The Danish Jersey or is a modern Danish breed of dairy cattle. It derives from Jersey stock from the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands, of which approximately 5200 head were imported to Denmark between about 1896 and 1909. It is the most numerous population of Jersey cattle in Europe and constitutes approximately 13% of the Danish dairy herd.
History
The Danish Jersey derives from Jersey stock from the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands, of which approximately 5200 head were imported to Denmark between about 1896 and 1909. At first the cattle were bred principally on the island of Fünen. A breed society – the – was formed in 1902, and a herd-book started in 1911, in 1918 or in 1925.
In the twenty-first century approximately one third of its genome is attributable to the American Jersey, bulls of which were first imported in the 1960s and have since come to be extensively used. For calves born in the five years from 1999 to 2003, approximately of genetic inheritance was from American bulls. In the 1980s there also some introgression from the New Zealand Jersey.
Characteristics
The Danish Jersey is larger and heavier than the original Channel Island stock: body weights vary from about for cows and for bulls; the height at the withers usually falls between for cows and for bulls. Coat colours are similar to those of the original island breed: usually fawn or grey in various shades, but highly variable. Both solid-coloured and broken-coloured coats occur; the head, shoulders and hips are commonly darker than the rest of the body. The skin, tail switch and tongue are often pigmented (black).
Use
The Danish Jersey is a dairy breed, reared principally for its milk, which has a high content of both butter-fat and milk protein. The average milk yield per lactation recorded in 2023 for of the cows was , of which was butter-fat and was protein.
References Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
I. Tapio, S. Värv, J. Bennewitz, J. Maleviciute, E. Fimland, Z. Grislis, T. H. E. Meuwissen, I. Miceikiene, I. Olsaker, H. Viinalass, J. Vilkki, J. Kantanen (2006). Prioritization for Conservation of Northern European Cattle Breeds Based on Analysis of Microsatellite Data. Conservation Biology. 20 (6): 1768–1779. .
Breed Data Sheet: Dansk Jersey / Denmark (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2026.
Detlef L. Simon, Doris Buchenauer (1993). Results of Monitoring animal genetic resources by the EAAP Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources, e-book 2025. Leiden: Brill. .
Marleen Felius (2025). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Leiden: Brill. .
Danish Cattle Breeds. North European Cattle Diversity. Kaunas: Lietuvos Veterinarijos Akademija. Archived 18 June 2007.
Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties (sixth edition). Wallingford; Boston: CABI. .
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