The Dutch Belted or Dutch Belt is an American breed of

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species '' Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ...

. It derives from the Lakenvelder of Germany and the Netherlands, of which examples were imported to the United States from 1838. It became an important dairy breed in the early twentieth century, but could not compete with the

Holstein-Friesian Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Hols ...

. By 1970 it was close to

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

; from 1993 the

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and prior to that, the American Minor Breeds Conservancy, is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting rare breeds, also known as "h ...

(later The Livestock Conservancy) was active in the recovery of the breed. In 2021 it was listed as "critical" on the watchlist of the conservancy.

History

The first importation of Lakenvelder stock into the United States was in 1838, when D.H. Haight brought some to

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange Count ...

; others were brought to

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

and to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1848, and a single cow was imported to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in 1906. In the 1840s

P.T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

exhibited some in his travelling circus. Sixteen of the cattle were shown in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1893 at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. A

breed society Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members of ...

, the Dutch Belted Cattle Association of America, was formed in 1886 or 1901; it was incorporated in New Jersey in 1909. By 1916 the Dutch Belted, as it was now known, had spread to some twenty-five states and had reached about in number. It became well-known as a useful dairy breed, but numbers never rose very high. With the rapid spread of the

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

in the mid-twentieth century, numbers fell and in the 1970s the breed association became dormant. In the 1980s, further pressure on the breed came from the policy of the Department of Agriculture to encourage the sale of dairy cattle for beef, with the aim of increasing the price of milk. From 1993 the

(later The Livestock Conservancy) was active in the recovery of the breed and conducted a survey, which found that between 1981 and 1995 the average number of annual registrations had been (21 cows and 7 bulls); in 1995 the total number of registered purebred stock was 34. By 2010 the population had increased to total of about head, including some 70 bulls and 700 breeding cows. The breed association resumed registrations in 2013. In 2016 the total Dutch Belted population was reported to

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym of the worldwide Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, within the FAO's management of animal genetic resources programme.Domestic Animal Diversity Infor ...

at ; in 2021 the breed was listed as "critical" on the watchlist of the Livestock Conservancy.

Characteristics

The cattle are either black or red, with a broad white belt encircling the back, flanks and belly. Average weights are approximately for bulls and for cows.

Use

References

{{Cattle breeds of the United States Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in the United States Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Dairy cattle breeds