Origin Of The Breed When migrant European tribes settled the area called the Netherlands close to 2000 years ago, they wanted animals that would make the best use of the land. The black animals and white cows of the Batavians and Friesians were bred and strickly culled to produce animals that were the most efficient, producing the most milk with limited feed resources. They genetically evolved into the efficient, high producing black and white dairy cow known as the Holstein-Friesian. With the settlement of the New World, markets began to develop for milk in America. Dairy breeders turned to Holland for their cattle. Winthrop Chenery, a Massachusetts breeder, purchased a Holland cow from a Dutch sailing master who had landed cargo in Boston in 1852. Being pleased with her milk production, he imported more Holsteins in 1857, 1859, and 1861. Soon many other breeders joined the race to establish Holsteins in America. After about 8,800 Holsteins had been imported, a cattle disease broke out in Europe and importation of the breed ceased. In the late 1800's there was enough interest among Holstein breeders to form associations to record pedirees and maintain herd books. They merged in 1885 to found the Holstein-Friesian Association of the USA Inc. Holsteins are laarge, stylish animals with color patterns of black and white, or red and white. A mature Holstein weighs about 1500 pounds and stands 58 inches tall at the shoulder. A healthy Holstein calf weighs 90 pounds or more at birth. Holstein heifers weigh about 800 pounds at 13 months of age and they can be bred at this time. Ideally, females should calf for the first time between 23 and 26 months of age. Gestation is about 9 months. The average productive life of a Holstein is 3 to 4 years. The 1999 average actual production for all the U.S. Holstein herds taht were enrolled in the production-testing and eligible for genetic evaluations was 21.167 pounds of milk, 775 pounds of butterfat, and 683 pounds of protein a year. Holstein dairy cattle dominate this country's milk production industry. Nine out of every ten dairy producers currently milk Holsteins. More than 19 million animals are registered in the Holstein Association's herdbook. The ancestry of most can be traced to animals imported from the Netherlands.