The Alderney is an extinct breed of

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species '' Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ...

. It originated in, and is named for, the island of Alderney in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. It was one of three breeds of

Channel Island cattle Channel Island cattle is a collective name for the breeds of cattle developed in the Channel Islands located between England and France. The breeds which can be so described are the Jersey, the Guernsey and the Alderney Alderney (; french: ...

, the others being the

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

and the Guernsey. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries "Alderney" was a general term for cattle from the archipelago; many were exported to mainland Britain under this name, regardless of which of the islands they came from.

History

Cattle are thought to have been brought to the Channel Islands during the tenth and eleventh centuries, possibly from about AD 960 when

Richard I of Normandy Richard I (28 August 932 – 20 November 996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French: ''Richard Sans-Peur''; Old Norse: ''Jarl Rikard''), was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996.Detlev Schwennicke, '' Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln ...

is believed to have sent monks from Mont-Saint-Michel to help the islanders to defend themselves against attacks by pirates. These monks are thought to have brought with them cattle of Norman or Breton type, perhaps similar to the modern Froment du Léon of Brittany; these were used principally as draught animals, but also as

. Later, when horses replaced oxen for draught work, the cattle began to be selected for milk alone. From the seventeenth century or from no later than 1724, cattle from the Channel Islands began to be exported in considerable numbers to mainland Britain. Regardless of which island they came from, these were invariably known as "Alderneys"; this may have been because Alderney, lying to the north of the other main islands, would have been the last port of call before the Channel crossing. In the mid-1770s some 900 cattle were being shipped to Britain each year under the Alderney name, about two thirds of them from the island of Jersey. The Alderney contributed to the development of a number of British breeds, principally the Ayrshire and the

South Devon South Devon is the southern part of Devon, England. Because Devon has its major population centres on its two coasts, the county is divided informally into North Devon and South Devon.For exampleNorth DevonanSouth Devonnews sites. In a narrower se ...

. It may also have influenced the

Dairy Shorthorn The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Tees-side, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Northumbria (now divided between County Durham and Northumberland) in north-eastern England. ...

(through its predecessor the Holderness), the Irish

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

and the Suffolk Dun. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

a small number of Alderneys were moved to Guernsey, where they were absorbed into the Guernsey breed.

Characteristics

The Alderney was small; its conformation was typical of a dairy breed, with a light bone structure and a somewhat deer-like appearance. The colour of the coat was variable, ranging through shades of dun, fawn, light red and yellow.

Use

The cattle of the Channel Islands were originally used principally as draught animals; later, when horses replaced oxen for draught work, the cattle were reared for milk alone. The milk was rich in

fat In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...

, and suitable for butter-making. A description from 1909 says of it "The Alderney ranks as the best butter cow in the world, whilst its abundant yield of milk, rich in cream, is phenomenal"; by 1939 the same sentence had been altered to read "The Jersey ...".

References

{{reflist, refs= 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. {{ISBN, 9781780647944. Marleen Felius (1995)
''Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia''
Doetinchem, Netherlands: Misset. {{ISBN, 9789054390176. Frank Townsend Barton (1909)
''The Stock-owners' Manual''
London: Everett & Company. Frank Townend Barton (1939)
''Cattle, Sheep and Pigs: Their Practical Breeding and Keeping''
third edition. London: Jarrolds Publishers Limited Alderney Dairy cattle breeds Extinct cattle breeds