The Jersey cow in temps passé

Jersey’s rural and farming heritage

RURAL Magazine salutes Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Royal Patron of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society, in the year of her Platinum Jubilee

In a Royal Visit to the Island in 1957 (left hand page), Her Majesty is pictured enjoying a conversation with Clifford Pallot, who is handling his champion cow, Seer’s Bouquet.

The RJA&HS president, Jurat

Francis Le Boutillier, looks on.

This iconic show cow was Supreme Champion over Jersey at the Island Spring Show of 1957 and again in May 1959 and went on to win many prizes at Island shows.

The man in the handler’s coat seen behind Her Majesty is Wilfie de Gruchy, who farmed at the top of Mont Cochon.

The pictures in this section were mostly taken by the Evening Post. *The pictures marked with an asterisk are reproduced here courtesy of the JEP and the Jersey Evening Post Collection at Jersey Archive. Otherwise, ownership of these images is retained by the RJA&HS.

The picture (below) was taken during the visit of the Queen and Prince Philip to Jersey on Tuesday 27 June 1978.

At a country show at Le Petit Catelet Farm, St John, the Queen was presented with £1,000-worth of champion six-year-old cow Ansom Designette, previously a winner at the St Martin and Trinity Show. She is shown receiving a pat on the head from the then RJA&HS president, William (‘Bill’) Perchard and a smile from Her Majesty.

Also pictured handling the cow is its breeder, Anne Perchard, Bill’s sister-in-law, owner of the Ansom Herd from La Ferme, St Martin. Mrs Perchard in future years became the president of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau and received the MBE in 2001 for her service to the Jersey breed worldwide.

‘I am quite sure that there has probably never been a person born in this little Island that has been better known and respected in so many countries around the world as Anne’ - Derrick Frigot MBE, then president of the WJCB and now its Life Patron, speaking at Mrs Perchard funeral in 2013.

Also in the picture (directly behind Mr Perchard’s hand), taking photographs on his camera, is Mrs Perchard’s son, Robert, who is now the president of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society. His brother, Philip, is pictured in a white handler’s coat on the far right of the picture.

Information for the captions was obtained with the kind help of Derrick Frigot MBE, author of three invaluable works on the Jersey breed and Jersey's farming history.

The kind assistance of the JEP, Jersey Heritage, the Jersey Archive, the RJA&HS and Mr Frigot is gratefully acknowledged.

The Island Summer Show of 1931 - these summer shows were two-day events, which included horse competitions and military pageants

1921 - His Majesty King George V visited Jersey with Queen Mary. He was presented with a fine specimen of the breed, the two-year-old La Sente's Miss Bronzemine, bred by Philip J Bree of Grouville. The King is shown being presented the cow by the RJA&HS president, Rev Canon George P Balleine, Rector of St Saviour

Herd book exam in progress at Carrefour Selous, St Lawrence, c.1954

Pictured is Oaklands, St Saviour, home of renowned breeder John A Perrée, some time in the 1920s – 1930s. John Perrée was known internationally as a Jersey cattle breeder and exporter to the USA, Australia, New

Zealand, Canada and England. He had the largest and most influential stud of bulls in the Island, representing a variety of bloodlines. His breeding was highly influential across the Jersey world.

Farmers from all over the Island took their cows to Oaklands for servicing, and it was common for a dozen or more to be lined up awaiting their turn.

The whole business was highly regulated. It was the influence of these stud farms and their breeders/owners that the Jersey breed was developed. This was well before artificial insemination was used commercially across the world and it was to great advantage for Island breeders to have access to every bull in Jersey. The cost of a service was between five shillings for young sires to £2 for popular, proven sires.

After working initially in Canada, he returned to Jersey in 1896 and bought Oaklands.

For 20 years he was honorary secretary of the Jersey Herd Book and then successively vice-president and then president of the RJA&HS from 1932 to 1938; he was also a prominent States Member.

John Perrée died in 1954. His home is now the residential home, Oaklands Manor, near Victoria Village.

In the picture can be seen nine bulls and the same number of farm hands; there is a glimpse of the Oaklands house in the right, to the rear of the picture.

More old photos can be viewed on the RURAL website: www.ruraljersey.co.uk/news