The World Jersey Cattle Bureau

The World Jersey Cattle Bureau

The World Jersey Cattle Bureau is an umbrella organisation representing Jersey breeders There are five world regions of the Bureau. Bureau members elect a president at international conferences and their national organisations around the world, founded in October 1951. Over the past few centuries, the Jersey cow has been exported from its Island home and can be found in every corner of the globe and is now the second most numerous dairy breed worldwide, with an estimated 5 million pure Jerseys and cows with a predominance of Jersey genes. The Jersey is also the only dairy breed that is growing numerically. It is the most adaptable breed and can thrive in a wide range of climates, from the freezing and wet northern hemisphere to the hot and humid weather conditions of the tropics, and also the dry and arid areas of some of the larger continents. Admired and respected for her efficiency of production and feed conversion to milk and milk products, as well as her low environmental footprint, the Jersey has been famously described as ‘the Arab of the bovine races’. Jerseys provide many tens of thousands of families around the world with a sustainable income from their farming operations. The aims of the Bureau are to: • promote the Jersey breed internationally • promote cooperation, research and education between those with an interest in the Jersey breed • provide an advisory and coordination role for Jersey breed associations (but without jurisdiction over their internal affairs) • promote improved breeding, feeding and management practices • encourage youth participation and exchange visits between member countries held every three years, and each region has a dedicated vice president, also elected by members. Over the past 70 years there have been twelve presidents of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau, including five from the Island:

Professor Albert Messervy

(1951-1954)

The Rt Hon the Earl of Jersey

(1965-1972) Anne Perchard MBE (1992-2002) Derrick Frigot MBE (2011-2018) Stephen Le Feuvre (2018-present) The Bureau organises international conferences every three years, with study tours and learning events taking place annually. This schedule has been disrupted in the past couple of years by the Covid pandemic, and all activities have had to be conducted virtually, including regular meetings of officers and a highly successful virtual Global Conference held through Jersey Australia. Autumn 2022 will see ‘normality’ resume with a trip of Jersey breeders from around the world for a two-week programme, initially coming to the Island and then on to France.

What it is and what it does, by its president, Stephen Le Feuvre

It will be great to get back to some semblance of normality. A more recent development has been the formation of regional sub-organisations or Jersey Forums. These allow the breeders from regions of the world with multiple national breed societies to get together on a regular basis. In November 2021 the inaugural virtual conference of the African Jersey Forum took place, and it attracted 953 live participants over the two days from 36 countries around the world (including 14 from Africa). This shows that, like the Jersey cow, the Bureau and its members can adapt easily to changing conditions and modern technology. The Jersey cow is thriving throughout the world, and the World Jersey Cattle Bureau continues to provide a structure and framework to allow the breed to prosper and grow. With events in the world in recent months, never before has it been more important for nations to secure their own energy and food supplies, and the Jersey cow is there ready and waiting to assist with providing a more overall sustainable food source for the planet’s rising population.