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2004 Annual Council Meetings
Vice President (Europe) - Report
Dairy farmers in Europe are feeling the pressure of decreasing milk prices and many are having to acquire more milk quota to raise farm income to a standard compete.
Denmark is the main supplier of Jerseys to other European countries and their exports have been healthy. Following Foot and Mouth disease in 2001, the United Kingdom, has been a major buyer of Danish Jerseys, having imported more than 4,000 from 2002 onwards. During the winter, Danish Jerseys have closed down their MOET breeding programme in the “Future Jerseys” nucleus herd and replaced it with “on farm flushes”. They are currently discussing plans for a new nucleus herd and in the meanwhile are paying for approximately 100 flushes annually.
The Jersey associations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway have agreed a common breeding programme, using the same breeding strategy, classification system, active bulls, etc.
In February, Danish Jerseys showed five cows at the Agribex exhibition in Brussels, Belgium. The opportunity was to promote the Jersey breed, as well as Danish genetics, which was successfully accomplished. Apart from Holsteins, the Jersey breed was the only other dairy breed promoted and this created a lot of interest among cattlemen. Danish Jerseys are planning to do the first tests on sexed semen during 2004.
In the Netherlands, the Dutch farmers are facing similar problems as other countries, but many of the Jersey breeders have organic farms, and this is currently under pressure from overproduction, or under-consumption. However, the breed is growing in Holland, and a Jersey breed promotion at Henk Oegema’s farm attracted about 15 Holstein-Friesian breeders interested in converting to Jerseys. Jersey products are selling well in the marketplace with consumers choosing the better taste of Jersey products. Dutch Jersey breeders import Jersey genetics from Denmark, the USA and New Zealand.
France has 235 Jersey farms with a little under 1,800 Jersey cows officially milk recorded in 2002. Only 28 herds are purely Jersey cattle, the others being a mixture of Jerseys and Holsteins. The average production for French Jerseys is 5163 kgs milk 5.62% fat 3.83% protein. Farming systems vary greatly. In the north of the country, farming is more intensive, and the feeding systems are mainly maize silage and concentrates, with cows spending most of the time in free stall barns. In the south of France, Jerseys are mostly grazed. For some years, the number of Jerseys had been decreasing, but younger breeders are preferring Jerseys, which are mostly imported from Denmark.
The Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society has, from the beginning of this year, assumed responsibility for all milk-recording and artificial insemination in Jersey. These services had been conducted by the States of Jersey, the Island’s government, but with major changes in agricultural representation, it was no longer possible for the government to continue these vital services for dairy farmers. From the Society's point of view, the new responsibilities means an almost doubling of staff with ten people now employed in either full or part-time capacity. The shape of dairying in the Island has changed dramatically over the years, as it has done in other countries, but in a small Island, it seems more evident – today there are 35 Jersey herds averaging about 100 cows!
The national production for Jerseys in the United Kingdom has steadily increased in recent years with the widespread use of international genetics, mainly from the USA and Canada, Denmark and New Zealand. The 2002-03 national average for Jerseys was 5224 kgs milk 5.3% fat and 3.85% protein and with 478 kgs of combined fat and protein, the Jersey is well ahead of the other “coloured” breeds. This is also reflected ion the popularity of the Jersey which is Britain’s second largest dairy breed, representing 40% of the coloured breeds.
Respectfully submitted.
Gordon Hastie
Vice President for Europe
March 2004
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