Imported semen ‘vital to industry’
Saturday 20th February 2010, 2:59PM GMT.
Paul Houzé says that several dairy producers would have quit if the law had not been changed
THE Jersey dairy industry would not exist today if it were not for imported bull semen, a farmer claimed yesterday
Paul Houzé says that several dairy producers would have quit if the law had not been changed to allow them access to Jersey bull semen from round the world.
His comments follow criticism from farmers after it was revealed last week that non-pure Jersey bull semen had been used in the Island.
‘A number of people have said it was the wrong decision to start importing bull semen,’ Mr Houzé said. ‘But plan B was for farmers to withdraw from the industry if it had not been changed. It was that critical a decision.’
As chairman of Jersey Island Genetics, the trading arm of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society, Mr Houzé is involved in bringing in bull semen for farmers.
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“The Jersey dairy industry would not exist today” – watch this space !!!
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Am I being a bit stupid, but why can’t the farmers get pure Jersey bull semen from a bull in Jersey????
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They can’t get semen from local bulls all the time because the gene pool would be too small as all the calves would come from the same few fathers meaning that they couldn’t breed later. By importing semen greater genetic variation is added meaning that there is more breeding oppertunities for the future.
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Perhaps the new strain of super milk producing cows should be renamed Jersteins.If farmers want as their objective to merely produce more milk perhaps they should consider changing breed altogether and go for the Holsteins and forget Jerseys altogether,which were after all developed by canny farmers to produce good milk without the high input of expensive concentrates.
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John’s comment is correct. All Jersey farmers want breed purity, at the same time they must have animals with good health and vigour and this can only be achieved with a broad gene pool.
The imported bulls, over 40 of them, decend from
stock exported many decades ago from this Island.
Sadly, one bull has been found to have fallen foul of the pure bred requirement. The problem is being resolved. Newly developed Dna tech will greatly aid detection of a repeat problem prior to importation.
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So Mr Houze is involved in bringing the stuff in to the island…well that won’t have influenced his expert opinion one little bit will it…so transparent it’s pitiful….I suppose mixing Jersey Royals with Marris Pypers would be just the job if there were a few quid in it ..notice how all the bad motives are always launched under a bogus threat…well the future depends on it etc…..they were fine for 250 years…..der.
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Just a thought but did anyone see Country file on the BBC a few weekends ago about they did a report about Jersey, apparently this is not new news as it was reported in Countryfile that a certain farmer who will remain nameless but lives on the East side of the Island has already interbred Jersy Cattle with Aberdeen Angus Beef stock and have already got cross breed calves for the beef and the milk is this also allowed!!!
This is from BBC Countryfile Programme date aired Sunday 24 January 2010
Jersey cows
For 175 years Jersey has maintained the pure-breed status of its eponymous doe-eyed, caramel-coloured cows. But in September 2008 the island controversially allowed limited imports of sperm from American Jersey cows to improve the gene pool of its existing herd. This allowed one farmer to experiment by mixing Jerseys with Aberdeen Angus to produce a new breed of beef cattle. Julia comes face to face with the first calves born out of this experiment.
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