Holstein

Cattle keeping on the North Sea coast of Friesland and Holstein goes back about two thousand years. The first recorded American imports were six cows and two bulls in 1795, permanent establishment began in 1861, and the Holstein-Friesian Association of America was founded in 1885, taking its current name, Holstein Association USA, in 1994. The breed now runs in more than 160 countries and dominates industrial dairying in most of them.

Black and white pied, with a red and white form; cows run 1,500 to 1,700 lb and stand 57 to 65 inches. They are born horned and are usually dehorned as calves.

The output is the breed: an average of 22,530 lb of milk per year, at about 3.7 percent butterfat and 3.1 percent protein. No other breed gives as much.

The handling advice that applies here is the extension services' advice for dairy cattle in general. Penn State Extension describes most dairy animals as calm. A University of Wisconsin-Madison farm safety handout adds that dairy cattle can be unpredictable, and that improper handling can lead to serious injuries.

Penn State names two exceptions: a cow with a newborn calf and a bull, either of which can turn aggressive. Dairy bulls are often considered more dangerous than beef bulls, and a bull that was bottle-fed as a calf can still grow aggressive with age. The University of Minnesota's advice is that the safest bull is no bull on the farm, and artificial insemination breeds the herd without one.

Commercial dairying, worldwide, wherever the system pays on volume. Bull calves and cull cows also feed a real share of the beef supply, and Holstein-beef crosses have become a deliberate strategy rather than a by-product.

Everything that volume costs. She eats accordingly, she is a large animal to keep sound, and productive life in a commercial herd is short. The infrastructure of a Holstein operation, feed, housing, and management, is priced into the milk she gives.

The trade is components. Butterfat and protein percentages are the lowest of the major dairy breeds, so a farm paid on components rather than liters will feel it, and that is the arithmetic to run before buying the highest-volume cow in the world.

Holstein Association USA is the largest dairy breed association anywhere; registration, classification and production records are standard in this breed, so ask for all three and be suspicious of a dairy animal sold without them.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.