Rebuilding Jersey herd will take seven years, farmer says

Farmer Charlie Le Boutillier said it quickly became clear there was a serious problem in December

Losing more than 100 cows last year was "horrendously traumatic", a farmer has said.

The cattle at Woodlands Farm in Jersey fell ill and died over the course of a few days in December 2022.

A two-month investigation found the animals "most likely" died from botulism.

Farmer Charlie Le Boutillier said it would take seven years to rebuild the herd due to a ban on foreign cattle imports and breeding time.

Mr Le Boutillier said the farm lost 132 cows which was more than half the herd

Standing in a field with cows donated by King Charles III since the loss, Mr Le Boutillier recalled what happened in December.

"We woke up at 5am to start milking. It became quickly apparent we had a serious problem," Mr Le Boutillier said.

"You go into overdrive. It spread very quickly and we called the vets.

"We lost the last cow on Christmas Day. We didn't know when it was going to end."

Mr Le Boutillier said the dairy community rallied to help them.

"We had 40 people here around the clock for those seven days. It was unbelievable," he said.

"Our guys spend more time with the cows than they do with their families. They have their own names and personalities.

"To watch them struggling like that.. it was a horrendously traumatic experience that is going to be imprinted on our brains for the rest of our lives."

Donation from king

The farmer said they lost 132 cows - more than half the herd.

He said rebuilding the herd was going to be challenging as there was a ban on importing foreign cattle to Jersey and the time it takes to breed.

"We're going to experience this for the next seven years," Mr Le Boutillier said.

"The ban on importation of animals will obviously make the recovery longer. That's something which protects our cow families and this very unique animal we have on the island and our health status here.

"But the ban makes the recovery longer. We have sourced some animals locally but they will take a little while to calve-in."

King Charles III donated a group of seven heifers to Woodlands Farm that were originally destined for the UK.

He also expressed his condolences to Woodlands Farm in a letter.

"It was an amazing gesture that me and my wife are immensely grateful for," Mr Le Boutillier said.

"It was heart-warming and it will never leave me and my team."

Mr Le Boutillier said the financial impact of losing the cows has been massive

Phil Le Maistre, chair of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board, said the dairy community had rallied after losing 5% of the island's herd during that period.

"I've been a dairy farmer for 40 years and never seen anything like it. It's extremely rare.

"It's a serious thing and there's been a lot of work trying to get to the bottom of what happened.

"There's no one thing which is the answer to this which is what makes it so challenging. We've all got to try to learn from what's happened."

Mr Le Boutillier said the financial impact of losing more than half of the herd had been massive.

"We are in conversation with numerous parties trying to resolve the financial side of it. None of these things are simple and they take a long time," he said.

"This is one of those freak occurrences that you can never predict. We review our practices all the time and we are as confident as we can be that this won't happen again.

"We are a multi-generational business. It will be here long after I'm gone. We have to protect what we have."

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