The American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA) has announced new, phased requirements for the registration of Jersey males, designed to return the Jersey population back to purebred status. These changes, approved by the AJCA Board of Directors at the association’s annual meeting in June, reflect an ongoing commitment to breed integrity and genetic improvement.

The initiative addresses a historic issue that dates back to 2003, when non-Jersey genes were inadvertently introduced into the Jersey population through the descendants of two cows that were mistakenly registered as purebred Jerseys. Since then, the Jersey breed has been on a focused path to restore purity of the breed.

To support this mission, USJersey now provides Percent Jersey Ancestry (PJA) values for all animals in its database. PJA is a pedigree-based estimate of breed composition and is calculated by averaging the PJA of an animal’s parents, tracing back to the earliest ancestors.

New Jersey Male Registration Requirements

These incremental increases allow currently registered animals to contribute to breed advancement while clearly defining a path toward a fully purebred Jersey population.

Access to PJA Values
Individual animal PJA values are now viewable through the “Animal Family Tree” tool on InfoJersey and are also printed on Performance Pedigrees, Performance Progeny Reports, and Registration Papers. Breed Base Representation (BBR) and Generation Count will continue to appear on all USJersey documents.

Registration of Females
It is important to note that females sired by a Registered Jersey bull remain eligible for registration, regardless of their dam’s breed composition.

This new path forward reinforces the Jersey breed’s long-standing reputation for genetic quality, ensuring the future of Jersey bulls as true representatives of the breed. For questions or further information about PJA, please contact John Metzger, AJCA Genetic and Research Consultant, at jmetzger@usjersey.com.