New dairy herd arrives in Sark

The dairy cows in Sark must be of the Guernsey breed by law

Sark's long-awaited new dairy herd has arrived in the island.

The search for a farmer to take over a new dairy started in 2018, after the Channel Island's existing business closed.

Jason Salisbury and his wife Katherine agreed to take over the new dairy in October 2019.

The couple moved over from their Suffolk farm and cheese-making business earlier this year, and 15 cows have now been transported from Guernsey.

Jason Salisbury and his wife Catherine moved to Sark from Suffolk earlier this year to take over the new dairy

Mr Salisbury described the arrival of the new herd as a "momentous occasion".

"It's quite emotional really, it's quite exciting that three years down the line of this project being started off that my cows are now on the island", he said.

The cattle were transported on Sark's cargo boat on Wednesday morning

They were lifted off the ferry by crane before being taken to their new fields

The cattle, which must be the Guernsey breed by law, were transported on the island's cargo boat on Wednesday morning.

Mr Salisbury explained the dairy herd had been acquired from a woman on Guernsey, and consisted of 11 milking cows and four calves.

He said the "beautiful" Sark grass would help make sure the herd were well fed: "There's fabulous clovers in them, wild flowers and those flavours will come through in the milk."

The first milking will take place in the new milking pens on Wednesday evening

Mr Salisbury said the first milking of the herd would take place on Wednesday evening in the newly-built dairy.

"I think it's lovely that we'll be able to get people, especially visitors, coming where they want something before they go out in the evening."

The construction of the new dairy began in August 2020 and was recently completed