THIRD generation dairy farmer Lou Giglia and wife Maria have decided to call it a day in the dairy industry and will auction off their Ponderosa stud dairy cattle in November next year.

They also decided to make a big splash at this year's Royal Show and entered 40 quality cattle into the competition. The result was an astounding clean sweep of all their classes including interbred awards.

Mr Giglia, who has not missed one of those 40 years, said the decision to exit the industry up had not been easy and had been pondered for the past two years.

"I think it's time, he said.

"You can't go on forever and it's an appropriate time as well. "We will enter into another phase of our lives that should be a little easier than dairying."

Mr Giglia, who still gets up at 3.30am to milk 130 cows said he and wife Maria were still to decide what they would do in the next stage of their lives.

He said the challenge of breeding better cattle and pitting them against others in the industry was the motivation for his involvement in breeding and showing cattle. This also had a positive spin-off when it came time to sell cattle.

"People want to buy cattle of people who are successful," he said.

His secret for producing good cows was to use the best North American semen and embryos available.

Mr Giglia, 62, and wife Maria took over the family dairy farm and Ponderosa stud in 1967 and first showed cattle at Brunswick the year before they took their first cattle to the Perth Royal Show.