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Red Pied Friesian -cow- The Netherlands

Red Pied Friesian
(most common name in English)

(most common name):
Fries Roodbont
(transboundary/brand name):
• Red and White Friesian
(local/other name):
• Roodbonte Fries (RF)
• Fries Roodbonte
local/other name (English):
• Friesian Red and White
• Red Friesian
• Red-and-White

During the 18th century, a succession of rinderpest outbreaks caused heavy losses of cattle. To replace animals after 1713, huge importations were made (especially during the period 1725–1775) with Danish cattle from Jutland and rather cheaper cattle from Germany.

‘Black Pied’ was believed to be a predictor of good dairy performance and became more popular in export markets. Although red (and red-and-white) coat colors were relatively disfavored, they persisted because red is genetically recessive to black.

In 1970, breeders in the Netherlands formed an association for the red-and-white variant of the Friesian breed known as the Red Pied Friesian (Roodbonte Fries).

The Red Pied Friesian is a Dutch Friesian carrying the red factor and, more importantly, free of Holstein admixture and can be seen as a genetic resource.

The Red Pied Friesian is smaller than the Dutch Friesian and usually has very little white.

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-20


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