Dutch Friesian
(transboundary/brand name)

(most common name):
• Fries Hollands (FH), zwartbont
(local/other name):
• Fries-Hollands Zwartbont
• Zwartbont Fries-Holland
local/other name (English):
• Black Pied Dutch-Friesian
• Black Pied Dutch Friesian
• Dutch-Friesian

The Dutch Friesian has been used for establishing almost all the Black Pied cattle populations in the world today — including the Holstein.

Dutch Friesians were dual-purpose dairy/beef animals and, by 1920, Black Pied Dutch Friesians accounted for about 50% of the national cattle population in the Netherlands.

During the 1970s, the German Holstein-Friesian, and the American and Canadian Holstein became intertwined (up to 75% genetically) with the Dutch Friesian breed. (Large numbers of pregnant German Holstein-Friesian heifers were imported; sires and semen of the American and Canadian Holstein were also imported and used.)

The goal was to quickly transform this dual-purpose national Dutch Black Pied breed back into a single-purpose dairy breed — which then became the Dutch Black Pied (HF).

However, the Dutch Friesian was not completely abandoned. A herdbook of pure Dutch Friesians — free from all this Holstein influence — was established in 1983 by devoted breeders. This Friesland-Holland herdbook of the Fries Hollands breed is known as the Fries-Hollands Rundvee Stamboek (FHRS).

NOTE: Friesland, North Holland and South Holland are three of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands.

HF = Holstein-Friesian

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-16

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