CHAPTER VIII 



MINOR DAIRY BREEDS DUTCH BELTED, POLLED 

 JERSEY, KERRY, FRENCH-CANADIAN 



DUTCH BELTED 



THIS oddly colored breed originated in North Holland 

 and has been bred for over 200 years to produce a perfect 

 belt of pure white in the center of a coal black body. In 

 Holland, they are called "Lahenfield " or "Lahenvelder," 

 which means a field of white, but conveys the idea of a 

 white body with black ends. Very little is known of their 

 history; they are probably descended from the cattle of 

 Holland, the ancestors of the breed known as Holstein in 

 America. 



This breed first attracted attention about 1750, but the 

 selection and breeding for the white belt probably began 

 long before this, possibly as far back as the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. According to the early records, these cattle were bred 

 by the Nobility of North Holland, on account of the peculiar 

 markings. They also bred hogs and poultry with a white 

 body line somewhat similar. The Lahenvelder poultry of 

 England and America, the Lakenscheswine of Holland and 

 Germany, and the Hampshire hog of America that is sup- 

 posed to have its ori'gin in Hampshire, England, are un- 

 doubtedly descendants from the herds of the Nobility in 

 Holland. The development of these animals with this dis- 

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