Farmers visit the home of the Guernsey

The group, made up of farmers from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand

and the UK, had attended the World

Guernsey Cattle Federation conference in Salisbury before taking the trip to the Bailiwick.

It is only held once every four years.

‘Each country updates each other on the status of their cows, looking at genetics, consumer trends and it’s also a good opportunity to meet other farmers,’ said WGCF secretary Courtney Walker, who is an Australian farmer.

‘The docility of the Guernsey cow is just fabulous, it’s a great grazing animal and suits a lot of different situations. There’s Guernsey cows in around 20 countries, including Kenya.’

The 17th conference took place on Thursday, with the tour landing in Guernsey on Saturday, hosted by the Royal Guernsey Agricultural & Horticultural Society.

As part of a five-day stay in the island, the group visited the cows at La Petite Croute Farm in the Castel where they were able to discuss how to improve their herds by getting a better insight into the home of the breed.

New Zealand farmer Tim Edwards said the milk of the Guernsey cow milk sets his farm apart from others.

‘It’s a unique product that we’re very fond of back home, we get paid by the component and not by litreage, and the Guernsey cows have very good components,’ he said.

Victoria Baker’s Maple Bottom Farm is based in Pennsylvania. She maintains a herd of 25 Guernseys.

She also said that the composition of its milk was strong.

‘Guernsey cows are a lot easier to work with because they’re calmer animals. We do processing for milk, cheese and ice cream. The components are great and it’s a niche market,’ she said.

There are about 23,000 Guernsey cows across the world with the majority being located in America and New Zealand.

Currently, the home breed’s semen is only allowed to be exported to the UK, something which the RGAHS is aiming to change, to help to expand the breed.