Portrait of a Blaarkop Cow by Henk van Dijk

About "Portrait of a Blaarkop Cow"

by Henk van Dijk

About the artwork

Wolfheze - Reijerskamp, there's a herd of Blaarkop cows grazing here.
The blister head is an old breed of cattle, which was already described in the late Middle Ages. Traditionally, the blister head is found in the province of Groningen but also in the Rhine region between Utrecht and Leiden. The blister head is originally a dual-purpose cow of the meat-milk type (60%-40%) characterized by acceptable milk and meat production. Blister heads are therefore bred with slightly more emphasis on meat rather than milk production.
The blister head is uniform black or red with a white head and a white tip of tail. Around the eyes the blister head has a black or red spot, the blister. This may be attached to the neck. The underside of the belly is white. White spots in the coloured part or coloured spots in the white part are considered undesirable, as are white legs that are too high.

In addition to the specific marking with spots around the eyes, the hard legwork, good fertility and easy calving are characteristic of the blister head. A blister head cow measures about 138 cm at the withers and weighs about 600 kg. The bulls are on average 148 cm high and weigh 800 kg. The average milk production of a blister cow is around 7000 kg per year, with a fat percentage of 4.35% and a protein percentage of 3.60%.
Nowadays blister heads are incrossed in HF cows, which become too vulnerable due to long selection on only a few characteristics. The effect of heterosis creates stronger cow