The Dutch Belted is a dairy cattle breed named for its country of origin and its striking color pattern: black with a bright white belt around its middle. In the Netherlands, it is also known as the Lakenvelder. The term laken means a sheet or blanket around the body. The Dutch Belted has been known in the Netherlands as a standardized breed since the 1700s. It was selected as a specialized dairy cow able to convert lush pastures and little grain supplementation into 12,000-15,000 pounds of rich milk per lactation period. For centuries, the Lakenvelder was bred and kept by the Dutch who were not fond of selling their prized cattle. Never a widely popular breed, the Dutch Belted suffered a large decrease in their European population during and after World War II. By 1950 only four or five herds were known to exist in Holland. In the 1970's semen from American bulls was imported back into Holland to try to revive the breed in its native home. As of 2007, numbers in Holland are on the increase but the breed is still considered extremely rare with a population of less than 1000 worldwide.

Looking on the internet, you can definitely tell the difference between Belted Galloways and Dutch Belted, as the later looks much more in the shape of dairy animal, in the type you might recognize from any show Holstein with the angles that are typical for dairy and the sleak thin skins.