TODAY will be a huge day for Brooke Twamley and her father, Gordon.
Not to mention their precious Illawarra cargo.
The pair will make the trek from Greta, in Victoria's North East, to the Adelaide Royal Show, where the Illawarras will be this year's dairy feature breed.
"We are going to aim to leave at 3.30-4am," Brooke said.
"We will milk 10 minutes before they get on the truck, pick up the other two cows at Tatura and go straight to Adelaide.
"When they get off the truck they will want to have a feed and a lie down.
"We will milk about 8-9pm ... a drink and feed is all they are interested in (when they get there)."
This year three Victorian exhibitors will compete at the show.
It won't be the first time Brooke, of Three Creeks stud, has exhibited at Adelaide. She competed in 2001 and attends as a spectator every year.
The show gives Brooke a chance to catch up with her younger sister, Samantha, who will show cattle for Treeton stud, of Meningie in South Australia.
Brooke said making the trek to Adelaide was a case of "returning the favour" to South Australians who make the annual pilgrimage to Victoria's International Dairy Week.
Brooke's show team includes a heifer that will compete in the 12-14-month-old class, two 14-18-month-olds, a 2 1/2-year-old in milk and a three-year-old in milk.
The youngest heifer won her class at Dairy Week this year.
But Brooke said the competition at Adelaide would be "tough".
"Because there is such big prize money for the show, the local competition will be strong and there are cows coming down from NSW," she said.
