Rare Breeds Mini Jersey:Part 2 - The History Behind this Amazing Bloodline

If you’ve made it this far in my blog posts let me first stop and say THANK YOU!!!  Thank you for reading my thoughts and the information I have found useful.  Thank you for reading my stories and devotionals.  I truly hope you are finding them to be helpful or inspirational and maybe even getting a few laughs here and there! 

If you haven’t read Rare Breeds Mini Jersey Part 1, let me encourage you to pause, take a minute, and read that one before you start reading this one.  There is so much to this story and some of the things I may say in this blog might not make sense if you haven’t read that one first. 

Let me start by saying I honestly have no idea where to start!  (Ha!)  So, I guess I’m just gonna start typing and give this a go and hope it makes sense! 

Mrs. Maureen (who you read about in Part 1) started this beautiful bloodline.  That is why we have been able to trace the heritage of our beautiful Rare Breeds mini jerseys back as far as 7, 8 or even more than 10 generations in some parts of their lineage. 

Side note!  (This is when my brain chases a rabbit and goes way off track but it’s a good time to stop and say this . . . )  Since I’m talking about heritage, let me pause for a minute and talk about breed registration.  In my opinion (and remember, this is just my opinion) breed registration has a very valid purpose.  There are lots of people who “don’t care” if their animal is registered or not because they don’t see the value in it, but there is a very valid reason!  And it’s totally ok whichever way you feel – we all have our reasons, or no reason!  For me though, personally, it’s not about purity but about understanding and knowing what the history is of any given bovine that I plan to use in my program for our farm.  I think registries are a valid and very useful tool for that singular purpose if for nothing else.  And that’s all they should be – a tool for farmers to use in their whole bag of tricks in making personal decisions for their farm.  And that purpose in this particular bag would be to trace your cows/bulls/heifers family trees, much as we do our own families, so we can study it and know what we might can expect in future generations and breed for certain qualities, whatever qualities for which we are looking, and then pass that knowledge and information along to the next owner.  I love breed registries for this purpose and this purpose alone.  Factual knowledge and knowing from the breeders and owners that came before us that were there during those generations, so we don’t have questions about “I wonder . . . “ removing the guesswork on our parts.  Instead, a registry is an awesome way to work on our bovine projects, track what we did, and pass that information on to future generations of owners and breeders so they can take what we did and continue it on or take it in a different direction. 

Ok now that we have that understanding out of the way, you can understand one of the many reasons why I have loved so much that I now have this gorgeous Rare Breeds herd and bloodline!  Mrs. Maureen was able to show me not only registrations, but handwritten records and even more going way back from her knowledge and experience to the foundations of mini jerseys and where it all began.  That has been amazing.  I have no doubts or questions as to the information that was passed on to me after the firsthand accounts and experience passed on to me from someone who was there all those years ago at the very beginning of the “mini jersey movement”.  All of that information has proved to be invaluable to me in making decisions for our farm. 

Now, with all that said, let’s talk about the Rare Breeds Bloodline specifically.  Generations back, a Holstein was introduced into the mini jersey bloodline for several reasons.  (Remember before when I said the great part about registrations is that it lets us track this stuff and have a great understanding about certain decisions made and ones we can make moving forward?  This is a great example of that.) Color for one (gosh these are gorgeous calves) and heterosis (more on that in a moment).  After the original introduction of the Holstein bloodlines, the breeding was then continued back with the mini jersey bloodlines to give us what we have today.  Our bull, Justify, is a great case to look at.  Justify is 87.5% mini jersey and 12.5% Holstein.  How do I know this?  I used all of the records available from lots and lots of generations back and did the math.  Some of the “unknowns” that appear in his registration we were able to obtain the written documentation and prior registrations to show when a jersey sire or dam was used.  As such, any offspring from Justify, if bred to a 100% mini jersey would contain 6.25% Holstein.  Just enough to hold on to that vigor of introducing something new into the bloodlines and to hold on to the gorgeous color that has become so beloved in our Rare Breeds bloodlines.  At this point, all of our calves in this line will be at least 85% up to 93.75% mini jersey depending on which cow/bull pairing we’re looking at.  In Justify’s lineage, you will see awesome bulls whose names you will often recognize like Hesters Henry from 2006, Riverview Bobby from 1994 and even Dwight from 1984.  I value the information presented to understand where his small size, awesome frame and stature came from.  The Holstein in Justify’s bloodline was introduced by Mrs. Maureen through Rare Breeds Hope prior to the year 2000.  Rare Breeds Hope was bred to Captain Morgan, giving birth to Rare Breeds Charity who gave birth to Rare Breeds South Heart who eventually sired Justify.  Justify held on to the color genetics and has since thrown some the most beautiful painted mini jersey calves we’ve seen!  His temperament is amazing, his Dam’s udder was stellar, and she was a high producer.  We often choose to use Justify when we have a specific goal in mind.  These goals would include things like improving udder quality, breeding for color, temperament, and most of all he is awesome at bringing downsize in a taller mini we’d like to get a little smaller.  More on our bulls and why we choose to use each one will be another topic for a blog at a later date because that is a blog all on its own!! 

So back to that big word I hadn’t heard before I owned a bovine . . . “heterosis”.  So, what does that mean exactly?  The definition of heterosis is the tendency of a crossbred individual to show qualities superior to those of both parents.  What does that mean?  Well, when you take two different breeds and let them have a baby, that baby keeps the best of what each bloodline has to offer.  It is important to remember that in the mini jersey world we are looking at a pretty small pool in the grand scheme of things.  If we don’t introduce “new blood” so to speak, eventually, we will have nothing but a whole bunch of critters that are all really closely related and share too many of the same ancestors.  It’s kind of like going to a family reunion to look for your future spouse.  Why not branch out a little and look for some qualities you want to see in your future herd?  Is there something to be said for breed purity?  Absolutely.  I’ll never discount that.  But equally so, there is something to be said for crossing outside of the lines and doing something to introduce new blood and increase the pool.  I have been so extremely pleased with the outcome of how far Mrs. Maureen brought the program.  Also so glad I could pick it up where she left off and keep it going without having to put in all the years of leg work to get it this far.  We absolutely felt like that put us years ahead. 

Well guys, that’s the story of how this gorgeous bloodline came to be!  I hope you have enjoyed learning about their history (and they are so steeped in the history of this breed).  Always keep in mind that mini jerseys weren’t born mini in the beginning.  The founders of these wonderful animals had to start somewhere to bring down the size of them.  The question then becomes exactly where did they start and what did they outsource to get to where they are now?  I feel fortunate to be able to trace this particular line back as far as we have been able to and to see the complete picture.  Will these be the only mini jerseys we have?  Absolutely not.  But we love what it has produced so much that we have collected semen from Justify so we can continue it on long after he has gone and be able to offer those genetics to other farms that would like to do the same. 

Blessings to you all!  And just remember – do what is best for your farm!  Gather all the information you can and make your goals based on your needs!  We’re all a unique “Rare Breed” in our own right.