Gordon Glentworth ONZM is a name that many people know within the Red Dairy Breed, he’s loved the Ayrshire breed for as long as he can remember simply because they were different. Back in the day Gordon would fill out his fathers AB book and would write A, so the jersey based herd started to expand into Ayrshire Cross. He became a member in high school, he’s not sure whether he registered a herd name or not but registered ‘Sanrosa’ in 1976.
When Gordon first went sharemilking he bought Ayrshires that ended up with a high turnover as he wanted cows that would be the best producers. His ‘Dale’ and ‘Daffy’ families goes back to cows he got from his dad. The family come down from a couple of Ayrshires that Gordon’s great uncle bought after Gordon’s dad lost a third of his herd to TB. One of Gordon’s bigger cow family that plays a major role in the herd is his ‘Royal’ family where he has roughly 60 within the herd. This family goes back to Monakura Royal Pride.
After a few years of sharemilking Gordon came to the realization that he had become ‘stagnate’, forgetting how to think. He decided he could do more so he stood for the Board. He got on the LIA board in 1988, the next year he got on the Ayrshire board. He got on the Vet board in 1992. It was in the 90s when Gordon started judging so he could become a TOP inspector. The Semayr committee was made in 1987 and in 1992 Gordon was made chairman where he has made significant decisions for the Ayrshires in NZ. In 2024 Gordon got the Kings Award for services for the dairy industry and animal breeding, making him an officer New Zealand Order of Merit.
Gordon doesn’t like hungry cows so he has a low stocking rate on the farm he’s been on for 34/35 years. His herd is made up with a lot of Scandavian genetics, making his herd a bit bigger than the average NZ Ayrshire cow. He likes the bigger cow, and he appreciates the Scandavian genetics for their capability for doing the production Gordon enjoys seeing his cows do.
