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Holstein Friesian

The Holstein Friesian is an international breed or group of breeds of dairy cattle. It originated in Frisia, stretching from the Dutch province of North Holland to the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is the dominant breed in industrial dairy farming worldwide, and is found in more than 160 countries. It is known by many names, among them Holstein, Friesian and Black and White.

With the growth of the New World, a demand for milk developed in North America and South America, and dairy breeders in those regions at first imported their livestock from the Netherlands. However, after about 8,800 Friesians (black pied German cows) had been imported, Europe stopped exporting dairy animals due to disease problems.

Today, the breed is used for milk in the north of Europe, and for meat in the south of Europe. After 1945, European cattle breeding and dairy products became increasingly confined to certain regions due to the development of national infrastructure. This change led to the need to designate some animals for dairy production and others for beef production; previously, milk and beef had been produced from dual-purpose animals. Today, more than 80% of dairy production takes place north of the line between Bordeaux and Venice, and more than 60% of the cattle in Europe are found there as well. Today's European breeds, national derivatives of the Dutch Friesian, have become very different animals from those developed by breeders in the United States, who use Holsteins only for dairy production.

As a result, breeders have imported specialized dairy Holsteins from the United States to cross-breed them with European black-and-whites. Today, the term "Holstein" is used to describe North or South American stock and the use of that stock in Europe, particularly in Northern Europe. "Friesian" is used to describe animals of traditional European ancestry that are bred for both dairy and beef use. Crosses between the two are described as "Holstein-Friesian".

Breed characteristics

Holsteins have distinctive markings, usually black and white or red and white in colour, typically exhibiting piebald patterns. On rare occasions, some have both black and red colouring with white. The red factor causes this unique colouring. 'Blue' is also a known colour. This colour is produced by white hairs mixed with the black hairs giving the cow a bluish tint. This colouring is also known as 'blue roan' in some farm circles. They are famed for their high dairy production, averaging 22,530 lb of milk per year. Of this milk, 858 pounds (3.7%) are butterfat and 719 pounds (3.1%) are protein.

A healthy calf weighs 40 to 50 kg (75–110 lb) or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow typically weighs 680–770 kg (1500–1700 lb), and stands 145–165 cm (58–65 in) tall at the shoulder. Holstein should be bred by 11 to 14 months of age, when they weigh 317–340 kg (700–750 lb) or 55% of adult weight. Generally, breeders plan for Holstein heifers to calve for the first time between 21 and 24 months of age and 80% of adult body weight. The gestation period is about nine and a half months.

History
Near 100 BC, a displaced group of people from Hesse migrated with their cattle to the shores of the North Sea near the Frisii tribe, occupying the island of Batavia, between the Rhine, Maas, and Waal. Historical records suggest these cattle were black, and the Friesian cattle at this time were "pure white and light coloured". Crossbreeding may have led to the foundation of the present Holstein-Friesian breed, as the cattle of these two tribes from then are described identically in historical records.

The portion of the country bordering on the North Sea, called Frisia, was situated within the provinces of North Holland, Friesland, and Groningen, and in Germany to the River Ems. The people were known for their care and breeding of cattle. The Frisii, preferring pastoral pursuits to warfare, paid a tax of ox hides and ox horns to the Roman government, whereas the Batavii furnished soldiers and officers to the Roman army; these fought successfully in the various Roman wars. The Frisii bred the same strain of cattle unadulterated for 2,000 years, except from accidental circumstances. In 1282 AD, floods produced the Zuiderzee, a formed body of water that had the effect of separating the cattle breeders of the modern day Frisians into two groups. The western group occupied West Friesland, now part of North Holland; the eastern occupied the present provinces of Friesland and Groningen, also in the Netherlands.

The rich polder land in the Netherlands is unsurpassed for the production of grass, cattle, and dairy products. Between the 13th and 16th centuries, the production of butter and cheese was enormous. Historic records describe heavy beef cattle, weighing from 2,600 to 3,000 pounds each.

The breeders had the goal of producing as much milk and beef as possible from the same animal. The selection, breeding and feeding have been carried out with huge success. Inbreeding was not tolerated, and (distinct) families never arose, although differences in soil in different localities produced different sizes and variations.

A Corporate Watch report on Dystopian Farming cited a 2004 study from the Journal of Dairy Science identified that between 96 and 98% of UK Holsteins were inbred to some degree, compared with around 50% in 1990. More generally the rate of inbreeding in the UK has risen significantly since 1990.

United Kingdom
Up to the 18th century, the British Isles imported Dutch cattle, using them as the basis of several breeds in England and Scotland. The eminent David Low recorded, "the Dutch breed was especially established in the district of Holderness, on the north side of the Humber; northward through the plains of Yorkshire. The finest dairy cattle in England...", of Holderness in 1840 still retained the distinct traces of their Dutch origin.

Further north in the Tees area, farmers imported continental cattle from the Netherlands and German territories on the Elbe. Low wrote, "Of the precise extent of these early importations we are imperfectly informed, but that they exercised a great influence on the native stock appears from this circumstance, that the breed formed by the mixture became familiarly known as the Dutch or Holstein breed".

Holstein-Friesians were found throughout the rich lowlands of the Netherlands, northwestern provinces of Germany, Belgium and northern France. The breed did not become established in Great Britain at the time, nor was it used in the islands of Jersey or of Guernsey, which bred their own special cattle named after the islands. Their laws prohibited using imports from the continent for breeding purposes. After World War II, breeders on the islands needed to restore their breeds, which had been severely reduced during the war, and imported almost 200 animals. Canadian breeders sent a gift of three yearling bulls to help establish the breed.

The pure Holstein Breed Society was started in 1946 in Great Britain, following the British Friesian Cattle Society. The breed was developed slowly up to the 1970s, after which there was an explosion in its popularity, and additional animals were imported. More recently, the two societies merged in 1999 to establish Holstein UK.

Numbers
Records on 1 April 2005 from Nomenclature for Units of Territorial Statistics level 1 show Holstein influence appearing in 61% of all 3.47 million dairy cattle in the UK:
 * Holstein-Friesian (Friesian with more than 12.5% and less than 87.5% of Holstein blood): 1,765,000 (51%)
 * Friesian (more than 87.5% Friesian blood): 1,079,000 (31%)
 * Holstein (more than 87.5% of Holstein blood): 254,000 (7%)
 * Holstein-Friesian cross (any of the above crossed with other breeds): 101,000 (3%)
 * Other dairy breeds: 278,000 (7%)

The above statistics are for all dairy animals possessing passports at the time of the survey, i.e. including young stock. DEFRA lists just over 2 million adult dairy cattle in the UK.

Definition
Holstein in this instance, and indeed in all modern discussion, refers to animals traced from North American bloodlines, while Friesian refers to indigenous European black and white cattle.

Criteria for inclusion in the Supplementary Register (i.e. not purebred) of the Holstein UK herd book are:

Class A is for a typical representative of the Holstein or Friesian breed, as to type, size and constitution, with no obvious signs of crossbreeding, or be proved from its breeding records to contain between 50% and 74.9% Holstein genes or Friesian genes. If the breeding records show that one parent is of a breed other than Holstein-Friesian, Holstein, or Friesian, then such parent must be a purebred animal fully registered in a herd book of a dairy breed society recognized by the Society.

Class B is for a calf by a bull registered or dual registered in the Herd Book or in the Supplementary Register and out of a foundation cow or heifer registered in Class A or B of the Supplementary Register and containing between 75% and 87.4% Holstein genes or Frisian genes.

For inclusion in the Pure (Holstein or Friesian) herd book, a heifer or bull calf from a cow or heifer in Class B of the Supplementary Register and by a bull registered or dual registered in the Herd Book or the Supplementary Register, and containing 87.5% or more Holstein genes or Frisian genes will be eligible to have its entry registered in the Herd Book.

Production
The breed currently averages 7,655 litres/year throughout 3.2 lactations with pedigree animals averaging 8,125 litres/year over an average of 3.43 lactations. By adding, lifetime production therefore stands at around 26,000 litres.

History

Black and white cattle from Europe were introduced into the US from 1621 to 1664. The eastern part of New Netherland (modern day New York and Connecticut), where many Dutch farmers settled along the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys. They probably brought cattle with them from their native land and crossed them with cattle purchased in the colony. For many years afterwards, the cattle here were called Dutch cattle and were renowned for their milking qualities.

The first recorded imports were more than 100 years later, consisting of six cows and two bulls. These were sent in 1795 by the Holland Land Company, which then owned large tracts in New York, to their agent, Mr. John Lincklaen of Cazenovia. A settler described them thus, "the cows were of the size of oxen, their colors clear black and white in large patches; very handsome".

In 1810, a bull and two cows were imported by the Hon. William Jarvis for his farm at Wethersfield, Vermont. About the year 1825, another importation was made by Herman Le Roy, a part of which was sent into the Genesee River valley. The rest were kept near New York City. Still later, an importation was made into Delaware. No records were kept of the descendants of these cattle. Their blood was mingled and lost in that of the native cattle.

The first permanent introduction of this breed was due to the perseverance of Hon. Winthrop W. Chenery, of Belmont, Massachusetts. The animals of his first two importations, and their offspring, were destroyed by the government in Massachusetts because of a contagious disease. He made a third importation in 1861. This was followed in 1867 by an importation for the Hon. Gerrit S. Miller, of Peterboro, New York, made by his brother, Dudley Miller, who had been attending the noted agricultural school at Eldena (Königlich Preußische Staats- und landwirthschaftliche Akademie zu Greifswald und Eldena; the latter today a locality of the former), Prussia, where this breed was highly regarded. These two importations, by Hon. William A. Russell, of Lawrence, Mass., and three animals from East Friesland, imported by Gen. William S. Tilton of the National Military Asylum, Togus, Maine, formed the nucleus of the Holstein Herd Book.

The Trina Holstein breed was established by the Merrill farming family in Maine in the early 20th century, begun by "Trina Redstone Marvel" (or "Old Trina") and continued at Wilsondale Farm in Gray, Maine. Trina has traced back sixteen generations to one of the first cows imported into the United States. There are thirty generations of Trina Holstein offspring today.

After about 8,800 Holsteins had been imported, a cattle disease broke out in Europe and importation ceased.

In the late 19th century, there was enough interest among Friesian breeders to form associations to record pedigrees and maintain herd books. These associations merged in 1885, to found the Holstein-Friesian Association of America. In 1994, the name was changed to Holstein Association USA.

Production
The 2008 average actual production for all USA Holstein herds that were enrolled in production-testing programs and eligible for genetic evaluations was 23022 lb of milk, 840 lb of butterfat, and 709 lb of protein per year. Total lifetime productivity can be inferred from the average lifetime of US cows. This has been decreasing regularly in recent years and now stands at around 2.75 lactations, which when multiplied by average lactation yield above gives around 61729 lb of milk.

The current national Holstein milk production leader is Bur-Wall Buckeye Gigi EX-94 3E, which produced 74650 lb of milk in 365 days, completing her record in 2016.

The considerable advantage, compared to the UK, for example, can be explained by several factors:
 * Use of milk production hormone, recombinant bST: A study in February 1999 determined the "response to bST over a 305-day lactation equaled 894 kg of milk, 27 kg of fat, and 31 kg of protein". Monsanto Company estimates a figure of about 1.5 million of 9 million dairy cows are being treated with rBST, or about 17% of cows nationally.
 * Greater use of three-times-per-day milking: In a study performed in Florida between 1984 and 1992 using 4293 Holstein lactation records from eight herds, 48% of cows were milked three times a day. The practice was responsible for an extra 17.3% milk, 12.3% fat, and 8.8% protein. Three-times-a-day milking has become a common practice in recent years. Twice-a-day milking is the most common milking schedule of dairy cattle. In Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, milking at 10- to 14-hour intervals is common.
 * Higher cow potential (100% Holstein herds): European Friesian types traditionally had lower production performances than their North American Holstein counterparts. Despite Holstein influence over the last 50 years, a large genetic trace of these cattle is still present.
 * Greater use of total mixed ration (TMR) feeding systems: TMR systems continue to expand in use on dairy farms. A 1993 Hoard's Dairyman survey reported 29.2% of surveyed US dairy farms had adopted this system of feeding dairy cows. A 1991 Illinois dairy survey found 26% of Illinois dairy farmers used TMR rations with 300 kg more milk per cow compared to other feeding systems. The American type of operation (North and South America) is characterised by large, loose-housing operations, TMR feeding, and relatively many employees. However, dairy farms in the northeast US and parts of Canada differ from the typical American operation. There, many smaller family farms with either loose-housing or stanchion barns are found. These operations are quite similar to the European type, which is characterised by relatively small operations where each cow is fed and treated individually.

Genetics
The golden age of Friesian breeding occurred during the last 50 years, greatly helped lately by embryo transfer techniques, which permitted a huge multiplication of bulls entering progeny testing of elite, bull-mother cows.

Friesian bull, Osborndale Ivanhoe, b. 1952, brought stature, angularity, good udder conformation, and feet and leg conformation, but his daughters lacked strength and depth. His descendants included: <!-- promotional or history? Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, b. 1962, was descended from ABC Reflection Sovereign b. 1946, had a great effect on modern Holsteins. He sired powerful, high producing cows with high fat and protein rate although udder conformation was a weak point. He also sired other famous bulls such as: Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation sired:
 * Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation, b. 1965, often abbreviated RORA Elevation, was another top-notch bull. He sired over 70,000 Holstein cattle, with descendants numbering over 5 million; Elevation was named Bull of the Century by Holstein International Association in 1999. Elevation was the result of a cross of Tidy Burke Elevation being used on one of the best ever Ivanhoe daughters, Round Oak Ivanhoe Eve. He was unsurpassed at the time for type and production.
 * Penstate Ivanhoe Star, b. 1963, sired daughters with similar stature and dairy traits as the Ivanhoes, but with higher production. He also notably sired Carlin-M Ivanhoe Bell, the great production bull of the 80s, known also for good udders, feet and legs. A present-day genetic disorder, complex vertebral malformation, has been traced to Carlin-M Ivanhoe Bell and Penstate Ivanhoe Star.
 * Hilltop Apollo Ivanhoe, b. 1960, sire of Whittier Farms Apollo Rocket, b. 1967, was the highest milk production bull of the 1970s, and Wayne Spring Fond Apollo, b. 1970, was the first bull ever to have a milk transmission index of over 2,000 M and have a positive type index. "Wayne" had a very famous daughter, To-Mar Wayne Hay, that was dam of the great To-Mar Blackstar, b. 1983.
 * SWD Valiant b. 1973, who in turn sired such popular bull sires as Applenotch Valiant Calypso b. 1980, Mel-Est Valiant Iros Melvin b. 1980, Tesk-Holm Valiant Rockie b. 1981, Exranco Thor b. 1981, "Stardell Valiant Winken" b. 1981, Hanover-hill Inspiration b. 1981 and Utag Valiant Fancy Paul b.1982. Valiant was the sire of the famous cow Walkup Valiant Lu Ella, the dam of Rothrock Tradition Leadman b. 1985.
 * Glendell Arlinda Chief b. 1968, one of the top production sires of the 70s. He was noted as being sire of Arlinda Rotate b. 1975, who in turn sired Arlinda Melwood b. 1982,Juniper Rotate Jed b. 1987, and To-Mar Wister b.1985.
 * Milu Betty Ivanhoe Chief b. 1969, sire of Cal-Clark Board Chairman b. 1976. Chairman sired over 50,000 daughters and was a good correcting bull, as well as providing an alternative source of genes than the narrow base then in use. Another influential bull bringing in "outside" genes was Whittier-Farms Ned Boy b. 1979. Ned Boy sired Singing-Brook NB Mascot b. 1986, a high production bull of the 90s.
 * Walkway Chief Mark b. 1978. He sired Bushy-Park Chesapeake, Donnandale Skychief b. 1986,Mark CJ Gilbrook Grand b. 1986,Lutz-Meadows Mark Malloy b. 1986, Paradise-R Roebuckb. 1986 and Highlight Mr Mark Cinder b. 1986. Mark was a great udder improver who was poor for feet and leg conformation. Many good bulls were bred from his daughters, especially sons of Blackstar.
 * Robe-Jan Skyler Chief b.1979. He sired Mr. Hurl-Three Momentum-Red a famous red bull that has descendents Red and Red-Carrier, one of them, Zee-Cal Persia-Red b. 1998.
 * Sweet Haven Tradition b. 1974, one of the best udder improvers who also improved feet and legs. As well as being the sire of Rothrock Tradition Leadman b. 1985, he also sired Bis-May Tradition Cleitus b. 1981, and United Nick b. 1985.
 * Rockalli Son of Bova b. 1974. This milk yield improver was the first ever bull born from embryo transfer. He sired Osdell-Endeavour Bova Cubby b. 1985.
 * Hanoverhill Starbuck b. 1979. Arguably Canada's ticket to the Holstein big time, Starbuck was not only sire to many of the world's most influential cows, he was sire of Madawaska Aerostar (Startmore Rudolph, Oliveholme Aeroline and Maughlin Storm and their descendants), A Ronnybrook Prelude (Duncan Progress, Carol Prelude Mtoto and Comestar Outside), Hanoverhill Raider (Comestar Lee), Marcrest Encore(Regancrest Dundee, Erbacres Damion and Indianhead Encounter) and Duregal Astre Starbuck (Roybrook Leduc Dusty, STBVQ Rubens and Tcet Lyster ). In the US he was leading sire of All-Americans for 7 consecutive years (1987–1993). Starbuck facts:

 * Weight : 1173 kg (1,300–1,500 lb)
 * Size : 187 cm (73½ in.)
 * 36,976 daughters classified in Canada : 70% GP & Better (326 Ex., 6812 VG et 18 963 GP)
 * More than 200,000 daughters around the world
 * 209 proven sons and 406 proven grandsons
 * 130 All-Canadian and 82 All-American nominations
 * 685 000 doses of semen sold in 45 countries

Chief and Elevation accounted for nearly 25% of genes segregating Holsteins in 1990, so heavy was the use of their genes. This led to concerns regarding inbreeding and narrowing of the genetic base.

Other important sires:
 * To-Mar Blackstar b. 1983; the leading sire of cows over 50000 lb of milk.
 * Picston Shottle b.1999 leader for Type and Production.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23312993 -->

Genetic anomalies
Brachyspina syndrome

Cloning
Starbuck (2)II, clone of the famous CIAQR sire Hanoverhill Starbuck, was born on 7 September 2000 in Saint-Hyacinthe. The clone is a result of the combined efforts of CIAQ, L'Alliance Boviteq Inc, and the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire de l'Université de Montréal. The cloned calf was born 21 years and 5 months after Starbuck's own birth date and just under 2 years after his death (17 September 1998). The calf weighed 54.2 kg at birth and showed the same vital signs as calves produced from regular AI or ET. Starbuck II is derived from frozen fibroblast cells, recovered one month before the death of Starbuck.

The Semex Alliance also cloned other bulls, such as Hartline Titanic, Canyon-Breeze Allen, Ladino-Park Talent, and Braedale Goldwyn.

A huge controversy in the UK in January 2007 linked the cloning company Smiddiehill and Humphreston Farm owned by father-and-son team Michael and Oliver Eaton (also owners of the large, Birmingham-based stone product business, BS Eaton) with a calf that was cloned from a cow in Canada. Despite their efforts to block the farm from view of the press, news cameras broadcast this as breaking news among many of the country's top news stations. Since then, this calf had been rumored to have been put down to protect the owners, the Eatons, from invasions of the press.

British Friesian cattle

While interest in increasing production through indexing and lifetime profit scores had a huge increase in Holstein bloodlines in the UK, proponents of the traditional British Friesian did not see things that way, and maintain these criteria do not reflect the true profitability or the production of the Friesian cow.

Friesian breeders say modern conditions in the UK, similar to the 1950s through to the 1980s, with low milk price and the need for extensive, low-cost systems for many farmers, may ultimately cause producers to re-examine the attributes of the British Friesian.

This animal came to dominate the UK dairy cow population during these years, with exports of stock and semen to many countries throughout the world. Although the idea of "dual-purpose" animals has arguably become outmoded, the fact remains that the Friesian is eminently suitable for many farms, particularly where grazing is a main feature of the system.

Proponents argue that Friesians last for more lactations through more robust conformation, thus spreading depreciation costs. An added advantage of income from the male calf exists, which can be placed into barley beef systems (finishing from 11 months) or steers taken on to finish at two years, on a cheap system of grass and silage. Very respectable grades can be obtained, commensurate with beef breeds, thereby providing extra income for the farm.

Such extensive, low-cost systems may imply lower veterinary costs, through good fertility, resistance to lameness, and a tendency to higher protein percentage, and, therefore, higher milk price. An 800-kg Holstein has a higher daily maintenance energy requirement than the 650-kg Friesian.

Friesians have also been disadvantaged through the comparison of their type to a Holstein base. A separate "index" be composed to greater has been suggested to reflect the aspects of maintenance for bodyweight, protein percentage, longevity, and calf value. National Milk Records figures suggest highest yields are achieved between the fifth and seventh lactations; if so, this is particularly so for Friesians, with a greater lift for mature cows, and sustained over more lactations. However, production index only takes the first five lactations into account. British Friesian breeding has certainly not stood still, and through studied evaluation, substantial gains in yield have been achieved without the loss of type.

History
Friesians were imported into the east coast ports of England and Scotland, from the lush pastures of North Holland, during the 19th century until live cattle importations were stopped in 1892, as a precaution against endemic foot and mouth disease on the Continent. They were so few in number, they were not included in the 1908 census.

In 1909, though, the society was formed as the British Holstein Cattle Society, soon to be changed to British Holstein Friesian Society and, by 1918, to the British Friesian Cattle Society.

The Livestock Journal of 1900 referred to both the "exceptionally good" and "remarkably inferior" Dutch cattle. The Dutch cow was also considered to require more quality fodder and need more looking after than some English cattle that could easily be out-wintered.

In an era of agricultural depression, breed societies notably had flourished, as a valuable export trade developed for traditional British breeds of cattle. At the end of 1912, the herd book noted 1,000 males and 6,000 females, the stock which originally formed the foundation of the breed in England and Scotland. Entry from then until 1921, when grading up was introduced, was by pedigree only.

No other Friesian cattle were imported until the official importation of 1914, which included several near descendants of the renowned dairy bull Ceres 4497 F.R.S. These cattle were successful in establishing the Friesian as an eminent, long-lived dairy breed in Britain. This role was continued in the 1922 importation from South Africa through Terling Marthus and Terling Collona, which were also near descendants of Ceres 4497.

The 1936 importation from the Netherlands introduced a more dual-purpose type of animal, the Dutch having moved away from the Ceres line in the meantime.

The 1950 importation has a lesser influence on the breed today than the previous importations, although various Adema sons were used successfully in some herds.

The Friesian enjoyed great expansion in the 1950s, through to the 80s, until the increased Holstein influence on the national herd in the 1990s ; a trend which is being questioned by some commercial dairy farmers in the harsh dairying climate that prevails today, with the need to exploit grazing potential to the fullest.

Friesian semen is once again being exported to countries with grass-based systems of milk production. The modern Friesian is pre-eminently a grazing animal, well able to sustain itself over many lactations, on both low-lying and upland grasslands, being developed by selective breeding over the last 100 years. Some outstanding examples of the breed have 12 to 15 lactations to their credit, emphasising their inherent natural fecundity. In response to demand, protein percentages have been raised across the breed, and herd protein levels of 3.4% to 3.5% are not uncommon.

Whilst the British Friesian is first and foremost a dairy breed, giving high lifetime yields of quality milk from home-produced feeds, by a happy coincidence, surplus male animals are highly regarded as producers of high quality, lean meat, whether crossed with a beef breed or not. Beef-cross heifers have long been sought after as ideal suckler cow replacements.

Although understanding the need to change the society's name to include the word Holstein in 1988, British Friesian enthusiasts are less than happy now that the word Friesian has been removed from the name. With the history of the breed spanning 100 years, the British Friesian cow is continuing to prove her worth. The general robustness and proven fertility provide an ideal black and white cross for Holstein breeders seeking these attributes.

The disposal of male black and white calves continues to receive media attention, and would appear to be a waste of a valuable resource. One of the great strengths of the British Friesian is the ability of the male calf to finish and grade satisfactorily, either in intensive systems, or as steers, extensively. This latter system may become increasingly popular due to the prohibitive increase in grain prices. The robustness of the British Friesian and its suitability to grazing and forage systems is well known.

Compared to the Holsteins, the Friesians:
 * Calve more frequently
 * Calve more often in their lifetimes
 * Need fewer replacements
 * Provide valuable male calves
 * Have lower cell counts
 * Have higher fat and protein percentages

Polled Holsteins
The first polled Holstein was identified in the United States in 1889. Polled Holsteins have the dominant polled gene which makes them naturally hornless. The polled gene has historically had a very low gene frequency in the Holstein breed. However, with animal welfare concerns surrounding the practice of dehorning, the interest in polled genetics is growing rapidly.

Red and white Holsteins

The expression of red colour replacing the black in Holsteins is a function of a recessive gene. Assuming the allele 'B' stands for the dominant black and 'b' for the recessive red, cattle with the paired genes 'BB', 'Bb', or 'bB' would be black and white, while 'bb' cattle would be red and white.

History
Earlier 13th-century records show cattle of "broken" colours entered the Netherlands from Central Europe. Most foundation stock in the US were imported between 1869 and 1885. A group of early breeders decreed that animals of any colour other than black and white would not be accepted in the herd book, and that the breed would be known as Holsteins. There were objections, saying that quality and not colour should be the aim, and that the cattle should be called "Dutch" rather than Holsteins.

Only a small number of carriers were identified over the hundred-year span from the early importations until they were accepted into the Canadian and American herd books in 1969 and 1970, respectively. Most of the early accounts of red calves being born to black and white parents were never documented. A few stories of "reds" born to elite parents persist over time, as there is a tendency to credit the ancestor with the highest (closest) relationship to a red-carrier animal as the one that transmitted the trait, whereas sometimes it is the other parental line that has passed it on, even though the ancestor responsible may have entered the pedigree several generations earlier.

In 1952, a sire in an artificial insemination (AI) unit in the US was a carrier of red coat colour. Although the AI unit reported the condition and advised breeders as to its mode of inheritance, almost a third of the breeding unit's Holstein inseminations that year were to that red-carrier bull. That year, American AI units had used 67 red-factor bulls that had sired 8250 registered progeny. In spite of this, any change to the colour marking rules was rejected.

The Red and White Dairy Cattle Association (RWDCA) began registry procedures in 1964 in the United States. Its first members were Milking Shorthorn breeders, who wanted a dairy registry for the cattle they had bred in prior years, including some red and white Holsteins. When Milking Shorthorn breeders were looking for potential outcrossing individuals to improve milk production, red and white Holsteins came into the picture, since the red colour factor is the same for both breeds. The RWDCA had adopted an "open herd book" policy, and the Red and White Holstein became the major player.

The red trait was thus able to survive the attempts to eradicate it that came from all sides of the Holstein industry. It was inevitable that even when a red calf was culled, the herd owner rarely did anything to remove the dam from his herd and only hoped she would not have another red calf. Many red calves, born in both countries prior to the 1970s, were quietly disposed of, with a view to preserving the acceptance of their elite pedigrees.

Also, thousands of Holsteins were imported from Canada each year, and many were carriers. More than 14,000 Holsteins were exported to the United States in 1964 and again in 1965. This was at a time when both countries were debating the "red question". While the United States was trying to eliminate the red trait, the Canadian imports simply counterbalanced the US effort to reduce its incidence.

Canada's number one red-carrier sire in the 1940s was A.B.C. Reflection Sovereign. His sons and grandsons in the 1950s and '60s spread the red gene throughout Canada and increased its frequency in the United States. Three other big names siring Red and Whites in the United States were Rosafe Citation R, Roeland Reflection Sovereign, and Chambric A.B.C. The red trait was readily available in Canadian Holstein genetics.

Early on, there was criticism of the policy of the Canadian AI units to remove bulls found to carry red. A number of superior bulls were slaughtered or exported. The studs were simply supporting the Canadian policy to prevent the intensification of the red recessive in the breed. The phrase "carries the red factor" had to be included in the description, and excessive promotion of unproven red-factor bulls was discouraged. They later added the aim of permitting intelligent breeders to use any red-carrier sire that had an outstanding proof for production and type.

It became obvious that AI was the primary way of finding out which bulls were red carriers. Prior to AI, few red-carrier sires were uncovered because their service was limited to one or a few herds. Such herds often had no carrier females, and there was only a 25% chance that a carrier bull mated to a carrier female would produce a red calf. If a red and white calf were dropped, it was often concealed and quietly removed from the herd.

In 1964, the Netherlands Herd Book Society indicated a breakdown of 71% Black and White Friesian and 28% Red and Whites. A herd book that accepted Red and Whites had already been established in the United States. A separate herd book for Canadian Red and Whites was then established, following which Red and Whites became acceptable to the major Canadian (export) markets. The sales ring began to establish interest in the new breed.

The US Holstein-Friesian Association and its membership worked diligently from its early days until 1970 to eliminate the red trait from the registered population. However, once the door was open, red and whites began to appear in some of the more elite herds. The rush to get the best of Canadian breeding even prior to the opening of the herd book brought red calves to many dairymen who had never even seen one.

Canadian Red and Whites became eligible for registration in the herd book on July 1, 1969, through an alternate registry. Red and Whites were to be listed with the suffix –RED and Black and Whites with ineligible markings would be registered with the suffix –ALT. Both groups and their progeny would be listed only in the Alternate book and the suffixes had to be part of the name. In the Canadian herd books, all –Alt and -Red animals were listed in the regular herd book in registration number order and were identified with an A in front of their numbers. The Alternates were separate in name only. The A in front of the registration number was discontinued in 1976 and the –Alt suffix was dropped in 1980, but –Red was continued. It did not bar the registration of animals whose hair turned from red to black.

The US Holstein Association decided not to have a separate herd book for red and whites and off-color animals. The suffixes of –Red and –OC would be used, and numbering would be consecutive. The first red and white Holsteins were recorded with an R in front of their numbers. 212 males and 1191 females were recorded in the initial group of red registrations. Red and Whites registered in the Canadian herd book numbered 281 in 1969 and 243 in 1970.

An American Breeders Service ad in the Canadian Holstein Journal in 1974 on Hanover-Hill Triple Threat mentioned one of several colour variants that were not true red. Its existence was undoubtedly common knowledge among breeders in both countries, but until that time, it had not been mentioned in print. Calves were born red and white and registered as such, but over the first six months of age turned black or mostly black with some reddish hairs down the backline, around the muzzle and at the poll. The hair coat colour change became known as Black/Red and sometimes as Telstar/Red, since the condition appeared in calves sired by Roybrook Telstar. Telstar was the sire of Triple Threat, but nothing about this had hitherto been in print about Telstar, which was by then over 10 years old.

Black/Reds were often discriminated against when sold and were barred from Red and White-sponsored shows. In 1984, Holstein Canada considered recoding B/R bulls that had always been coded simply as red carriers, a designation that was not acceptable to all buyers. The breed agreed to change after checking with other breed associations and with the AI industry. In 1987, Holstein Canada and the Canadian AI industry modified their coding procedures to distinguish between Black/Red and true red colour patterns for bulls. Holstein Canada dropped the suffix Red as a part of the name in 1990, but continued to carry it as part of the birth date and other codes field.

Notable Holsteins

 * Ubre Blanca, Fidel Castro's cow (1972–1985)
 * Pauline Wayne, US president William Howard Taft's cow
 * RORA Elevation, a prize-winning bull
 * Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, a bull with great genes for milk production; however, he also introduced a lethal gene into the population
 * Belle Sarcastic, "unofficial mascot" of Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections
 * Kian (1997-2013), the first red Holstein bull whose semen has sold more than one million units worldwide
 * Osborndale Ivanhoe (1952-1970), Holstein bull owned by Frances Osborne Kellogg and mated 100,187 times and whose semen was shipped all over the world.
 * Toystory (2001-2014), Holstein bull whose semen has sold more than 2.4 million units worldwide and has been estimated to have sired over 500,000 offspring
 * Knickers, an extremely large steer from Western Australia, which was making worldwide headlines in November 2018 for being too large to be processed at the local abattoirs.

Other sources

 * Low, David (1845) On the Domesticated Animals of the British Islands: Comprehending the Natural and Economical History of Species and Varieties; the Description of the Properties of External Form; and Observations on the Principles and Practice of Breeding, Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans.

title: Holstein Friesian


text:
ICAC

ICAC may refer to:
 * Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong)
 * Independent Commission Against Corruption (Mauritius)
 * Independent Commission Against Corruption (New South Wales)
 * Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (Northern Territory)
 * Independent Commission Against Corruption (South Australia)
 * Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference
 * Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean
 * Intermountain Collegiate Athletic Conference
 * The International Cotton Advisory Committee
 * Internet Crimes Against Children
 * Inter County Athletic Conference (Illinois)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: ICAC


text:
The Secret of the Universe

The Secret of the Universe (1991) is a collection of seventeen scientific essays by American writer and scientist Isaac Asimov. It is the twenty-second and final of a series of books collecting essays from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF). Asimov died in 1992.

The 22 books collect 373 of Asimov's 399 essays for the magazine.

Contents

 * "The Cosmic Lens" (February 1989)
 * "The Secret of the Universe" (March 1989)
 * "The Moon's Twin" (April 1989)
 * "The Changing Distance" (May 1989)
 * "A Change of Air" (June 1989)
 * "The Importance of Pitch" (July 1989)
 * "Long Ago and Far Away" (August 1989)
 * "The True Rulers" (September 1989)
 * "The Nearest Star" (October 1989)
 * "Massing the Sun" (November 1989)
 * "What Are Little Stars Made Of?" (December 1989)
 * "Hot, Cold, and Con Fusion" (January 1990)
 * "Business as Usual" (February 1990)
 * "Smashing the Sky" (March 1990)
 * "Worlds in Order" (April 1990)
 * "Just Say 'No'?" (May 1990)
 * "The Salt-Producers" (June 1990)

title: The Secret of the Universe


text:
Acanthamoeba

Acanthamoeba is a genus of amoebae that are commonly recovered from soil, fresh water, and other habitats. The genus Acanthamoeba has two stages in its life cycle, the metabolically active trophozoite stage and a dormant, stress-resistant cyst stage. In nature, Acanthamoeba species are generally free-living bacterivores. However, they are also opportunistic pathogens able to cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in humans and other animals.

Distribution
Acanthamoeba spp. are among the most prevalent protozoa found in the environment. They are distributed worldwide, and have been isolated from soil, air, sewage, seawater, chlorinated swimming pools, domestic tap water, bottled water, dental treatment units, hospitals, air-conditioning units, and contact lens cases. Additionally, they have been isolated from human skin, nasal cavities, throats, and intestines, as well as plants and other mammals.

Role in disease
Diseases caused by Acanthamoeba include keratitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). The latter is often but not always seen in immunosuppressed patients. GAE is caused by the amoebae entering the body through an open wound and then spreading to the brain. The combination of host immune responses and secreted amoebal proteases causes massive brain swelling resulting in death in about 95% of those infected.

Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE)
Granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) is caused by amoebic infection of the central nervous system (CNS). It is characterized by neurological symptoms including headache, seizures, and mental-status abnormalities. These worsen progressively over weeks to months, leading to death in most patients. Infection is generally associated with underlying conditions such as immunodeficiency, diabetes, malignancies, malnutrition, systemic lupus erythematosus, and alcoholism. The parasite enters the body through cuts in the skin or by being inhaled into the upper respiratory tract. The parasite then spreads through the blood into the CNS. Acanthamoeba crosses the blood–brain barrier by means that are not yet understood. Subsequent invasion of the connective tissue and induction of pro-inflammatory responses leads to neuronal damage that can be fatal within days. Pure granulomatous lesions are rare in patients with AIDS and other related immunodeficiency states, as the patients do not have adequate numbers of CD+ve T-cells to mount a granulomatous response to Acanthamoeba infection in CNS and other organs and tissues. A perivascular cuffing with amoebae in necrotic tissue is usual finding in the AIDS and related T-cell immunodeficiency conditions.

Brain biopsy normally reveals severe oedema and hemorrhagic necrosis. A patient who has contracted this illness usually displays subacute symptoms, including altered mental status, headaches, fever, neck stiffness, seizures, and focal neurological signs (such as cranial nerve palsies and coma), all leading to death within one week to several months. Due to the rarity of this parasite and a lack of knowledge, no good diagnoses or treatments for Acanthamoeba infection are now known. Acanthamoeba keratitis cases in the past have resolved from a therapy consisting of atropine and some other drugs with no antimicrobial effects. Recent publications show atropine to interfere with the protist's CHRM1 receptor, causing cell death.

Infection usually mimics that of bacterial leptomeningitis, tuberculous meningitis, or viral encephalitis. The misdiagnosis often leads to erroneous, ineffective treatment. In the case that the Acanthamoeba is diagnosed correctly, the current treatments, such as amphotericin B, rifampicin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ketoconazole, fluconazole, sulfadiazine, or albendazole, are only tentatively successful. Correct and timely diagnosis, as well as improved treatment methods and an understanding of the parasite, are important factors in improving the outcome of infection by Acanthamoeba. A paper published in 2013 has shown substantial effects of some FDA-approved drugs with an in vitro kill rate above 90%. These results were in vitro effects, but as the drugs are already approved, human infections can be targeted after dose calculations in clinical trials done with these diverse groups of drugs.

Acanthamoebic keratitis
When present in the eye, Acanthamoeba strains can cause acanthamoebic keratitis, which may lead to corneal ulcers or even blindness. This condition occurs most often among contact lens wearers who do not properly disinfect their lenses, exacerbated by a failure to wash hands prior to handling the lenses. Multipurpose contact lens solutions are largely ineffective against Acanthamoeba, whereas hydrogen peroxide-based solutions have good disinfection characteristics.

The first cure of a corneal infection was achieved in 1985 at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

In May 2007, Advanced Medical Optics, manufacturer of Complete Moisture Plus Contact Lens Solution products, issued a voluntary recall of their Complete Moisture Plus solutions. The fear was that contact lens wearers who used their solution were at higher risk of acanthamoebic keratitis than contact lens wearers who used other solutions. The manufacturer recalled the product after the Centers for Disease Control in the United States found that 21 people had possibly received an Acanthamoeba infection after using Complete Moisture Plus in the month prior to diagnosis.

As a bacterial reservoir
Several species of bacteria that can cause human disease are also able to infect and replicate within Acanthamoeba species. These include Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and some strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. For some of these bacteria, replication inside Acanthamoeba has been associated with enhanced growth in macrophages, and increased resistance to some antibiotics. Furthermore, due to the high prevalence of Acanthamoeba in the environment, these amoebae have been proposed to serve as an environmental reservoir for some human pathogens.

Ecology
A. castellanii can be found at high densities in various soil ecosystems. It preys on bacteria, but also fungi and other protozoa.

This species is able to lyse bacteria and produce a wide range of enzymes, such as cellulases or chitinases, and probably contributes to the breakdown of organic matter in soil, contributing to the microbial loop.

Role as a model organism
Because Acanthamoeba does not differ greatly at the ultrastructural level from a mammalian cell, it is an attractive model for cell-biology studies; it is important in cellular microbiology, environmental biology, physiology, cellular interactions, molecular biology, biochemistry, and evolutionary studies, due to the organisms' versatile roles in the ecosystem and ability to capture prey by phagocytosis, act as vectors and reservoirs for microbial pathogens, and to produce serious human infections. In addition, Acanthamoeba has been used extensively to understand the molecular biology of cell motility and cancer cell dormancy by in-depth exploration of the process of encystation.

The recently available Acanthamoeba genome sequence revealed several orthologs of genes employed in meiosis of sexual eukaryotes. These genes included Spo11, Mre11, Rad50, Rad51, Rad52, Mnd1, Dmc1, Msh, and Mlh. This finding suggests that Acanthamoeba is capable of some form of meiosis and may be able to undergo sexual reproduction. Furthermore, since Acanthamoeba diverged early from the eukaryotic family tree, these results suggest that meiosis was present early in eukaryotic evolution.

Owing to its ease and economy of cultivation, the Neff strain of A. castellanii, discovered in a pond in Golden Gate Park in the 1960s, has been effectively used as a classic model organism in the field of cell biology. From just 30 L of simple medium inoculated with A. castellanii, about 1 kg of cells can be obtained after several days of aerated culture at room temperature. Pioneered in the laboratory of Edward D. Korn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), many important biological molecules have been discovered and their pathways elucidated using the Acanthamoeba model. Thomas Dean Pollard applied this model at the NIH, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies to discover and characterize many proteins that are essential for cell motility, not only in amoebae, but also in many other eukaryotic cells, especially those of the human nervous and immune systems, the developing embryo, and cancer cells. Acanthamoeba also has served as a model to study the evolution of certain G-proteins. This unicellular eukaryote expresses few GPCRs over its cell membrane that serve vital role for the microorganism, structural homology bioinformatics tools have been used to show the presence of a homolog of human M1-muscarinic receptor in A. castellanii. Blocking these muscarinic receptors in past studies has proven to be amoebicidal in Acanthamoeba spp. More recently, voltage-gated calcium channels in Acanthamoeba spp. (CavAc) have been reported to have similarities with human voltage-gated calcium channels such as TPC-1 and L-type calcium channels and respond to Ca-channel blockers such as loperamide. This model microbe has been studied to understand complex neurodegenerative states including Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have isolated a neurotransmitter acetylcholine in Acanthamoeba and the enzymatic machinery needed for its synthesis.

Endosymbionts
Acanthamoeba spp. contain diverse bacterial endosymbionts that are similar to human pathogens, so they are considered to be potential emerging human pathogens. The exact nature of these symbionts and the benefit they represent for the amoebic host still have to be clarified. These include Legionella and Legionella-like pathogens.

Giant viruses
The giant viruses Mimivirus, Megavirus, and Pandoravirus infect Acanthamoeba.

Members of the genus Acanthamoeba are unusual in serving as hosts for a variety of giant viruses (that have more than 1000 protein-coding genes; for instance, Pandoravirus, which has about 2500 protein-coding genes in its genome).

Diversity
Acanthamoeba can be distinguished from other genera of amoebae based on morphological characteristics. However, differentiating one species of Acanthamoeba from another by morphology has proven difficult. Based on 18S rDNA sequencing, known Acanthamoeba strains can be organized into 12 groups, denoted T1-T12. Most disease-causing isolates belong to type T4.

Below is a list of described species of Acanthamoeba, with sequence types noted where known. Species that have been identified in diseased patients are marked with *.
 * A. astronyxis (Ray & Hayes 1954) Page 1967 * (T7)
 * A. byersi Qvarnstrom, Nerad & Visvesvara 2013 *
 * A. castellanii Volkonski 1931 * (T4) [A. terricola Pussard 1964 ]
 * A. comandoni Pussard 1964 (T9)
 * A. culbertsoni (Singh & Das 1970) Griffin 1972 * (T10)
 * A. divionensis Pussard & Pons 1977 (T4)
 * A. echinulata Pussard & Pons 1977
 * A. gigantea Schmöller 1964
 * A. glebae (Dobell 1914)
 * A. gleichenii Volkonsky 1931
 * A. griffini Sawyer 1971 (T3)
 * A. hatchetti Sawyer, Visvesvara & Harke 1977 * (T11)
 * A. healyi Moura, Wallace & Visvesvara 1992 (T12)
 * A. hyalina Dobel & O'connor 1921
 * A. jacobsi Sawyer, Nerad & Visvesvara 1992
 * A. keratitis *
 * A. lenticulata Molet & Ermolieff-braun 1976 (T3)
 * A. lugdunensis Pussard & Pons 1977 * (T4)
 * A. mauritaniensis Pussard & Pons 1977 (T4)
 * A. micheli Corsaro et al. 2015
 * A. palestinensis (Reich 1933) Page 1977 * (T1)
 * A. paradivionensis Pussard & Pons 1977 (T4)
 * A. pearcei Nerad et al. 1995
 * A. polyphaga (Puschkarew 1913) Volkonsky 1931 * (T4)
 * A. pustulosa Pussard & Pons 1977 (T2)
 * A. pyriformis (Olive & Stoianovitch 1969) Spiegel & Shadwick 2016
 * A. quina Pussard & Pons 1977 *
 * A. rhysodes (Singh 1952) Griffin 1972 * (T4)
 * A. royreba Willaert, Stevens & Tyndall 1978
 * A. sohi Kyung-il & Shin 2003
 * A. stevensoni Sawyer et al. 1993 (T11)
 * A. triangularis Pussard & Pons 1977 (T4)
 * A. tubiashi Lewis & Sawyer 1979 (T8)

Etymology
From the Greek akantha (spike/thorn), which was added before "amoeba" (change) to describe this organism as having a spine-like structure (acanthopodia). This organism is now well known as Acanthamoeba, an amphizoic, opportunistic, and nonopportunistic protozoan protist widely distributed in the environment.

title: Acanthamoeba


text:
User:Eclecticology/Sandbox

'''Subclass PB: Modern languages. Celtic languages''' is a classification used by the Library of Congress classification system under Class P -- Language and Literature. This article describes subclass PB.

title: User:Eclecticology/Sandbox


text:
Elon Peace Plan

The so-called Elon Peace Plan (also formerly "The Right Road to Peace"; now "The Israeli Initiative") is a plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through the principles of rehabilitation of Palestinian refugees, Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank and, at the time, the Gaza Strip), and strategic cooperation with Jordan, based on Jordan becoming a Palestinian state.

History
The plan was originally proposed in 2002 by then-Israeli tourism minister Rabbi Binyamin Elon. It advocates the formal annexation of West Bank and Gaza by Israel, the Palestinians becoming citizens of Jordan, which would become a Palestinian state, with their final status to be negotiated. The Palestinian refugee camps would be dismantled, and the Palestinian refugees would be fully absorbed into their host countries. Elon and Moledet (Elon's party and the chief supporter of this plan) proposed that "Israel, the United States and the international community will allocate resources for the completion of the exchange of populations that began in 1948 and the full rehabilitation of the refugees and their absorption and naturalization in various countries".

Elon continued to advance his plan, including a 2004 visit to Jordan for this purpose, but did not manage to win substantial support for it.

General public support for Elon and his plan in Israel can be gleaned from his party's election results: the National Union received 5.5% support on the Israeli legislative election of 2003 (which went up to 7.14% in the 2006 election after the party's merger with the National Religious Party ).

The changing political climate in Israel following the 2006 Lebanon war and the Hamas takeover of the Gaza strip prompted Elon to resume advancing his plan in 2007, complete with a million-dollar advertising campaign, as "The Israeli Initiative – The Right Road for Peace". Similar in principle to his original proposition, this new formulation gave up on the idea of a Palestinian state being formed in Jordan; while it still has Israel annexing the West Bank, it proposes that the Palestinians would become citizens of Jordan and residents of Israel rather than being re-located (though it also advocates providing them with a financial incentive to leave of their own accord). This idea directly opposes the direction taken by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Kadima-Labor coalition, which aims to negotiate with the Palestinians with the ultimate goal of establishing a Palestinian state.

Pro arguments
The case presented by proponents of the plan is that Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan and other moderate Arab states would all benefit from such a solution. Ideally, Israel could see a sharp drop in terrorist attacks and the dissipation of the demographic threat; Millions of Palestinians would turn from refugees to citizens and would be given new economical opportunities; and the abolition of the Palestinian state would prevent an extremist threat to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, while international financial support and increased co-operation with Israel would provide financial growth and opportunities (which, to a lesser degree, applies to other Arab states as well). Republican US Senator and former presidential candidate Sam Brownback has expressed support of the plan.

Counter arguments
In an essay titled "The Yamin [right-wing] Israel Plan", Prof. Paul Eidelberg wrote that "Even if [the Palestinians] were made Jordanian citizens, as proposed by the otherwise meritorious Elon Plan, it is wishful thinking to believe they will live in peace with the Jews in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza".

title: Elon Peace Plan


text:
Erotic art

Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, films, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Some of the earliest known works of art include erotic themes, which have recurred with varying prominence in different societies throughout history. However, it has also been widely considered taboo, with either social norms or laws restricting its creation, distribution, and possession. This is particularly the case when it is deemed pornographic, immoral, or obscene.

Definition

The definition of erotic art can be subjective because it is dependent on context, as perceptions of what is erotic and what is art vary. A sculpture of a phallus in some cultures may be considered a traditional symbol of potency rather than overtly erotic. Material that is produced to illustrate sex education may be perceived by others as inappropriately erotic. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines erotic art as "art that is made with the intention to stimulate its target audience sexually, and that succeeds to some extent in doing so".

A distinction is often made between erotic art and pornography, which also depicts scenes of sexual activity and is intended to evoke erotic arousal. Pornography is not usually considered fine art. People may draw a distinction based on the work's intent and message: erotic art would be works intended for purposes in addition to arousal, which could be appreciated as art by someone uninterested in their erotic content. US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in 1964 that the distinction was intuitive, saying about hard-core pornography which would not be legally protected as erotic art, "I know it when I see it".

Others, including philosophers Matthew Kieran and Hans Maes, have argued that no strict distinction can be made between erotic art and pornography.

Historical

Among the oldest surviving examples of erotic depictions are Paleolithic cave paintings and carvings, but many cultures have created erotic art. Artifacts have been discovered from ancient Mesopotamia depicting explicit heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently shows scenes of frontal sex in the missionary position. In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium BC, the man is usually shown entering the woman from behind while she bends over, drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often represent the man standing and penetrating the woman as she rests on top of an altar.

Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of ritual sex, but they are more likely to be associated with the cult of Inanna, the goddess of sex and prostitution. Many sexually explicit images were found in the temple of Inanna at Assur, which also contained models of male and female sexual organs, including stone phalli, which may have been worn around the neck as an amulet or used to decorate cult statues, and clay models of the female vulva.

Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001) is an 8.5 ft by 10 in Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at Deir el-Medina, the last two-thirds of which consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions. The men in the illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia and do not conform to Egyptian standards of physical attractiveness. The women are nubile, and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic iconography, such as convolvulus leaves. In some scenes, they hold items traditionally associated with Hathor, the goddess of love, such as lotus flowers, monkeys, and sacred instruments called sistra. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BC) and its high artistic quality indicates that was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have been discovered.

The ancient Greeks painted sexual scenes on their ceramics, many of them famous for being some of the earliest depictions of same-sex relations and pederasty, and there are numerous sexually explicit paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii. The Moche of Peru in South America are another ancient people that sculpted explicit scenes of sex into their pottery. There is an entire gallery devoted to pre-Columbian erotic ceramics (Moche culture) in Lima at the Larco Museum. Edward Perry Warren adapted a love for Greek Art during college and colleceted Greek erotic art pieces that often represented gay sexual relationships, such as the Warren Cup, a Greaco-roman drinking cup which features scenes of anal sex between males. Many of Warren's eclectic pieces collected over the years are in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.

The Umayyad caliph Al-Walid II, who ruled the Arab Islamic empire in the 8th century, was a great patron of erotic art. Among the depictions of the Qusayr Amra, which were built by him, is the abundance of naked females and love scenes.

There is a long tradition of erotic art in Eastern cultures. In Japan, for example, shunga appeared in the 13th century and continued to grow in popularity until the late 19th century when photography was invented. In Japan during the Edo period (1600–1869), Shunga, translated to "spring pictures", was a series of sexually explicit paintings created with ink or woodblock works that became printed onto paper scrolls as an introduction to sexual education. Shunga, embraced by individuals as part of the Shinto religion, focused on liberating the innate sexual beings that are within all humans, including women and homosexual sexuality. Couples engaging in sexual acts were shown laughing and enjoying the sexual encounter with their partner; this focused on the positivity of sex.

Around 1700, shunga was met with opposition and banned in Japan, but the circulation of this prominent Erotic Art continued. Shunga could be found in local libraries and homes of many Japanese citizens. Similarly, the erotic art of China(known as Chungongtu) reached its popular peak during the latter part of the Ming dynasty. In India, the famous Kama Sutra is an ancient sex manual that is still popularly read throughout the world.

In Europe, starting with the Renaissance, there was a tradition of producing erotica for the amusement of the aristocracy. The I Modi was an erotic book with engravings of sexual scenes by Marcantonio Raimondi that were based on designs by Giulio Romano. I modi was thought to be created in around 1524 to 1527.

In 1601, Caravaggio painted the Amor Vincit Omnia for the collection of the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani.

An erotic cabinet, ordered by Catherine the Great, seems to have been adjacent to her suite of rooms in the Gatchina Palace. The furniture was eccentric, with tables that had large penises for legs. Penises and vaginas were carved on the furniture and the walls were covered in erotic art. The rooms and the furniture were seen in 1941 by two Wehrmacht-officers but they seem to have vanished since then. A documentary by Peter Woditsch suggests that the cabinet was in the Peterhof Palace and not in Gatchina.

The tradition was continued by other, more modern painters, such as Fragonard, Courbet, Millet, Balthus, Picasso, Edgar Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Egon Schiele. Schiele served time in jail and had several works destroyed by the authorities for offending contemporary mores with his depictions of nude girls.

By the 20th century, photography became the most common medium for erotic art. Publishers like Taschen mass-produced erotic illustrations and erotic photography.

20th century onwards
Many erotic artists worked in the 2010s. Much of the genre is still not as well accepted as the more standard genres of art such as portraiture and landscape. Erotic depictions in art went through a fundamental repositioning over the course of the 20th century. Early 20th century movements in art such as cubism, futurism, and German expressionism explored the erotic through manipulating the nude to explore multiple viewpoints, colour experimentation, and the simplification of the figure into geometrical components.

In the mid 20th century, realism and surrealism offered new modes of representation of the nude. For surrealist artist's, the erotic became a way of exploring ideas of fantasy, the unconscious and the dream state. Artist's such as Paul Delvaux, Giorgio de Chirico and Max Ernst are well-known surrealist artist's that dealt with the erotic directly. In the aftermath of the First World War, a shift away from abstracted human figures of the 1920s and 1930s towards realism took place. Artists such as British Artist Stanley Spencer led this re-appropriated approach to the human figure in Britain, with naked self-portraits of himself and his second wife in erotic settings This is explicitly evident in his work Double nude portrait, 1937.

The naked portrait was arguably becoming a category of erotic art that was dominating the 20th century, just as the academic nude had dominated the 19th century. Critical writings on the 'nude' and in particular the female 'nude', meant fundamental shifts in how depictions of the nude and the portrayal of sexuality were being considered. Seminal texts such as British Art historian Kenneth Clark's The nude: a study of ideal art in 1956 and Art Critic John Berger in 1972 in his book Ways of Seeing, were re-examining the notion of the naked and the nude within art. This period in art was defined by an acute engagement with the political. It marked a historical moment that stressed the importance of the sexual revolution upon art.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social and political change across the United States and Europe. Movements included the fight for equality for women with a focus on sexuality, reproductive rights, the family, and the workplace. Artists and historians began to investigate how images in Western art and the media, were often produced within a male narrative and particularly how it perpetuated idealisations of the female subject. The questioning and interrogation of the overarching male gaze within the historical art narrative, manifested in both critical writing and artistic practice, came to define much of the mid to late 20th century art and erotic art. American Art Historian Carol Duncan summarises the male gaze and its relationship to erotic art, writing "More than any other theme, the nude could demonstrate that art originates in and is sustained by male erotic energy. This is why many 'seminal' works of the period are nudes." Artists such as Sylvia Sleigh is an example of this reversal of the male gaze as her work depicts male sitters presented in traditional erotic reclining poses that usually were reserved for the female nude as part of the 'odalisque' tradition.

The rise of feminism, the sexual revolution and conceptual art in the mid 20th century meant that the interaction between the image and audience, and the artist and audience, were beginning to be questioned and redefined, opening up new possible areas of practice. Artists began to use their own nude bodies and began to depict an alternative narrative of the erotic, through new lenses. New media was beginning to be used to portray the nude and the erotic, with performance and photography being used by women artists, to draw attention to issues of gender power relations and the blurred boundaries between pornography and art. Artists such as Carolee Schneemann, and Hannah Wilke were using these new mediums to interrogate the constructs of gender roles and sexuality. Wilke's photographs, for instance, satirised the mass objectification of the female body in pornography and advertising.

Performance art since the 1960s has flourished and is considered as a direct response and challenge to traditional types of media and was associated with the dematerialization of the artwork or object. As performance that dealt with the erotic flourished in the 1980s and 1990s both male and female artists were exploring new strategies of representation of the erotic.

Martha Edelheit was a female artist known for her contributions to erotic art as a rebellious stance against typical gender roles, which excluded women artists from participating in free sexual expression. This limited women to often be the subject of many famous Erotic Art pieces which catered to men. Edelheit was criticized for being a female artist who created erotic artwork during a time where men were main contributors in this art. Edelheit was a pioneer in the feminist art movement because she was a woman who created erotic art and also depicted herself in many of her works, which paved the way for women's equality in sexual expression.

Edelheit confronted the common stereotype that this art was pornographic by offering an alternative view of oneself. Her works paved the way for women to openly express sexual desires. Painting nude male subjects were uncommon in the 1970s; her Art turned the tables and allowed for women to be at the forefront of this fem expression revolution that occurred in the 70s.

The acceptance and popularity of erotic art has pushed the genre into mainstream pop-culture and has created many famous icons. Frank Frazetta, Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo, Chris Achilleos, and Clyde Caldwell are among the artists whose work has been widely distributed. The Guild of Erotic Artists was formed in 2002 to bring together a body of like-minded individuals whose sole purpose was to express themselves and promote the sensual art of erotica for the modern age.

Between 2010 and 2015 sexologist and gallerist Laura Henkel, curator of the Erotic Heritage Museum and the Sin City Gallery, organised 12 Inches of Sin, an exhibition focussing on art that expresses a diverse view of sexuality and challenging ideas of high and low art. The erotic continues to be explored and employed in new types of art work today and the profound developments of the 20th century still underpin much of the prevailing erotic art and artistic intent.

Legal standards
Whether or not an instance of erotic art is obscene depends on the standards of the jurisdiction and community in which it is displayed.

In the United States, the 1973 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Miller v. California established a three-tiered test to determine what was obscene—and thus not protected, versus what was merely erotic and thus protected by the First Amendment.

Delivering the opinion of the court, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote, The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

As this is still much vaguer than other judicial tests within U.S. jurisprudence, it has not reduced the conflicts that often result, especially from the ambiguities concerning what the "contemporary community standards" are. Similar difficulties in distinguishing between erotica and obscenity have been found in other legal systems.

title: Erotic art


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Matriculation

Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.

Australia
In Australia, the term matriculation is seldom used now. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, all states replaced the matriculation examination with either a certificate, such as the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in Victoria and New South Wales, or a university entrance exam such as the Tertiary Entrance Exam in Western Australia. These have all been renamed (except in New South Wales) as a state-based certificate, such as the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).

Some Catholic university colleges in Australia have reintroduced matriculation ceremonies. New students at the College of St John the Evangelist within the University of Sydney and new students at Campion College Australia sign the college register during a formal ceremony whilst wearing academic dress.

Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, the "Matriculation" is the Secondary School Examination (SSC) taken at year 10, and the Intermediate Exams is the Higher Secondary Examination (HSC) taken at year 12. Bangladesh, like the rest of Indian sub-continent, still uses terms such as Matriculation Exams and Intermediate Exams taken from the days of the British Raj although in England itself these terms were replaced by 'O' or Ordinary Level Examinations (now called GCSEs) and 'A' or Advanced Level Examinations respectively.

Brazil
In Brazilian Portuguese, the word matricular refers to the act of enrolling in an educational course, whether it be elementary, high school, college or post-graduate education.

Canada
In Canada, the term is used by some older universities to refer to orientation ("frosh") events, however some universities, including University of King's College, still hold formal Matriculation ceremonies. The ceremony at King's is quite similar to the matriculation ceremonies held in universities such as Oxford or Cambridge. Trinity College at the University of Toronto also holds formal matriculation ceremonies, during which time incoming students are required to sign a matriculation register, making the practice the closest in format to that conducted by Oxford and Cambridge colleges of any university in North America. "F!rosh Week" at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering also begins with a distinct Matriculation ceremony held at the university's Convocation Hall; though, there is no matriculation register to be signed, and the event is held by the student-run University of Toronto Engineering Society (through their Orientation Committee) rather than officially by the faculty. It is also where first-year engineering students take the "Hardhat Oath," a modified version of the Rifleman's Creed. At McGill University in Montreal, matriculation ceremonies have been substantially stripped down since the 1990s, although a speech by the Principal, typically held at Molson Stadium, to the incoming class is still a ritualized annual tradition. In Ontario during the era with grade 13, satisfactory completion of grade 12 was considered junior matriculation and satisfactory completion of grade 13 was senior matriculation. In Nova Scotia, at the present time, Junior matriculation is grade 11 and senior matriculation is completion of grade 12.

Czech Republic
At Charles University in Prague, the oldest and most prestigious university in the Czech Republic, matriculation is held at the Great Hall (Magna Aula). The ceremony is attended by students commencing their studies. It is intended as a demonstration of the adoption of student's duties and obtaining of student's rights. The ceremony itself involves students taking the Matriculation Oath of the university and symbolically touching the faculty mace and shaking the dean's hand.

Other Czech universities hold ceremonies similar to the one just described.

Denmark
In Denmark, the University of Copenhagen holds a matriculation ceremony each year. The ceremony is held in the Hall of Ceremony in the main building of the university. The ceremony begins with a procession with the rector and the deans in academic dress and other regalia. The ceremony continues with the rector listing the different faculties, after which the different student, shouts when their respective faculty is mentioned. The rector then delivers a speech, after which the rector and the deans leave the ceremony again in procession, after which a party is held on university grounds, to mark the admission of the new students.

Finland
In Finland, Matriculation (Finnish: Ylioppilastutkinto, Swedish: Studentexamen) is the examination taken at the end of Secondary education to qualify for entry into University. In practice the test also constitutes the high school's final exams, although there is a separate diploma on graduating from high school, based not on the exam, but on the grades of individual courses. Since 1919, the test has been arranged by a national body, the Matriculation Examination Board. Before that, the administration of the test was the responsibility of the University of Helsinki (which until 1918 was the only university in Finland).

Germany
The German term Immatrikulation describes the administrative process of enrolling at university as a student. This can happen for winter semester and, depending on the degree program, also for summer semester. It does not involve a ceremony. A prerequisite for matriculation is generally the Abitur, which is the standard matriculation examination in Germany, for regular universities and Fachhochschulreife for Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Sciences). Both Abitur and Fachhochschulreife are school leaving certificates which students receive after passing their final examinations at some types of German secondary schools.

Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the term is used interchangeably with the completion of sixth-form. After sitting for the Certificate of Education examinations, eligible students receive two years of sixth-form education, upon completion, they sit for the A-level examinations. Most secondary schools offer the sixth-form programme, and there are also a few sixth-form colleges. Students obtaining good grades in the A-level examinations will be admitted to a university. The education reforms of Hong Kong in the 2000s have replaced the fourth- and fifth-form education, which prepared students for the HKCEE, and the sixth-form education with a three-year senior secondary education, which leads to the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination. The last sixth-form students graduated and took the A-level examinations in 2012; in the same year the first students studying the new senior secondary curriculum graduated and took the first HKDSE examinations.

India
In India, matriculation is a term commonly used to refer to the final results of the 10th class, which ends at tenth Board (tenth grade), and the qualification consequently received by passing the national board exams or the state board exams, commonly called "matriculation exams".

India still uses terms such as Matriculation Exams and Intermediate Exams for Class 10th and Class 12th Board Exams respectively, taken from the days of British rule although in England these terms have been replaced by 'O' or Ordinary Level Examinations (now called GCSEs) and 'A' or Advanced Level Examinations.

English is the standard language for matriculation for science subjects, while regional languages are also an option. Most students who pass matriculation, or class 10, are 15–16 years old. Upon successfully passing, a student may continue onto the Higher secondary school. Most students who pass class 12 are 17–18 years old. The CBSE and ICSE boards conduct twelfth standard courses nationally, while state boards operate at the state-level. Although the basic curriculum is prescribed by the CBSE & almost all the competitive exams for entering in various universities in India are based on CBSE syllabus, various scholarships are also provided to students appearing for matriculation exams like NTSE, NSO, NSTSC etc.

Malaysia
In Malaysia, matriculation programmes are run by public universities and the Ministry of Education (MoE). Matriculation programmes offered by public universities offer fewer options for further study upon completion of the said program as they are limited to that particular university.

The matriculation programme provided by the MoE is a one-year pre-U program sponsored by the Malaysian government. SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or the Malaysian Certificate of Education) holders can apply for MoE Matriculation during their SPM year [Form 5]. Students that are offered the matriculation programme will be posted to several Matriculation Colleges within Malaysia.

After MoE Matriculation, they can further their studies in local universities within Malaysia. Several universities in United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand recognize the MoE Matriculation as a pre-U qualification.

Apart from the matriculation programmes, there is the STPM programme ([Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia] or Malaysian Higher School Certificate), the standardised national examinations taken by Form 6 students. STPM is different from the matriculation programme in terms of its duration (2 years vs. 1 year), syllabus (breadth and depth), marking method (standardised assessment nationwide vs. assessment by matriculation college itself) and passing rate.

Nepal
In Nepal, it refers to the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) before now it is known as Secondary education examination (SEE) (As per new education act 2016) taken at year 10, before Intermediate Exams (Higher Secondary or 10+2) taken in subsequent two years prior to university entry. School leaving certificate (SLC) or Secondary education examination (SEE) is the main examination which is also called "Iron gate" in Nepal. Although SLC and 10+2 are widely used, some educational institutions follow the British system with O' or Ordinary Level Examinations (now called GCSE) and A' or Advanced Level Examinations respectively.

Netherlands
In the Netherlands high school is vertically segregated into several levels of education. Most students enter university after a specific high-school track, the pre-university education (Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs). This track is concluded by the Central Exam (matriculation examination) regulated by Dutch law. After three years of the pre-university education program, high-school students select one of four directions (roughly corresponding to languages, humanities and economics, biology and medicine, and hard sciences), the last three years of the pre-university education program is meant to prepare for university education within that direction.

Pakistan
In Pakistan, matriculation (usually referred to as matric) is the term that refers to the final examinations that take place at the end of 9th and 10th grades. These examinations are usually taken up by students aged 14 to 16 years.

It results in the issuance of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Technical School Certificate (TSC). After the SSC (or TSC), students may proceed for 11th year of education at a higher secondary school. After successful completion of 11th (HSSC-1) and 12th (HSSC-2) years in college, they get the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) and become eligible to enter universities in Pakistan or in other countries. Pakistan still uses terms such as Matriculation Exams and Intermediate Exams taken from the days of British rule, although in England itself these terms were replaced with 'O' or Ordinary Level Examinations (now called GCSEs) and 'A' or Advanced Level Examination.

South Africa
In South Africa, matriculation (or matric) is the final year of high school and the qualification received on graduating from high school, and the minimum university entrance requirements. The first formal examination was conducted in South Africa under the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1858.

South African universities do not set their own entrance examinations, although many use standardized entrance tests of linguistic, numerical and mathematical ability, called the National Benchmark Tests, split into the AQL Test (Academic and Quantitative Literacy) and the Mathematics Test.

United Kingdom
In the British universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Royal Agricultural University, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham, and the New College of the Humanities, the term is used for the ceremony at which new students are entered into the register (in Latin matricula) of the university, at which point they become members of the university. Oxford requires matriculants to wear academic dress with subfusc during the ceremony. At Cambridge and Durham, policy regarding the wearing of academic dress varies amongst the colleges. Separate matriculation ceremonies are held by some of the colleges in Durham. Also at Durham, not all students are entered into the register, but one person from each college is selected to sign their own name for the whole college. At the University of St Andrews as well as the other ancient universities of Scotland, matriculation involves signing the Sponsio Academica, a pledge to abide by university rules and to support the institution. In 2015, Bishop Grosseteste University Lincoln introduced a Matriculation event for all new students.

At most British universities there is no formal ceremony. The term matriculation is not used by many, with the terms enrolment and registration being more commonly employed to describe the administrative process of becoming a member of the university.

At Oxford and Cambridge, matriculation was formerly associated with entrance examinations taken before or shortly after matriculation, known as Responsions at Oxford and the Previous Examination at Cambridge, both abolished in 1960. University-wide entrance examinations were subsequently re-introduced at both universities, but abolished in 1995. More limited subject-based tests have since been introduced.

United States
At most universities and colleges in the United States, matriculation refers to mere enrollment or registration as a student at a university or college by a student intending to earn a degree, an event which involves no special ceremony.

Some colleges that have a formal matriculation ceremony and name it as such, while others call this enrollment ceremony for new students a "convocation". A few colleges, such as Trinity College in Connecticut, use both terms, referring to the gathering as a convocation and the formal signing in as a student as the matriculation.

At some institutions, these ceremonies are relatively new. Scripps College's matriculation began only in 1990. Others, like at Trinity College are nearly two centuries old, first occurring in 1826.

Colleges that specifically have a "matriculation" ceremony and specifically use this name include: Adrian College, Albion College,  Assumption College, Belmont University, Boston College, Boston University, The Citadel, Culver-Stockton College, Dartmouth College, Duquesne University, Jacksonville University, Kenyon College, Lawrence University, Lyon College, Marietta College, McKendree University, Mount Union College, Moravian College, Muhlenberg College, Randolph-Macon College, Rice University, Saint Lawrence University, Scripps College, Trinity College, Tufts University, the University of Saint Mary (Kansas), Virginia Military Institute, Wabash College, Walsh University, Washington and Jefferson College, and Willamette University.

Many medical schools highlight matriculation with a white coat ceremony. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, originating at University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine in 1989. The first full-fledged ceremony was at the Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1993.

Special student
Universities and colleges in the United States commonly have a category of students known as special students,  non-matriculated students  or non-matriculating students. Generally these are students who are not merely auditing a class, but receive credit which is potentially transferable, pay full tuition, and often receive benefits that other students receive such as access to facilities and health care. These students typically are enrolled as matriculated students at other institutions and are visiting scholars of some type. However, sometimes students attend classes for the purpose of a standalone non-degree education.

title: Matriculation