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Breed: Guernsey:
- The Guernsey breed was started on the Isle of
Guernsey by a group of monks about a thousand years ago!
- The monks probably brought their cattle from nearby France.
- The breed developed in isolation over the years.
- In 1840, 3 cows arrived from the Channel Islands (of which
Guernsey is one) in New York.
- In the 1860s, American farmers began importing a lot of Guernseys.
- Guernsey's also became popular in Britian; the British breed society
formed there in 1842.
- Guernseys are especially prized for their rich, golden milk
(that has a fair quantity of beta carotene in it).
- Guernsey cows can tolerate the heat well and are good grazers.
- They have a gentle disposition.
- Guernseys are brown or fawn with white spots of various sizes
(sometimes quite large) on the body and face.
- The muzzle, hoofs, and udder are not pigmented.
- The Guernsey has small, light-colored, dark-tipped horns.
- The bull's average weight is 1,700 pounds; the cow's 1,100 pounds.
Source: A Field Guide to Cows, by John Pukite,
Falcon Press, Helena, Montana, pp. 60-61.
Picture from Farming Pages (NZ).
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