LECTURE XXXVI. 



HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN CATTLE. 



Origin, History, and Development of the Holstein-Friesian 



Breed. 



The origin is unknown. All that is definitely known is 

 that for long years anterior to definite historical records a 

 race of cattle of superior size and merit existed in the Duchy 

 of Holstein; and from these most of the cattle of northern 

 Germany and the Netherlands has been derived. The great 

 size of the cattle, and their great antiquity, renders it prob- 

 able that they were domesticated forms of the Bos primi- 

 genius. 



Just how early the breed assumed the modern character- 

 istics is not known, but the cattle of Holland were famed 

 for dairy products as early as 850 A. D., and as they were 

 drawn from Holstein it appears that the breed had assumed 

 great milking capacity at an early period. 



So far as is known, no foreign blood was ever introduced 

 in the formation of the breed; but on the contrary, the Hol- 

 stein blood seems to have entered into the make-up of the 

 Shorthorn, Ayrshire, and other improved breeds. The evolu- 

 tion of the breed has been in large part due to environment, 

 and has been very gradual. 



Holland, where the breed has attained its greatest develop- 

 ment, is a low, flat country, in large part reclaimed from 

 the sea by dikes; the vegetation is very luxuriant, and con- 

 tains a high content of water is succulent. This has, by a 

 process of natural selection, developed a race of cattle 

 adapted to consuming large amounts of coarse fodder, and 

 the succulence of the vegetation has resulted in a very full 



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