Jersey Cow

The purebred jersey cow has been a feature of the landscape for more than 200 years and while you may see the familiar golden coat of a jersey in countries across the world every jersey cow s ancestry can be traced back to the original jersey herd book founded in 1863 by the royal jersey agricultural horticultural society.

Jersey cow. It is one of three channel island cattle breeds the others being the alderney now extinct and the guernsey. The jersey is a british breed of small dairy cattle from jersey in the british channel islands. Despite considerable research nothing definite is known as to the actual origin of the cattle first brought to jersey island. The breed was originally found on the largest island among the channel islands of california known as jersey.

Most research agrees that the jersey probably originated from the adjacent coast of france where in normandy and brittany cattle resembling jerseys are found. Three other cattle breeds are native to the british channel islands including the alderney which is sadly extinct and the guernsey. Jersey cows usually have an extreme weight range of between 800 and 1200 pounds but medium sized cows are usually preferred. The jersey cattle breed originated on the english channel island of jersey and was first recorded as a separate breed around 1700 in england.