WHEN Neville Mueller says he grew up at the Royal Adelaide Show, he means it. He has been to every one of them since he was four months old - that adds up to 65 shows.
Neville does not take part for the heck of it. He throws all his efforts into showcasing the breed he loves - Illawarra cattle - under the Glenhaven stud prefix.
Born into a family with a history of dairying, showing and a love of the Illawarra breed, he has always held a high regard for the animals.
His father Melvyn first exhibited cattle from Glenhaven Illawarras stud in 1947, after running registered cattle for 10 years.
Even after his death in 1965, the family remained committed to the showring.
The family relocated to Murray Bridge in 1967, where Neville and his brother Ian milked before they went their separate ways in 1988 and bought their own farms.
Neville, along with his wife Marie, bought a farm at Swanport on the edge of the River Murray.
That venture lasted just shy of 15 years when health issues affecting both Neville and Marie encouraged them to get out of dairying. Neville says they had a tough time, but they had to be realistic about their options.
"Marie had breast cancer a few years prior to that and I had issues with my knee," he said.
"We also have five daughters and when the last of them said she didn't want to milk cows, there was no point carrying on."
All was not completely gone - Neville retained 1200 hectares at Ashville to run beef cattle and kept 6.5ha of the dairy property, where he and Marie built a new house and now reside.
But he didn't want to get out of the dairy game "cold turkey", and instead sold the cows privately over six months, with the last of them dispersed at the end of 2002. That year, Glenhaven won the most successful exhibitor title in Adelaide.
But showing cattle is not something Neville could just give up completely, which is why he decided to retain a few which are milked at the Doecke family's farm nearby.
"I have been showing cattle all my life and September wouldn't be the same without it," he said.
"That's why I kept breeding and showing cattle - it's in my blood."
Such is the Mueller family's tradition at the Royal, that when it was held a week later than normal this year the family still celebrated Father's Day on the Sunday - even though it was a week late - because it would normally fall on the Sunday during the show.
Neville feels as much involved in the Illawarra breed now as he did when he was milking cattle.
His vast experience in breeding and showing cattle has seen him judge cattle at every major show in Australia, apart from International Dairy Week.
He has also judged abroad at Brumath in France, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the United States, and Shepton Mallet in England.
Later this year, he will travel to Stratford, New Zealand, to judge cattle there.
*Full report in Stock Journal, September 27 issue, 2012.