Jack Le Sueur (91), of Clairvale Farm, St Saviour, believes that the move would destroy the purity of the breed which has stood for generations and result in a very different looking Jersey cow.’There is no change that needs to be made,’ he said.
‘There is an abundance of stored semen, and we won’t lose our bloodlines.’Referring to an unsuccessful attempt to introduce bull semen into the Island in 1983, Mr Le Sueur continued: ‘The door has been closed once on the idea of importing semen – why should we reopen it now? Jersey is the foundation stone of the breed worldwide.
At the moment its purity is assured.
But if we relax the laws on keeping the herd closed, we will end up with a Heinz 57-type animal.’He agreed that there was no great export market for pure Island herd semen, but said: ‘There’s no market for milk either.
What a shame, that with one stroke of the pen, we could lose our unique inheritance.
The Island seems to be in enough mess at the moment, without jettisoning the value of our Island cattle breed as well.’
