Chinese Black Pied Cattle Characteristics & Uses

The Chinese Black Pied cattle are a dairy breed which are raised primarily for milk production. As the name suggests, the breed is from China and also known as Chinese Back and White cattle.

It was developed from cross-breeding with local cows of black and white dairy cattle of various breeds imported since the 1870s from Canada, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.

Large American Holstein-Friesians were imported after the Second World War, and the smaller Dutch Black Pied stock from the Netherlands. These at first gave rise to larger and smaller types within the Chinese breed, but these can no longer be distinguished.

A herdbook for the breed was established in 1983 and it records all pedigree cattle. Currently the breed is distributed throughout China and is the most common and numerous dairy cattle breed there. Read more information about the breed below.

Chinese Black Pied Cattle Characteristics

Chinese Black Pied cattle are medium to large animals. Although their body size can vary depending on the origin of sires used in crossbreeding, and they may be roughly grouped into three types.

These three types of the breed are large, medium and small. They are pied, black and white in coloration. The large type cows with an average body height of 169 cm originated from the American and Canadian Holstein cattle.

The medium type with an average body height of 133 cm are primarily developed from Japanese and German Black and White cattle. And the small type with an average body height of 130 cm are offspring from the Friesian sires of the Netherlands.

Average live body weight of the mature cows is around 615 kg. And the mature bulls on average weight around 1142 kg. Photo and info from ansi.okstate.edu and Wikipedia.

Uses

The Chinese Black Pied cattle are a dairy cattle breed. They are raised primarily for milk production.

Special Notes

The Chinese Black Pied cattle are noted for their milk production. Average milk production of the cows was estimated at 4,461 per lactation in 1982.

The highest recorded production from one cow in one lactation was 16,090 kg in 305 days. Their milk is of pretty good quality containing about 3.3 percent fat in the southern part of China and about 3.4 percent in the northern part of the country.

The breed is also pretty good for meat production with an average dressing percentage of 51 percent. However, review full breed profile of the Chinese Black Pied cattle in the following chart.

Breed NameChinese Black Pied
Other NameChinese Black and White
Breed PurposeMainly milk
Special NotesWell adapted to native climates, very hardy, strong, good milkers
Breed SizeSmall, medium, large
BullsAround 1142 kg
CowsAround 615 kg
Climate ToleranceNative climates
Coat ColorPied, black and white
Milk YieldVery good
RarityCommon
Country/Place of OriginChina

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