Welcome to JISEX

One of the most successful innovations at the 17th World Jersey Cattle Bureau Conference held in Jersey last May was the launching of the very first one-breed cheese festival ever to be held. The first World Jersey Cheese Awards attracted 100 cheeses from ten countries and was an extremely successful and powerful promotion for the Jersey breed. This article was written by Dr Cherie Bayer, Vice President for North America of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau. Cherie was one of the innovators of this cheese festival and her article was published in the July 2008 edition of the US Jersey Journal.
Click here to read Cherie's article in full.

You can now get more comprehensive information on all our sires by viewing our printed catalogue online. Just click on the mini brochure below and a full screen version will open in a new window.

It was a fitting way to celebrate 50 years of farming at Laneside Farm for Ian and Sally Macalpine when they beat all others to win the coveted NMR/RABDF Gold Cup this month.  Finalists for the past three years, Ian and Sally Macalpine from Clitheroe, in Lancashire, rose to the top spot this year and won the UK dairy industry's most prestigious award.  This was the first time that a Jersey herd has won the trophy. It was exactly 50 years since Ian’s father purchased the farm and started a dairy herd!

 

Ian and Sally Macalpine run the 200-cow Ribblesdale Jersey herd at Laneside Farm, Waddington, near Clitheroe. They restocked their 68-hectare grass farm with Jersey cows, switching from Holsteins, five years ago after the FMD outbreak in 2001.
The move to Jerseys was driven by Ian Macalpine's determination to produce a value- added milk rather than continue to sell milk into a commodity market. Five years on, production has exceeded the Macalpine's expectations. NMR yield averages are 6,200kg per cow at 6% butterfat and 4% protein. Cell counts are running at 165,000/ml and herd longevity is high with 30% of cows in at least their fifth lactation.

Making the best use of available land is important to the Macalpine's business and the Jersey breed fits in well. “Jerseys are very efficient producers of milk solids out of dry matter,” says Ian Macalpine. “They can be up to 30% more efficient than a Holstein cow. We can keep 200 Jersey milkers where we could only have 150 black and whites.”

Since the outset, when a herd of Danish imported cows was purchased in the UK, milk has been supplied to J and E Dickinson's Longley Farm Dairy at Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, where the price is based on butterfat and protein content. A review of the herd's diet last year led to the introduction of a more energy dense TMR  based on grass silage, molasses, grain beet, concentrate and some fat, and fed at a flat rate all year round. In just a year the new diet increased herd margins by 23% with no increase in cow numbers.

JISEX International assists Ian and Sally in their breeding programme and all herd replacements are home bred by Danish and American sires with the intention of building herd numbers up to a maximum of 220 with an average yield of 6,500kg. Heifers leave the farm at six months old and are reared on contract, during which time they are served, and returning a month before calving at 24 months old. Their calving index is currently running at between 365 and 370 days.

 

Ian and Sally Macalpine also won the Lilyhill Cup for the third year running, awarded to the highest placed Jersey herd in the Gold Cup competition.

Jersey’s Autumn Show was held over the weekend of 13 & 14 October with Steven Bland of Cumbria judging the cattle on display.  Winning the Supreme Championship of the sow was Alices Geni Margarethe bred and owned by Trevor Barette and family from the parish of St John. This fine young cow won the three-year-old class and best udder on her way to Championship honours. Trevor’s daughter, Sarah also owned the winning two-year-old and Reserve Champion. She was bred by Don Le Sech of St Brelade. The Barettes’ success was a feat which was made even more worthy by the fact that they have only shown cattle from their herd once before, some years ago.  Congratulations to the Barette family and their new herdsman Richard Waters for “storming” the Island Show with these top cows.

Winning the annual “SuperCow” competition was Trinity Kings Rosie, Ex 94%.  A veteran of Jersey showrings, the seven-year-old “Rosie” was bred and owned by Trinity Manor Farm Ltd. She was the Spring 2006 Island Supreme Champion.  Combining good type with prolific production, “Rosie” was also named the UK’s winner of the John Ibbotson Trophy for the best “Excellent” production cow against strong competition from all Jerseys in Great Britain. She was the highest producing “Excellent” cow of the breed in Great Britain.  Congratulations to Paul and Pam Bell, owners of Trinity Manor Farms, and the Farm Manager, Rob Stevenson on breeding and owning this outstanding individual.

The 44th Pennsylvania All American Show held in mid-September was the scene for 106 Jersey heifers that were paraded before the judge.  Heading the pack by winning the Fall Heifer Calf class and going on be named Junior Champion of the show was Santanas Ringmaster Surprise.  She is owned by Ernest Kueffner and Terri Packard from Connecticut.
 
Half a dozen daughters of Ringmaster were also shown at the USA’s leading dairy show, the World Dairy Expo.  Although they did not win their classes they certainly made their presence felt and made an impression.

On the production front, the first daughters to calve are in Wisconsin, USA where the heaviest producing daughter is a member of the high producing Norse Star herd of the Fremstad family.  She produced 96 pounds of milk on test and was their highest milking two-year-old.

The first British Ringmaster daughters are starting to calve with good reports coming in – especially on their good udders and quiet temperament.  Watch this space!

Worldwide proofs have been released and the MDC statistics show that JISEX again leads the way in the UK with ten sires (out of a total of 20) that are in the top 1% of the breed for £PLI. Included on the high PLI list is Sunset Canyon Maximus at No.1, Ahlem Lemvig Abe at No.2 and Wilderness Blueprint at No.5. Our Danish sires have performed spectacularly with Jas Hot at No.6, Q Zik at No.7 and D J Hovborg at No.9. We continue to explore the world for new and exciting sires that will take the Jersey breed forward in the United Kingdom.. Check the revised sire pages on this website.

That superb six-year-old cow, Quintrell PJSM Ultra Marine Ex 93, dominated the 2007 Royal Cornwall Show once again, gaining her fourth breed championship and her second interbreed championship which she first won in 2004.  Bred and owned by the Colwell family at Redruth, Ultra Marine has had a glittering show career along with two lactations over 7,000 kilos milk.

 

Ultra Marine’s granddam, Itaska’s Fillpail Magenta, came from the Island and was purchased by John and Jenny Colwell at the 1990 Royal Show.  Magenta was bred to Midnight Storm, a highly rated milk sire of the 1990s and she in turn was bred to Perfection Judes Style Master, a very successful Canadian type sire.

Michael and Claire Colwell run a very efficient 200-cow herd in Cornwall and are terrific supporters and promoters of the Jersey breed.

Ian and Sally Macalpine switched to Jerseys following the devastation of Foot and Mouth disease in 2002 and have consistently built one of the country’s leading herds since.

 

Recently, the results of the 2006 Lancashire County Championship Herds Competition were announced and the Ribblesdale herd placed second as well as taking the winner’s prize for the Best Herd on Twice daily milking.  Considering the strength of the Lancashire Holstein herds, this was a remarkable result. 

 

The herd completed 188 lactations with an average of 6,189 kgs milk 5.98% fat 3.96% protein and a very creditable Calving Index of 362 days.  These figures compared with the Holstein herds with much higher milk production but less than 4% fat and 3.1% protein.  The most significant difference between the breeds was that the winning herd had a calving index of 114 days more than the Jerseys!

 

In line with their breeding programme, the Macalpine’s herd posted a PIN of +23, demonstrating their use of top proven sires.   

 

Congratulations to Ian and Sally on achieving this remarkable accomplishment to add to their success in the NMR/RABDF Gold Cup competition last year.

The 2007 Agromek Exhibition - Denmark’s huge agricultural show held each January in Herning - again staged an outstanding display of Jerseys which were shown in front of hundreds of interested onlookers.  Judging this year’s show was JISEX director, Derrick Frigot who commented on the high standard of dairy quality, well-attached udders and excellent teat placements on the animals exhibited.

 

An admirable example of encouraging young people into dairying is the way that almost all of the Jerseys were shown by youngsters who spent the whole week tending and preparing the cows for the show. 

 

At the end of the day, the three top cows all came from the same farm, owned by Vagn Lindy Petersen and his family at Skjern.  The Champion cow, a Jas Hot daughter out of a Greenwood Sooner Khan cow, had a superb dairy frame and showed a slight advantage over the Reserve Champion cow in the balance of the mammary.  The Reserve Champion was also by Jas Hot and out of a Fyn Tanic cow and while she was a little deeper in the body, the cleanness of bone structure and udder of the winning cow gave her the top honours.

 

Winning the SuperKow competition which is based on points for conformation and for production was a third cow from the Petersen barn.  This younger cow also demonstrated excellent dairyness and superior udder qualities – she was by Q Handix and out of a Jas Hot daughter.

 

Congratulations to the Danes for displaying such good quality Jerseys and demonstrating the superiority of the Jerseys in Denmark over other breeds at the Agromek Show.

JISEX International Director, Derrick Frigot will be judging the Jersey show at Denmark’s largest agricultural show – Agromek 2007 at Herning on 16th January.  Denmark’s annual Winter Show, it includes their best elite cows and progeny groups as well as the open Jersey show.

 

The show runs from 16th to 20th January in Herning, which is situated in the middle of the Jutland, Denmark’s second largest island.

At a time when the global dairy industry is generally declining in both farm and cow numbers it is exciting to see that in the USA, the American Jersey Cattle Association has again processed more than 70,000 registrations – the third year in a row!  This is the Association’s ninth best year in its 138-year history and achieved at a time of a national background of low milk prices and higher costs of production. 

 

The national herd, with 72,076 lactations processed, created further M.E. (Mature Equivalent) records of 18,337 lbs milk (8318 kgs) 838 lbs fat (380 kgs) and 651 lbs protein (295 kgs).

 

Sales of Jerseys at auction realized an average of $1,671.99 (over £900) for nearly 6,000 animals – the third highest average in history.  Domestic sales of Jersey semen passed the 1.3 million mark which represents nearly 7.5% of the national market and considering the Jersey share of the total dairy market is about 4%, this demonstrates the use of Jersey semen on other breeds to improve components, calving ease, longer life and all the attributes the Jersey has over the larger dairy breeds. The average productive life of a Jersey in the USA is 1,053 days against only 870 days for other breeds. Export sales of Jersey semen has also climbed to an all-time high of 646,912 units of semen.

 

The AJCA has set organization goals for 2010 which aims to process 90,000 registrations annually and to raise the percentage of U.S. cow population to 5.5%.  The Association has historically been leaders in urging equitable milk pricing so that all milk is purchased on a component basis and this has been a major reason for the switch from black and white to brown cows across the USA.

Jersey Canada – the national association for Jerseys, is a lively organization led by its Chief Executive Russell Gammon, known to many UK Jersey breeders.  With a very similar Jersey population to the UK, Canada is experiencing a renaissance in breed activity.

 

2006 recorded an increase in registrations by 2.8% ahead of 2005 totals, and a significant increase of 12.4% in transfers, indicating the encouraging switch from other breeds to Jerseys.  Jersey Canada has 887 members of which almost 60 are junior members.  They registered 201 new prefixes in 2006 – a remarkable increase of 158% ahead of the 2004 level which was a turning point in the trend of dairying in Canada following the highly limited discovery of BSE in Canada and the restriction on cattle exports.  Most of the new “herds” include the addition of Jerseys to Holstein herds.  This is particularly noticeable in the eastern part of the country.

 

Like its southern neighbours, the expansion of the Jersey breed in Canada is amplified by the well-known superior features of the Jersey cow – she matures quicker and enters the milking herd earlier, she has virtually no calving problems with lower veterinary costs, fewer feet and leg problems and her milk commands a premium price in the marketplace.

Canadian Jerseys, with their recognized excellent conformation is certainly attracting breeders of other dairy cattle to introduce them into their herds.

The World Jersey Cattle Bureau is the global organization for the Jersey breed and was formed in 1951 to bring together Jersey Cattle Associations and breeders in all parts of the world. Throughout its history, the WJCB has organised highly successful international conferences every three years, and in 2008 it is the turn of the home of the breed, the island of Jersey, to host the 17th international conference. Plans are well in hand to entertain hundreds of Jersey breeders in the Island, and a pre-conference tour of England followed by a post-tour of France are also planned.

A full three-week tour starts on 11th May 2008 in England and the conference week in Jersey starts on 18th May, continuing to France on 25th May. Anyone interested in Jerseys will be welcome and details can be found on the WJCB website by clicking on www.worldjerseycattle.com.

The 2007 World Jersey Cattle Bureau Council Meetings are being held in Brazil and those interested in the Jersey cow are invited to join a tour which includes visiting the leading Jersey herds in this fascinating country. Alternative departure dates are being offered - the first week which starts on June 22nd tours the southern region of Brazil starting in Porto Alegre. The second week starts on June 29th in Sao Paulo and includes visits in this vast state and goes on to Rio de Janeiro for a couple of nights before moving north to Belo Horizonte and Mina Gerais, one of the leading agricultural areas of the country.

The final week of the tour is spent in the wonderful Amazon and includes sightseeing some of the remarkable highlights of the world's largest jungle.

Derrick Frigot is working with Farm Tours of Loughborough to escort a group from the United Kingdom and Jersey for the second two weeks of the WJCB tour which is organised by the Brazilian Jersey Association. Please contact the JISEX office for more details if you are interested in joining this rare opportunity to enjoy one of the world's fascinating countries while studying the Jersey breed in Latin America.

We often are asked which are the most popular sires used in the United Kingdom. Well, according the JCS of the UK's website statistics of calf registrations, the four most popular sires in 2006 were JISEX sires, SHF Centurion Sultan (360 female registrations) Q Zik (359), Family Hill Ringmaster (185) and Family Hill Avery Signature (183). The bull with the fifth highest number was Q Impuls with 156 daughters registered in the year.

To date, Sultan has nearly 900 registered daughters and Zik has a little over 850. Still available are Paramount (he now has over 1300 daughters in the UK) and Jas Hot with just short of 2,000 daughters.