A Bit of British Friesian Doggerel

In the year of our Lord 1344,

A jocular monk catalogued the cows he saw,

munching away on the Zuider Zee.

This is the earliest record in History.

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And in 1600 to Lincolnshire there came

A posse of Dutchmen, our fens to drain

Bringing the cows they proudly bred

As our sodden land kept their cows well fed.

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Friesians, of course, were what made the trip

Sick to their four stomachs aboard that ship.

But once they were back on terra firma

They took to the land without a murmur.

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By Victoria’s time, our cows were pretty well-travelled,

Once the Dutch had Type all unravelled.

To South Africa and other fledgling colonies went they

And in America, of course, their cows got bigger in every way.

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Herd books began to pop up all over the globe

and cows were addled with being bought and sold.

Canadians brought hundreds over the border

And in 1905, 7,000 was the New World order.

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Over here, keen not to be left behind

The birth of a UK Society was officially signed

First called Holstein, then a mix of the two

Name changes would cause a lot of ballyhoo.

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Since then those cows have gone their different ways

with Yankee Holsteins so tall they amaze.

But Friesians are perfect for farmers over here,

Always fertile and milking well, year after year.

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But we felt so strongly that our cow needed protection,

And to ensure that it went in the right direction,

that we set up our Club, and that was when

big hair and handbags left Number Ten.

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In 2004, after a bit of a fight,

we got our Breed Code, as was only right.

And our cows are still grazing wherever there’s grass

Because British Friesians have been bred to last and last.