THE JERSEY BREED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 816, 9 November 1929, Page 29

THE JERSEY BREED

ORIGIN OBSCURE Although associated in name with the island of Jersey, the origin of the Jersey breed of cattle is lost in obscurity, but there appears good ground for the assumption that it had its rise on the adjacent coast of Brittany, states an exchange. For generations, however, Jersey has been its home, and very great care has been taken by the islanders to maintain its purity. With this object an Act was passed as early as 1763, prohibiting the importation of cattle from France; in 1789, another Act, more stringent than the first, come into force, under which any person convicted of introducing into the island any cow, heifer, calf or bull from France was subject to a fine of £2OO, and by a subsequent Act passed in 1826, with a view “to preserve the original breed from all admixture,” this fine was increased to £I,OOO. Perhaps the earliest record extant of these cattle being imported to England is that of 12 cows and heifers and two bulls, which were taken over in 1747 for the Duke of Richmond at an average cost of £4 9s per head. In 1811, 23 cows and heifers and a bull were secured for Lord Braybrooke’s herd at Audley End, at a cost of nearly £l9 each. About this time an increased amount of interest was excited in the breed. THE WOODPECKER’S LARDER Farmers are not alone in making provision for a “rainy day.” Woodpeckers in California gather acorns and place them to decay during the summer in holes pecked in telephone poles. In winter, when they cannot dig for worms, the birds go to these acorns, which have then developed worms inside them.