The Bleue du Nord is a French breed of dual-purpose cattle from the former region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais in the north-east of the country, on the border with Belgium.

The double-muscling characteristic of the Belgian Blue, caused by a genetic myostatin deficiency, is present also in the Bleue du Nord, but to a limited and controlled extent.

After the Second World War, the policy of Edmond Quittet, the Inspecteur général de l'agriculture [fr], was to reduce the diversity of French breeds.

[2] It is distributed mainly in the cantons of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Bavay, Le Quesnoy, Maubeuge and Valenciennes in the former region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais – now part of Hauts-de-France – in the north-east of the country, on the border with Belgium.

[4]: 42 In 2008 an international project of co-operation began to co-ordinate exchange of breeding stock between the Bleue du Nord of France and the closely similar Bleu Mixte of Belgium – the surviving remnant of dual-purpose Belgian Blue.

To maintain genetic diversity, a number of bulls not homozygous for the Mf gene are selected each year as donors for artificial insemination.