History

The great breakthrough towards civilization, when man discovered how to cultivate wheat and grain, and to domesticate wild animals, came about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East in the Valley of the Tigris and Euphrates and the hills of Turkey, which were then far more fertile and wooded than now. In an astonishingly short time - a matter of a few hundred years it led to village and town life, the beginnings of the sort of world we know today. It is probable, that before actual domestication, herding had been going on, with a family or tribe following one particular herd of Aurochs, relying on it for food and skins and protecting the herd as best they could from its other enemies. Soon a smaller variant of Aurochs appeared. This apparently is one of the usual effects of domestication. It was smaller in size with shorter horns, though whether this was due to a starvation diet, unhealthy conditions, selective breeding or some other aspect of domestication, we do not know. Anyhow, this small type, on account of the formation of its skull, is known as Bos Longifrons. All our European domestic breeds of cattle are thought to be derived from the Aurochs. However, as long as wild cattle still roamed the forests and domestic cattle were kept in clearings, there must obviously have been a good deal of inbreeding.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that according to papyrus records of about 2,500 BC, the Ancient Egyptians, who tried to domesticate practically every kind of animal they could find, even giraffe, used to catch and domesticate the wild cattle even though they already had quite distinct breeds of domestic types. And, incidentally, if anyone thinks that the idea of putting coats on cattle and tethering them by head chains and training horns is a purely local custom in Jersey, they can see in an Egyptian tomb of about 3,000 BC, a wall painting of exactly that scene. Just how, or when during the 10,000 years since it first appeared, the Bos longifrons type got from the Middle East to Jersey we do not know. It would seem though, that sometime in its development and passage to the West, the ancestors of the Jersey breed with its early sexual maturity, its fine bone, thin skin and tolerance to heat had been subjected to a process of selection to enable them to thrive in a hot, semi-tropical climate, so it is not unreasonable to assume that these ancestors came from the Middle East probably via North Africa and up through Spain and Morocco. There are now Jersey type cows in Egypt and Morocco. There are also in the Sahara the Tassili Frescoes of a date prior to 2,000 BC showing Bos longifrons. Most probably the people who brought this type of cattle from North Africa to Jersey were the Iberians, a small dark haired race who had been squeezed out of North Africa, had wandered across Spain and France to Normandy and Brittany and, finding Jersey uninhabited, settled there probably around 7,000 BC. We cannot tell whether or not there was a nucleus of cattle on the island when the sea cut it off from the mainland or if all were brought in later. We do of course know that cattle were still being imported up to the first half of the 19th Century. From the time of the Iberians till the Norman Conquest by William Longsword in 931 AD, Jersey had been overrun by the Gauls in 700 BC before it formed part of the Roman Empire around 56 BC. After its collapse in North-west Europe the Franks became the new masters in the 5th century AD. At the same time, Christian Celts from Britain arrived, fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invasions. During the ninth century; Jersey, the other Channel Islands and the Cotentin were plundered again and again by the Vikings on their annual raids till peace came with the Norman Conquest. It is not known what happened to cattle during periods of unrest and plundering. It is recorded that Vikings from the Loire accepted 500 brown cows as tribute from a Breton king during that time. Needless to say meat and milk were necessary for survival and somehow or other some of the cattle must have lived on to eventually form new herds.

It was in the interest of the new Norman rulers, who turned out to be remarkably enlightened, to encourage agriculture as the basis of a prosperous community and economy, and this they did. During the Middle Ages each small farm kept pigs for meat, a cow or two for milk and butter and a yoke of oxen to draw a cart and help with ploughing. Over the ensuing centuries the true wealth of the islanders depended on farming, fishing and their exports to England and elsewhere. These included pickled eels, oysters, knitted garments, cider apples, cod fish from Newfoundland and more recently early potatoes, tomatoes and flowers. But the export for which the Island has been renowned all over the world is of course the Jersey Cow.

It is known that animals from Jersey were being exported in increasing numbers as early as the 1700s - emigrants from Jersey took cows with them to provide milk on board. Recently on the homepage of the Poingdestre family on the Internet, it reads that George Poingdestre took some Jersey cows with him to the USA in 1657. Jerseys (or Alderneys as they were more often called) were very popular to have on board by some sea-captains, especially on long voyages. Once the destination had been reached the poor creatures were quite often cast overboard to swim ashore. What thanks! Also, at this time, the numbers of English visitors coming to Jersey on holidays were increasing and some of these were very attracted to this small docile cow with the very rich milk. There were increasing demands for extra livestock in England as well, encouraging exports after the dreadful endemic cattle plague of rindepeste had once again taken its toll. It was the beginning of a prosperous time for agriculturists.

During the second half of the 1700s as well as trade between the islands, many cattle from Normandy were shipped into Jersey to be sold on to English markets after being pastured in the island for a few months. Being sold on as Alderney cattle on the mainland, they escaped the excise duty imposed by the English Government on cattle from foreign countries. The French economy was in a bad way and this loophole helped financially; again, a lucrative trade for the farmers involved in it. People in England complained as the markets became glutted with these animals. In 1763, pressure was put on the States to stop this illegal trade. It banned the importation of live cattle, sheep and goats from Normandy into Jersey and imposed heavy fines. However, farmers did not observe the law - it had to be renewed in 1789 -26 years later- "the fraudulent importation of cattle from France having become a most alarming matter". A severe fine, forfeiture of the boat, the slaughter of the beast with the meat to be distributed to the poor were the penalties. This time the legislation was more effective, although a traveller’s guide written by William Gerard Walmesley in 1812 states that on the 1st of August, he and his companion visited Rozel harbour "situated at the foot of mountainous ground which is much frequented by French boats that run over from the opposite coast with cattle, etc." along with a drawing of the Military Barracks and the French boats which had just arrived with cattle. It needed more acts passed in 1826, 1864 and 1878 to finally put a stop to this trade which then meant that even cattle that were sent over to the English shows were not allowed to return and the trade of live animals between Guernsey, Alderney and Jersey prohibited. This law proved to have many benefits to the breed on the island. It served to isolate it from the ravages of the deadly cattle plague rindepeste, which had been endemic in Europe for centuries and flared up from time to time. As late as 1865 over a third of a million cattle had been affected in the UK alone and because of its import restrictions Jersey remained unaffected. But now most important of all, was the ability for the breed to develop its purity and strengths.

At this time all Channel Island breeds shipped to the mainland were called Alderneys - possibly because the last port of call for ships sailing from the islands was Alderney - the ships themselves were also called Alderney Paquets. As early as the 1820s wealthy landowners in different places around the world began to discuss the advantages of the Alderney breed - King Wilhelm of Wurtemberg bought some cows in 1824 from the Duke of Bedford and exhibited them in Stuttgart in 1827.The first Secretary of State in the USA, Timothy Pickering of Salem, Mass became interested in the breed during the 1820s. He wrote several letters about the improvement of the Alderney in Massachusetts. These are now in the archives of the Massachusetts. History Society.