins Matty and Max say they weren’t worried at all, it was fun.
Cuddles with their calves is one of their favourite things.
Issac says the most difficult thing about caring for his calf Nya was getting her to lead and drink from a bucket.
“She is really lovely and friendly,” he says.
“I led her around the ring and told the judge all about her and that was fun.”
Katie says the hardest thing for her was getting her calf Milly to walk alongside her.
“That was pretty hard as she kept wanting to go in all directions,” she says
“But when the judge visited us Milly behaved herself and led properly.
“I love my calf as she is very cuddly and smoochy.”
Matty and Max also enjoy cuddles with their calves and Matty says he really enjoys having his calf Sky suck on his fingers.
“Sky is really neat,” Matty says.
“I fed her every morning and night. I hugged her lots and taught her to lead. She was really good at leading.”
Max says his calf Tulip let him ride her and also he enjoys feeding his calf and brushing it.
“She behaved herself when the judge was watching and was good in the ring.
“I had a lots of fun.”
Amber says the children selected their calves in August and have put in a lot of time and effort training and caring for them.
The children did all the hard work with their calves themselves.
Amber looked after them for the first four days to ensure they got adequate colostrum and once the children chose their calves they moved them over to the house paddock.
“All four children put a lot of hard work into their animals.
“They have earned ribbons and sometimes won a cup which make it all worth it. They really love it,” Amber says.
Each morning before school Amber haltered and tied the calves to the fence to help make the mornings more organised.
“Otherwise, it’s just chaos for the kids feeding lambs and calves and getting ready for school.”
“I give them the milk, they feed their calves, take their covers off, wash the buckets and get ready for school.
“After school they feed them again, brush them and lead them every day.”
Though judging is done the children continue to care for their calves, which will soon be returned to run with the others.
The Templeman children have all raised and trained calves since they were five-years-old.
Each of them rears two calves, a dairy heifer that goes into the herd and a beef calf that is raised and sold at 18 months with the proceeds going back to the kids.
“Issac just sold two of his beef calves and used the money to buy a motorbike.
“It gives them a chance to learn about working hard to earn your reward,” Amber says.
Cntering Calf Club NZ was a big job because they’d left it till the last day and had to take the kids out of school to wash and prep the calves and complete the 100 words to accompany their entries but it was worthwhile.
Amber is pleased the organisers found a way to hold calf club days to get around the threat of Mycoplasma bovis.
“I’m sure the kids would’ve wanted to do calves regardless. We are so proud of all the effort they put in with all their animals.
“I think it’s a great concept and we should keep it going.
“It’s a great idea to have a national competition which puts them against the rest of NZ so they can see how they’re going.”
“They are looking forward to future calf clubs no matter what form they are in.”
