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Story: Dairying and dairy products

Jersey cow

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Jersey cow

New Zealand’s first pedigree Jerseys were two cows and a bull brought to Whanganui by Thomas Syers in 1862. Smaller than Friesian-Holsteins, Jerseys soon became popular. Taranaki was the first Jersey province in the country, in the early 1900s.

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Jersey New Zealand

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How to cite this page

Hugh Stringleman and Frank Scrimgeour, Dairying and dairy products – Dairy cattle breeds, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/15705/jersey-cow (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Hugh Stringleman and Frank Scrimgeour, published 1 March 2009.