Australian jerseys cows will be showcased to a global audience next year with the 2025 World Jersey Conference being launched in the United States in October.
The World Jersey Cattle Bureau opened the conference at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, with up to 100 farmers from across the globe expected to make the trip Down Under in April 2025.
The conference is already generating strong interest with more than 2000 views of the launch video in the first few hours.
Australia will be hosting the conference for the first time since 2011. It will start in Melbourne on April 6 and finish at the Royal Sydney Show Jersey judging on April 21.
International guests from Europe, North America, South America, New Zealand and Asia are expected to join local Jersey farmers on the tour.
Speaking at the World Dairy Expo, Jersey Australia general manager Glen Barrett said hosting the tour was a great opportunity to showcase the Australian Jersey cow and build on strong global marketing over the past three years, including a site at the World Dairy Expo.
“The campaign has had a very positive impact and we have seen that interest in our jerseys at World Dairy Expo this year, including a number of animals in the ring and in Jersey sales sired by Australian bulls,” Mr Barrett said.
“It’s important to capitalise on that work and bring global breeders to Australia and show the strength of our Jerseys and our local industry.”
An itinerary has been developed and will take visitors through Victoria’s dairy regions and the NSW south coast, including the Central Gippsland Jersey Autumn Fair.
“They will visit some of our premier herds, including Master Breeder herds and the number one Jersey merit herd, along with some newer herds who will be showcased for the first time,” Mr Barrett said.
“This as a celebration of Australian Jerseys, with a strong focus on Australian cow families and sires.”
The conference was last held here in 2011 when Australia stepped in after a tsunami hit original host Japan. It was meant to return to Australia in 2021 but was deferred because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year the conference is in Denmark and it was held in Guatemala in 2023 and in Kenya and Rwanda in 2022.
Domestically, Jersey numbers have been increasing year-on-year and Jerseys now account for more than 15 per cent of the national herd, up from 10.5 per cent 15 years ago.
Mr Barrett predicted that interest in local Jerseys would spike after the conference.
“Bringing international Jersey breeders here to see first-hand the high-quality cattle we’re breeding from high-quality Australian bulls will definitely benefit our local industry,” he said.
“The conference rotates around the world and we think we have the best Jersey cows in the world, so we wanted to showcase them.
“There is certainly a growing market for Australian Jersey heifers and Australian genetics and this will be a great opportunity for Australian businesses to support the event and promote their Jersey genetics and products to the world.”
The World Jersey Cattle Bureau represents Jersey breeders, and their organisations, around the world. There are five world regions of the bureau — Africa, Asia/Oceana, Europe, Latin America and North America.
World conferences have been held since 1949.
A local committee is being formed to support the conference tour planning.