Guernsey
The Isle of Guernsey, a tiny island in the English Channel off the coast of France, is the birthplace of the Guernsey cow. About 960 A.D., besieged by buccaneeres and sea rovers, the Island came to the attention of Robert Duke of Normandy. He sent a group of militant monks to educate the natives to cultivate the soil and defend the land. The monks brought with them the best bloodlines of French cattle -- Norman Brindles, also known as Alderneys, from the province of Isigny and the famous Froment du Leon breed from Brittany -- and developed the Guernsey. Introduction of the Guernsey to America occurred around September 1840, when Captain Belair of the Schooner Pilot brought three Alderney cows to the port of New York. Later, Captain Prince imported two heifers and a bull from the Island. These animals were the original stock of a great majority of the Guernseys that make up the national Guernsey herd today.
