Terang farmers Bryan and Jo Dickson have scored a rare double feat with both their Holstein and Jersey studs topping the latest Australian Breeding Values lists.
The April 2025 ABV release from DataGene shows Emu Banks Holsteins continued their run at the top with an average BPI of 376.
For the first time, Spring Banks Jerseys took top spot on the breed’s ranking with an average BPI of 279.
This is the first time since the formation of DataGene that one farmer has topped both major breed indexes.
It fulfils a long-held ambition for Bryan.
“It’s pretty cool; it’s something I have wanted to do for a long time,” he said.
Daryl Hoey had a similar achievement about 12 years ago, topping the Holstein, Jersey and Aussie Red ABVs under the former Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme, the predecessor to DataGene.
“Daryl is the only person that I know of who has done it before,” Bryan said.
The Emu Banks herd consists of about 50 Jerseys and 30-40 Brown Swiss but the bulk is Holstein, with about 900 cows.
Jerseys were reintroduced to the herd about five years ago because of strong interest in the breed shown by Bryan and Jo’s daughter, Anna.
Emu Banks first topped the Holstein list in 2015 and returned to the top around 2020 and has maintained its edge since then.
Spring Banks has been a regular in second spot on the Jersey list but previous leader Con and Michelle Glennen’s White Star Jerseys, from Noorat, just 10 km from the Dicksons, has now slipped to second spot.
“I’ve got it once — how long I can keep it I’m not sure because Con has a great herd, but it’s an honour to top both rankings,” Bryan said.
When reintroducing Jerseys, the Dicksons concentrated on quality.
“We only bought and kept the best Jerseys we could find and culled the tail,” Bryan said.
They have the same philosophy with Holsteins.
“Weeding is just as important as breeding. We breed for type and production and we always feed them well to achieve good production, but we also weed out the lesser cows.”
In Holsteins, Bryan and Jo bred the second and third ranked BPI heifers.
Emu Banks Rizboy Tiffany 15111, with a BPI pf 573, was second and was recently sold for $17,000 to Agri-Gene and will contribute to their bull breeding program.
In third position is Emu Banks Rizboy Louanna 14977 with a BPI of 568.
Three of the top five genomic heifers are owned by the Dicksons.
Emu Banks was the highest herd for the Sustainability Index at 652 and number one for the Health Weighted Index (HWI) at 361.
Bryan says he relies on facts and figures when breeding, and that genomics and sexed semen have helped to create a top ABV herd.
The family has been farming west of Terang, in south-west Victoria, since 1989 and owns 485ha and leases a further 200ha.