The first registered cow in Uruguay was recorded on September 28, 1910 in the Herd Book of the Asociación Rural del Uruguay. The cow was imported from England by Mr Frederico R. Vidiella, her name was “Welcome”, and she was a daughter of Pollux Prince and out of Carlo’s Welcome 2. “Welcome” was part of an importation of 13 females and two bulls at that time. There followed several importations from England in 1928 and 1931, and from Canada in 1943. In recent times, several importations from Canada and the USA have boosted the Uruguayan Jersey herd.

The Jersey breed association, Sociedad de Criadores de Jersey del Uruguay was founded on August 15, 1963, and its first President was Dr., Pablo Yamandu Valdez. Today, the association has approximately sixty members, and they registered between 400 and 500 heifers in the Herd Book annually. In 2001, over 6,000 units of Jersey semen was imported to Uruguay.

Economics determine the amount of unregistered Jerseys which number ten to fifteen times as many as registered ones, although the quality is similar, whether registered or not, as the unregistered cattle originate from pure-bred Jerseys, and are not crossbreds.

Uruguay’s weather allows the cattle to graze pasture all year round, with low concentrate usage, perhaps two to four kilos per cow per day. Production per cow annually is in the range of 4,000-4,500 kgs milk on well-managed operations. The best cows produce 6,000 kgs milk with 5% fat and 3.8% protein. Milk is paid by fat plus protein less a deduction per litre. The protein to fat ratio is 2.6 to 1.

SOCIEDAD CRIADORES DE JERSEY DEL URUGUAY
Gremial de la Asociacion Rural del Uruguay
Av.Uruguay 864, 11.100 Montevideo, Uruguay

President: Robert Yorio
Vice President: Alvaro Carli
Secretary: Fernando Duran

Tel: +598 2 92 04 84/86
Fax: +598 2 92 04 89