How it began
The Guernsey breed took shape on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. A history written for the World Guernsey Cattle Federation by W. G. de L. Luff of the Royal Guernsey Agricultural and Horticultural Society says very little firm evidence exists about the island's cattle before the 19th century, and dismisses as unverifiable the story that monks brought the founding stock in 960. Guernsey barred cattle imports from France in 1819. A private register appeared in 1878, a herd book followed in 1881, and the society fixed the breed color as red or fawn and white in 1883.
Before it existed
Luff describes island cattle before the 19th century as a regional type and not a deliberate breed. Isigny cattle of Normandy and the Froment du Leon of Brittany may be ancestral relatives. Channel Islands cattle were sold in England under the general name Alderney, and French animals shipped through the islands to avoid duty were indistinguishable from local stock. A writer in 1815 found that no islander had yet tried selective breeding toward any particular goal.
How it works
The breed was made by closing the island to outside cattle and by agreeing on a standard. The 1819 statute stopped imports from France, and from 1877 imports from England were also restricted, mainly to keep out cattle diseases. Herd books then recorded which animals counted as pure. The milk is golden yellow because of high levels of carotene, and The Livestock Conservancy notes it carries A2 beta casein. The cows are docile, hardy and good grazers.
How it spread
Guernseys became popular in English dairies in the late 18th century, where the rich yellow milk earned the name Golden Guernsey. Animals had spread abroad earlier but were crossed with other cattle. Luff writes that the breed as known today was established only when improvement societies kept purebred herds, first on the island and soon after in America and England, where herd books date from the last quarter of the 19th century.
Where it stands today
The Livestock Conservancy lists the Guernsey on its Watch list in the United States. It reports that numbers fell as the dairy industry favored volume of milk over quality, that the breed remains strong in Britain, and that its future depends on breeders finding markets for its distinct milk.
