It has been exported to many countries of the world; in some of them, including Denmark, France, New Zealand and the United States, it has developed into an independent breed.

It apparently descended from cattle stock brought over from the nearby Norman mainland, and was first recorded as a separate breed around 1700.

At that time, the breed displayed greater variation than it does today, with white, dark brown, and mulberry beasts.

[citation needed] In 1866, at the annual general meeting of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society, H.G.

Secretary be hereby invited to open and to carry on a "herd book" in which the pedigree of bulls, cows, and heifers shall be entered for reference to all the members of the Society."

[citation needed] In July 2008 the States of Jersey took the historic step of ending the ban on imports, and allowing the import of bull semen from any breed of cattle, although only semen that is genetically pure enables the resultant progeny to be entered in the Jersey Herd Book.

Today, the RJAHS holds two shows a year, where usually five or six of the remaining 23 herds compete against each other for the top prizes.

[1]: 212  Factors contributing to the popularity of the breed have been their greater economy of production, due to: Jerseys occur in all shades of brown, from light tan to almost black.

All purebred Jerseys have a lighter band around their muzzles, a dark switch (long hair on the end of the tail), and black hooves, although in recent years, colour regulations have been relaxed to allow a broadening of the gene pool.

[1]: 213 Jersey cattle have a greater tendency towards postparturient hypocalcaemia (or "milk fever") in dams, and tend to have frail calves that require more attentive management in cold weather than other dairy breeds due to their smaller body size (which results in an increased surface area-to-mass ratio, increasing heat loss).