They had just taken out the “Grand Champion Cow” at the 1919 Nowra Show, tagged the Victory Show, as it was the first after the end of World War I.

One hundred years on and the family, which runs Boscawen Holsteins and Jerseys, has again risen to lofty heights at this year’s Nowra Show, winning the Joe Calcraft Memorial Award for most successful breeder and the most successful exhibitors in the Holstein ring.

They also won intermediate Holstein champion with Boscawen Addiction Gala and senior champion Jersey with Boscawen Action Rosebell.

Something family patriarch Geoff Herne is extremely proud of.

Mr Herne proudly showed off the 1919 Grand Champion Cow ribbon at this year's show, a prized family possession safely wrapped in a box among other prestigious ribbons the family has won over the years.

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“I’m not all that into the showing,” Mr Herne said - a line family members have certainly heard on numerous occasions over the years.

Mind you he is still a keen spectator on the ring's edge watching all his family members in action.

“But it was nice to be able to bring out a piece of our family and Nowra Show history," he said.

“And to again taste success 100 years on was a proud moment.”

The 1919 grand champion ribbon was won by Mr Herne's grandfather, Thomas Freeman Herne, with Maud of Bowscawen, a roan milking shorthorn.

"No doubt a relation of Maud of Darbarlo,  a cow the family purchased from Ballarat in Victoria," he said.

“Darbarlo was a pretty famous cow family name at the time.

“I would say grand champion would have been pretty big back in day.

“It’s certainly a huge ribbon. I’m not too sure if they won most successful breeder or exhibitor back then.

“I’m pretty proud to still have the ribbons from that stage in the family.

“It was fantastic to again taste success 100 years on. To have two champions, both home bred cows was great.”

Seven generations of the family have worked on the Brundee property, which is now run by his son and daughter Bob and Tracey, with Mr Herne’s grandchildren and great grandchildren now also talking to the showring.

“It’s great to see my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren involved,” he said.

With the dairy industry going through tumultuous times, Mr Herne can reflect on a period when things were maybe less stressful,  although probably more physical.

Working on the family farm with his father Frank, there were no big storage vats, milk was placed in cans for collection.

Each then had to be moved into place for collection, picked up by truck.

At that time they were supplying 14 cans (each 10 gallons or close to 38 litres), around 529 litres from the Brunellen farm on Greenwell Point Road near Mottram's Lane.

When Mr Herne joined his father on the farm in 1953 after finishing school, they increased production from 42 to 48 cows.

“Water was our big issue then,” he said.

“There was no town water put out to us so we had to rely on well water.

“That restricted the number of cows you could milk because you had to have an adequate water supply.”

The family moved its milking operations east to its present Boscawen farm site in 1978 and were milking 100 cows in a new herringbone design dairy, growing soon after to herd of around 130.

At the time of deregulation they were milking 220 plus.

In 2000 the family put in a new 50-stand rotary dairy and today milks close to 620 animals, producing well over "5000 gallons, or around 19,000 litres a day".

“That’s hard to fathom at times,” Mr Herne said.

“I think our peak was about 5700 gallons - that’s 570 cans in the old days. Back then Bill Taylor’s truck only held 72 cans.

“My father and I were averaging three gallons per cow at their peak (about 12-14 litres). Now the herd averages 35-40 litres a cow in spring.

“We had one cow produce 94 litres in a day - that 23 plus gallons - she was milking three times a day.”