Lakenvelder cattle

Summary

The Lakenvelder is a Dutch and German breed of dairy cattle. It is reported from the Netherlands and Belgium, but may be extinct in Germany.[2][5][6]

Lakenvelder
Conservation status
Country of originNetherlands
Usedairy
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    700 kg[3]: 81 
  • Female:
    550 kg
Height
  • Male:
    137 cm[3]: 81 
  • Female:
    126–136 cm[4]: 225 
Horn statushorned; rarely polled[2]
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus
Lakenvelders near Leusden, the Netherlands

History edit

No written evidence supports an often-repeated claim that the Lakenvelder derives from cattle of the Gurtenvieh or belted Braunvieh of Switzerland, brought to the Netherlands in or after Mediaeval times by the nobility or the wealthy.[7]: 176  It is however supported by molecular genetic studies, which have shown that the Gurtenvieh, the Lakenvelder and the Belted Galloway all carry the same candidate gene for the belted phenotype.[4]: 224 [8]: 304  Cattle with this characteristic are shown in Dutch paintings from the seventeenth century.[8]: 304  It seems likely that the Lakenvelder derives directly from Swiss and Austrian belted cattle, and that during the reign of William of Orange some cattle of this type found their way to Scotland, where they inter-bred with Galloway stock, giving rise to the Belted Galloway.[8]: 304 

A herd-book for the Lakenvelder was started in 1918; at that time there were about fifteen farms breeding the cattle, with some 200 head between them.[4]: 224  In 1930 regulations were introduced to control milk production and to make testing for tuberculosis obligatory; by the end of the Second World War only five herds remained.[9]: 285 

Characteristics edit

Use edit

References edit

  1. ^ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Breed data sheet: Lakenvelder / Netherlands (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2022.
  3. ^ a b Marleen Felius (1995). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Doetinchem, Netherlands: Misset. ISBN 9789054390176.
  4. ^ a b c Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  5. ^ Breed data sheet: Lakenvelder / Belgium (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2022.
  6. ^ Breed data sheet: Lakenvelder Rind / Germany (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2022.
  7. ^ Raymond Brown Becker (1973). Dairy Cattle Breeds; Origin and Development. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. ISBN 9780813003351.
  8. ^ a b c C. Drögemüller, S. Demmel, M. Engensteiner, S. Rieder, T. Leeb (2009). A shared 336 kb haplotype associated with the belt pattern in three divergent cattle breeds. Animal Genetics. 41 (3): 304–307. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2009.01987.x.
  9. ^ Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300088809.