32 The Guernsey Breed 



'Froment du Leon,' and gives a good supply of rich milk, often from 

 60 to 70 pounds daily in its own native land. 



"This second ancestor of the Guernsey is made obvious by the 

 brindle cattle which, by atavism or reversion, often appear in the 

 Guernsey breed, and also by the black-nosed cows which often are 

 met with in the island. These brindle markings and the black nose 

 come, no doubt, from the Norman brindle. Besides, only a few years 

 back brindle cattle were quite common in the island and had a very 

 good name as milkers. 



"By selection, since foreign cattle are no more admitted in the 

 island, the brindle marks have almost disappeared, or have a great 

 tendency to do so, as has also the black nose. 



"Now, the crossing of the two breeds, the small 'Froment du 

 Leon' and the bulky Norman brindle, has given the medium-size cow 

 of Guernsey, in which there seems to be more blood of the first 

 than of the other. 



Introduction of the Breeds into the Island of Guernsey. 



"3. — ^But when were animals of this breed taken to Guernsey, 

 where resulted the cross? This is the very point on which no record 

 is to be found, yet no stone has been left unturned in the effort to 

 discover some facts of the introduction and crossing. Consequently, 

 the observer and student are left to themselves in a labyrinth of con- 

 jecture, from which they must find a way out by their own re- 

 searches, and draw their own conclusions, at least until some one 

 is fortunate enough to discover something upon which he can build 

 a sure and undeniable proof of the date of the foundation of the 

 excellent and unsurpassed Guernsey breed, the producer of the richest 

 and best butter in the world. 



"According to the Norman chronicles, the Duke of Normandy 

 sent some monks of 'Mont St. Michel' to found a new abbey in 

 Guernsey, which new abbey took the name of 'St. Michel du Val.' 

 It was about the year 960. Some years after, Duke William of 

 Normandy gave the monks new lands in the island on the condition 

 that they would till the soil, teach the art of agriculture to the natives, 

 and defend them against the possible encroachments of sea rovers. 

 The extent of their lands included the four parishes known today as 

 'Vale,' 'Catel,' 'St. Saviour's,' and 'St. Peter in the Woods.' To culti- 

 vate so much land efficiently they had to import animals from the 

 continent as draught beasts and also to supply products directly 

 for their living, their diet consisting mainly of milk, butter and cheese. 

 It IS very probable that there were no cattle, or only a few head, 

 as the natives were few in number and very poor, many having been 

 slaughtered or driven into slavery in the previous centuries, and 

 that for resisting sea pirates. 



"Now, nearly all the founders of the abbey 'St. Michel du Val' 

 were Bretons, and it is, therefore, most natural they should import 

 cattle from their own country. Besides, they were the only body able 

 then to miport animals to the island, the natives being too poor and 

 having no taste for breeding, as they were all fishermen 



"Some years afterward, about 1061, other monks came from 

 'Cherbourg. They established two new abbeys, one on Alderney and 

 one at 'Blancheland,' in Guernsey. These new colonists after settling 

 brought over Norman cattle of the brindle variety for these settlers 

 were Normans. The cattle they broug;ht over were in the course of 



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