The Dutch Belted or Dutch Belt is an American

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred with 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 The Holstein Friesian is an international breed or group of breeds of dairy cattle. It originated in Frisia, stretching from the Dutch province of North Holland to the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is the dominant breed in industrial ...

. By 1970 it was close to

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce 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 ...

(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 14,571 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report Goshen, Orange County, New York QuickFacts https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/goshentownorangecountyne ...

; others were brought to Orange County and to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1848, and a single cow was imported to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

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 with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He w ...

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

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

. 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 ...

, 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 (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

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 An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

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 for the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, a tool developed and maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a part of its programme for management of animal genetic resources for ...

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.

References

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