The World Jersey Cattle Bureau has agreed to host its annual conference in Australia for the first time since 2011.
The conference will start April 6 and finish at the Royal Sydney Show Jersey judging on April 21.
A preliminary itinerary has been developed and will take visitors through Victoria and the NSW south coast, starting at the Gippsland Jersey Autumn Fair and visiting western Victoria before moving to northern Victoria where the Dairy’s Finest sale will be part of the program.
The delegation will then continue to Bega and along the south coast to Sydney.
Up to 100 people from across the globe — including Europe, North America, New Zealand and Asia — are expected to join Jersey farmers on the tour.
The conference was last held here in 2011 when Australia stepped in after the tsunami hit original host Japan.
It had been planned to return to Australia in 2021 but was deferred because of COVID-19.
This year the conference is in Denmark and it was held in Guatemala in 2023 and virtually from Rwanda in 2022.
One of the highlights of the Australian program will be a Future Leaders Forum with Jersey organisations around the world being invited to sponsor a potential future leader to attend.
Jersey Australia general manager Glen Barrett said hosting the conference would build on the international marketing done in recent years to promote Australian Jerseys.
“Part of our reason for applying to host this event is to capitalise on the global marketing we have been doing in recent years,” Mr Barrett said.
“We see this as a celebration of Australian Jerseys, with a strong focus on Australian cow families and sires.
“The visitors will see some great Jerseys along the journey.”
Jersey Australia has led a joint trade site at World Dairy Expo at Madison in Wisconsin, in the United States, for the past two years which has led to improved international product recognition and sales.
“There is growing interest in the export market,” Mr Barrett said.
“We had our first shipment of heifers to Indonesia last year, more heifers are about to be shipped to Pakistan, the Chinese market is growing again and there is a shipment being prepared to go to the UAE.
“There is certainly a growing market for Australian Jersey heifers and Australian genetics.”
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 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.
“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 committee is being formed to support the conference tour planning.
11°C