German Red Pied
(most common name in English)

(most common name):
• Deutsche Rotbunte
(historical breed name):
• German Red Pied Lowland (English)
• Red Pied Lowland (English)
• Red-and-White Lowland (English)
• Rotbuntes Niederungsvieh (German)

The ‘old’ German Red Pied is now divided into two strains:
• German Red Pied Holstein
• Red Pied dual purpose

Red Pied cattle in Germany were amalgamated in 1934 into the German Red Pied Lowland. This combined the following breeds from the regions of East Frisia, Schleswig-Holstein, South Oldenburg and Westphalia:
• Red Pied Slesvig-Holstein (an amalgamation of polder and geest strains)
• Red Pied South Oldenburg (a red pied strain within a black pied breed that was known as Oldenburger Geest)
• Red Pied Westphalian
• Red Pied Rhineland (a heavy built, dairy-type)

After 1934, the Red Pied East Friesian (Rotbunte Ostfries) was also classified as a German Red Pied Lowland type — so it was also added to the amalgamation; the amalgamated breed name was later shortened to German Red Pied.

The German Red Pied maintained its overall pied coat appearance of more red than white (even though some of the original Schleswig-Holstein ‘geest’ strains involved were actually blue pied and black pied). The main contributor for the German Red Pied coat was the Tondern ‘geest’ strain of Denmark (Tønder in Danish) from the southern Jutland Peninsula — it was considered the best and was a brownish red and red pied.

geest = raised landscape on the plains of northern Germany, northern Netherlands and Denmark

polder = low-lying land that has been reclaimed from the sea or a river and is protected by dikes

This page was last updated on: 2023-08-20

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