Fertility in Guernseys in the UK

Digby Gribble — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 06:26:12 +0000

The EGCS Council considered the inclusion of Fertility Indexes into the GMI and after looking at the proofs of those bulls that were positive for the Fertility by more than +7 as opposed to those that were negative by more than -7 ( there were only 14 bulls in each group), with the vast majority (more than 800 bulls) falling between these two extremes.

Each point of Fertility Index represents half a day loss in calving interval. Having looked at the overall proofs of the positive group of bulls as compared to the overall proofs of the negative group of bulls, EGCS Council concluded that to include the Fertility Index with the weighting as suggested by Dr Bichard and his advisers would distort the GMI to too great a degree and thus agreed that as at present the Fertility Index should continue to be published but not included in the GMI.

Chris Watson and Dr Bichard are now seeking to subvert that decision and have circulated a questionnaire that is typically simplistic and only tells half the story asking for the memberships view, they quote figures for Calving Interval of 427 days for Guernseys and often cite the Jersey ( 412 days) as a comparison and yet figures published by CDI recently show Guernseys in Wales as having a CI of 405 days compared with Welsh Jerseys at 423 days and Scottish Jerseys of 427 days, should I conclude from that that Jerseys don’t like the wet and the cold!

What really annoys me about the Fertility Indexes is that they are only published for Proven bulls (based on their daughter records) but ignore the contribution completely of the female family, if we are concerned about “loss” of fertility then let us select our young bulls from long lived regular breeding cows such as the Elinors at Beechgrove ( Ezekiel & Ezra) or the Rosebuds at Skeel (Norman)

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Gold Medals for Guernsey Cheese.

Digby Gribble — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:51:59 +0000

Two Hoots Dairy in Berkshire run by Sandy Rose has won two Gold Medals at this years British Cheese Awards with her Barkham Blue Cheese, for the Best Blue Cheese and the Best English Cheese. Sandy Rose is a relation of Anne Wigmore who has been using Guernsey milk to make Waterloo and Wellington cheeses. These were first developed when the Stratsfield Saye Estate had two herds of Guernseys, but despite the change of policy on the Estate which saw the cows sold,Guernsey milk is still purchased for the Cheese. Both Waterloo and Barkham Blue are in demand in some of the top restaurants and Barkham Blue has recently been exported to Japan. Congratulations to both ladies.

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Fertility in Guernseys in the UK

Gold Medals for Guernsey Cheese.