WORLD JERSEY CATTLE BUREAU

2006 VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT FOR NORTH AMERICA

by Russell Gammon (Canada)

There may only be two countries in our region, however….

Both the United States and Canada have been exceedingly active in development work with the Jersey cow since the Bureau and Council meetings were held in Canada in June/July 2005.

The US is riding a tidal wave of Jersey excitement! Results of 2005 activity prove how gigantic this tidal wave is! In 2005 the following standards of performance were set:

• a new record total of 70,165 cattle evaluated through the Unified Type Traits Appraisal Program in 2005! This is a 13% increase from 2004! Participation in this program alone is 539% (yes, 539%!!!) higher in this decade than in the 1970s!
• the American Jersey Cattle Association now has over 110,000 cows and over 725 herds enrolled in performance evaluation programs. New records for participation were set in 2005!  Enrolment of cattle in performance programs is 325% (yes, again 325%!!) higher in this current decade than in the 1970s!
• in 2005 over 1,300,000 units of Jersey semen were sold in the domestic semen market in the USA! This again is a new all-time record for domestic semen sales, represents a 13.1% increase over 2004, and marks the third consecutive year that US domestic semen sales have topped 1,000,000 doses! Domestic semen sales in 2005 were 122% higher than in 1996!
• export semen sales from the USA were up 11.6% to a new record total of almost 647,000 units! The previous record total was the 2004 level. Over the past decade US exports of Jersey semen have grown by 65%!  
• the recording of Jerseys surpassed the 70,000 mark for the second year in a row at almost 73,000! 2004 registrations in the USA were the fourth best ever since 1868 and 2005 totals were the fifth best ever in 137 years! The AJCA has now recorded over 60,000 registrations for seven consecutive years. The five most recent years are all in the top 15 years of all time for registration activity! The AJCA is annually processing twice the number of registrations that were processed 35 years ago!

As energizing as all this terrific news is the AJCA is looking to the future with a strong determination to build on the foundation of these successes.  Coming up are:

• the construction of a second cheese processing plant by Hilmar Cheese (California). This plant will be in a new dairy area in Texas. Sourcing the required supply of the right kind of milk for this plant will have a major impact on demand for Jersey cattle! This impact could well extend over a five- to seven-year window.
• the AJCA’s Research Foundation is expanding the volume and range of Jersey-related research it supports. The Association is engaged in sourcing Jersey semen to aid in defining the genome of the Jersey breed. The Research Foundation will also be considering the issue of pregnancy rates from frozen Jersey embryos perhaps in concert with Canadian researchers.
• some young Americans have been part of the Bureau’s youth travel program and this activity has been chronicled in the Jersey Journal!
• the AJCA board has set challenging targets for expansion of participation on breed programs!

North of the lengthy US/Canada border breed development work has been going on at a “full steam ahead” pace too!

• since late 2004 over 70,000 pieces of three separate breed marketing publications have been distributed to virtually all dairy producers in Canada.
• Jersey Canada adopted a new state-of-the-art, world class classification system in August 2005 in concert with other dairy breeds in Canada.
• in 2005 Jersey Canada memberships were at their highest level in 15 years, since 1990. Through aggressive recruitment memberships are running 10% of 2005 year-to-date levels this year. One major Jersey province has reported memberships up by over 60% this year! In a mature dairy industry this growth represents dairymen owning other breeds shifting into being Jersey owners.
• Jersey Canada has been present at nine major dairy events in seven of Canada’s ten provinces since November 2005 with a full Jersey display.
• two new regional Jersey associations - one in the western part of the country and one in the far eastern climes of this large land - were “born” in March 2006. These new associations will better coordinate marketing of the breed and subsequent breed expansion.
• Jersey Canada will had have representatives at Jersey events in at least Brazil, Colombia, Jersey, Scotland, United States, Australia, Switzerland and South Africa by the end of the year.
• stronger bonds are being forged with university and college personnel and researchers.
• the Semex Alliance and one of its partner AI units established a component breeds position in May 2006. This is a welcome first and recognizes the growing domestic and international markets for semen from these breeds.
• while an inordinately large group of young sires have come through with leading new proofs in 2006 the Jersey Canada board is challenging members to increase the number of young sires sampled to 2½ times that of current levels.

Both the American and Canadian associations are active in hosting Jersey development days. In addition both have kept a steady and high volume flow of Jersey-related information in the national and regional farm press. Finally, we are both happy to report that our  breed populations both surpass the current dominant breed by a wide margin for length of productive life!

The time is ripe for North America’s dairy industry to be MUCH browner than it is today. With 7.45% of the US domestic semen market being Jersey the colour of the future is clear! We also look forward to helping Jersey associations in other countries where the breed is surging ahead, or where the breed is taking its first steps, to continue breed growth!

Russell G. Gammon Vice President for North America, World Jersey Cattle Bureau                                                       May 2006

"Think Jersey and rock on!"