Holstein cattle are most quickly recognized by their distinctive color markings and outstanding milk production.

Physical Characteristics
Holsteins are large, stylish animals with color patterns of black and white or red and white. A healthy Holstein calf weighs 90 pounds or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow weighs about 1,500 pounds and stands 58 inches tall at the shoulder. Holstein heifers can be bred at 13 months of age, when they weigh about 800 pounds. It is desirable to have Holstein females calve for the first time between 23 and 26 months of age. Holstein gestation is approximately nine months. While some cows may live considerably longer, the average productive life of a Holstein is approximately four years.

Milk Production
The 2021 average actual production for all U.S. Holstein herds that were enrolled in production-testing programs and eligible for genetic evaluations was 28,047 pounds of milk, 1,121 pounds of butterfat and 877 pounds of protein per year.

Top producing Holsteins milked three times a day have been known to produce over 72,000 pounds of milk in 365 days.

Superior Performance
Holstein dairy cattle dominate this country's milk production industry. The reason for their popularity is clear: unexcelled production, greater income over feed costs, unequaled genetic merit, and adaptability to a wide range of environmental conditions. Added up, this means more profit for the dairy producer who milks Holsteins. This point becomes even clearer when you consider that nine of every 10 dairy producers currently milk Holsteins.

Modern Ideal Holstein Bull

Learn about the development
of these two paintings in 2012

When migrant European tribes settled the Netherlands close to 2,000 years ago, they wanted animals that would make the best use of the land. The black cattle of the Batavians and white cows of Friesians were bred and strictly culled to produce animals that were the most efficient, producing the most milk with limited feed resources. These animals genetically evolved into the efficient, high producing black-and-white dairy cow, known as the Holstein-Friesian.

Imports to America
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 at Boston in 1852. The cow had furnished the ship's crew with fresh milk during the voyage. Chenery was so pleased with her milk production that he imported more Holsteins in 1857, 1859, and 1861. Many other breeders soon 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 ceased.

Americans Build Their Own Breed
In the late 1800's there was enough interest among Holstein breeders to form associations to record pedigrees and maintain herdbooks. These associations merged in 1885, to found the Holstein-Friesian Association of America. In 1994, the name was changed to Holstein Association USA, Inc.

Genetic Improvements
The artificial insemination (AI) industry has had a tremendous impact on genetic improvement of the breed. Since perfection of the semen freezing process in the late 1940's, AI has allowed the use of superior, proven bulls by Holstein breeders across the country. Today, AI accounts for 85 percent of Holstein births.

AI made the development of reliable, unbiased methods to evaluate Holstein genetics possible. With AI, a single Holstein bull can sire as many as 50,000 daughters. Type and production information on all these females makes it easier to predict performance of future offspring and evaluate the quality of genetics transmitted from sire to offspring.

In the late 1960's, the AI industry, the Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) and breed organizations, including the Holstein Association, worked together to develop genetic tools that dairy producers could use to breed their cattle for improvement. They used type and production information and research data from universities to develop measures Holstein breeders now use to evaluate bulls and select sires according to their needs.

Today, dairy producers have the ability to utilize genomic technology to discover the genetic potential of their animals at an earlier age than ever before. Genomic testing analyzes the DNA of an animal to determine what genes they actually possess, information that can be used to estimate future performance more reliably than simply taking an average of the parents' genetic values. The majority of bulls that enter AI are genomic tested, and many breeders are genomic testing their females to make more educated breeding decisions, particularly on heifers. One thing is for certain - technology is constantly evolving, with more tools being added to breeders' arsenal of options to consider in their journey to breed a better cow.