Holstein Friesian heifers

Holstein Friesian History

Holstein-Friesian (HF), Dairy livestock / cattle, originate from Friesland, a province in the North of the Netherlands/Holland, the same province, where Firma Schaap is located and where the family Schaap grew up and still lives. But Holstein Friesian cows nowadays are also known as an American black&white or red&white dairy breed. Holstein Friesian livestock is especially good in producing milk, the Holstein heifers / cattle are not fat, have a skinny appearance (dairy type). Also, the Holstein cow has almost no musculation. The dairy cattle from Friesland are called Friesian Holstein, they are smaller than the Holstein-Friesians but are more musculated. In the Netherlands, we also have the Maas-Rijn-IJssel (MRIJ) race, this race and the Friesian Holstein breed have higher butterfat and protein percentages but the Holstein Friesian cow produ-ces more milk, she reaches higher milk lactation.

In the early days, The Friesian and Batavian livestock / cattle were crossed, and from this the Holstein Friesian cow is the result which grew out to be a fantastic milking breed. Dairy livestock from The Netherlands have been very popular all over the world during the 19th century because of their high milk production. Holstein cattle / livestock were exported to the United States where breeders continued to breed with these Dutch cows. Here they were named Holstein-Friesian. Holstein Friesians ( or just short called : „Holsteins“ in North America, whereas in the UK they call them Friesians ) did not only exist in the province of Friesland, but also in in the Dutch provinces of North Holland, Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany and Jutland, Denmark.

Holstein Friesian known as the highest milk producing cows in the world

Holstein Friesian is a dairy breed known as the highest milk producing cows in the world. In The Netherlands / Holland the best available feed for the livestock / cattle was grass.

That is why they bred dairy livestock /cattle that function best and produce well on this nourriture. As the need for milk in America and South America was growing, they started to buy Holstein livestock / cattle from The Netherlands.They continued breeding Holsteins, especially for milk production.

In Europe both milk and meat was a breeding purpose. But after a lot of Holstein Friesian cattle / livestock in Europe died because of diseases the European farmers re-imported Holstein animals from America again. Descendants from these Dutch cows returned to The Netherlands, because in the mean time the American variant produced more milk than the Dutch cattle breeds MRIJ and Friesian Holstein. And now the Holstein-Friesian is the most important breed of cows in The Netherlands.
The difference between America and Europe is that in America the Holstein is bred especially to produce milk. „The Friesian“ is the breed that was bred for both dairy and beef and the Holsteins from America crossed with the Friesians from Europe are called the Holstein Friesian.

Today, the Holstein Friesian dairy livestock, in Holland / The Netherlands, is the most efficient producing Holstein in the world. High fat 4.0% and protein 3.2 % percentage, with average lactation of 8800 kg, makes this Holstein Friesian from Holland an interesting investment for dairy farms world wide. Compared to other countries, the Holstein Friesian from Holland is very strong heifer, with a lifetime milk production of 30.000 kg and an average of 3.5 lactation per lifetime.