Did you know American cattle breeders banded together to save a breed in World War II?

War exacts a high price. Besides the tragic loss of human life (both civilians and servicemen), a major war also ravages the economy, demolishes cities, and destroys many cultural artifacts. There’s often little one can do to protect something important, and sometimes the choice of what to protect is very personal. During World War II, American cattle breeders undertook to protect a Guernsey cattle, one of the distinctive breeds native to the Channel Islands (The Channel Islands in World War II), the only part of the British Isles to fall under German occupation.
 
The Channel Islands have a rich history of dairy production, and is the home to not one but two distinct breeds: the Jersey and the Guernsey cattle, named after the islands they’re bred on. Guernsey cattle were first introduced in America in 1840, and the American stock has increased to 12,000-15,000 heads by now.

In World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Channel Islands, and the fate of the native cow breeds became uncertain. Afraid that the local, original population of Guernsey cows might be ravaged by the war (most likely by being eaten), U.S. breeders have established the American (Island Memorial) Gift Fund and raised 22,294 $ (almost 315,000 $ today) to help Guernsey farmers rebuild their herds after the war.
 
Fortunately, the Guernsey herds survived largely unscathed, so the fund was set to another purpose: providing the Royal Guernsey Agricultural & Horticultural Society with new offices. In 1960, a plaque from the United States was put on display in St Peter Port, the capital of Guernsey, to immortalize the generosity and caring of American breeders, and to commemorate the first arrival of Guernsey Cattle in America in 1840. The plaque was later removed from the public view due to renovations to nearby buildings, but was restored in April 2015. Ten years later, it found its final home during the inauguration of the new Visitor Information Centre this April.

In a poignant twist of fate, while the Guernsey cow did not really need saving, another Channel Islands breed died out. The Alderney cow, crossbred from Jersey and Guernsey cattle on the island of Alderney, was hit hard by the war. With most of the population removed from the island, there were not enough people left to milk them, so most of the cattle were moved to Guernsey. Once there, the majority were butchered for meat when food became scarce, while the rest were absorbed into the Guernsey breed, marking an end to Alderney cattle, though their bloodline can still be traced to some American herds.
 
Join us on our Normandy-Channel Islands Tour to learn more about the German occupation of the archipelago and see some Guernsey and Jersey cows and taste the delicious ice cream made from their milk.