Sjoerd van de Nijekamp

The Breeding Committee of the Association of Dutch Belted Cattle (VLR) aims to find one or two new bulls each year which can be used for breeding via K.I. SAMEN. Naturally these bulls must not be too closely related to the existing portfolio of K.I. bulls, and they must also enrich the breed in terms of build and development.

One bull that fits the bill is Sjoerd van de Nijekamp, who was bred by Gert Nijkamp in Collendoorn.

Gert Nijkamp became a member of the VLR in 2012 and as a fan has been able to breed an excellent stud of Dutch Belted cattle in a short time. Several of his cows have already merited registration in the Dutch Belted herd book and he has supplied various bulls to fellow Dutch Belted breeders.

Sjoerd is a black Dutch Belted bull, born on 31 May 2018 from the red Dutch Belted cow Simone 4. During the annual training day for classifiers in the autumn of 2018, which was held at Gert's farm, this bull already stood out as a potential candidate for K.I., but he was obviously too young at the time to be classified as a breeding bull. This actual classification took place on 31 March 2019. The classification committee noted that he had developed well into a bull with plenty of width and a larger than average rump-width.

Sjoerd's sire is Gerhard van de Vijfheerenlanden, which means there is plenty of ‘Bos blood’ flowing through the veins of Sjoerd van de Nijekamp as shown by his pedigree. Gregorius van de Vijfheerenlanden is particularly prominent, as is the bull Luando, bred by M. Giebels. Another striking fact is that no K.I bull is found in Sjoerd's first three generations.

The pedigree on his maternal side is more diverse. Sjoerd's dam, Simone van de Nijekamp, is a nicely developed belted cow with only black (grand) dams and sires. Her pedigree lists the names of respected Dutch Belted breeders such as Dankert – Van Dam, Maat, Meertens, Schey and Steenbergen, who use, or used, natural mating. This clearly distances and distinguishes these animals from the existing offer of K.I. bulls.

The Breeding Committee believes that Sjoerd van de Nijekamp will make a very positive contribution to the current range of Dutch Belted at K.I. SAMEN.