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New Zealand
New Zealand has the largest population of Jerseys in the world with some 800,000 Jerseys of all ages. At June 2005
there are 580,000 milking Jersey cows in the national herd of 3.9 million milking cows (15%). In addition there is
another 1.1 million Jersey cross milking cows, some 28% of the national herd. Approximately 130 young Jersey bulls
are progeny tested each year.
Over 360,000 Jerseys are performance tested each year for production and 25,000 assessed for traits other than
production. The registered Jersey subset comprises 70,000 cows that are current in the national herd and performance
tested for production.
The New Zealand dairy industry is one of the lowest cost producers of high quality milk in the world and is a major
exporter of dairy products. Pasture based production systems are used in conjunction with seasonal calving.
The New Zealand animal evaluation system ranks cows and bulls for the net profit made from a unit of feed and is
called Breeding Worth (BW) – an economic index. A cross section of traits affecting production and costs are used in
the BW evaluations. Production traits include milkfat, protein and the costs associated with milk volume for our
predominantly manufacturing industry. The net cost of maintenance measured via liveweight (after allowance for
beef returns) is also included as are many functional traits including longevity (which incorporates udder and
conformation traits), somatic cells and fertility.
Breed averages for BW rank Jerseys ahead of the other breeds and crosses. Farm trials have shown that in grazing
systems New Zealand Jerseys are about 5% more profitable than Holstein Friesians. New Zealand is an exporter of
Jersey cattle, semen and embryos.
JERSEY
NEW ZEALAND
Newstead, R D 4, Hamilton, New Zealand
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