White-headed cattle in Holland have been mentioned as early as the fourteenth century.

[citation needed] Cattle showing some similarity to the modern Blaarkop appear in an Adoration by Pieter Aertsen dating from about 1560, and in a seventeenth-century Head of a Bellowing Ox by Jan Asselijn.

Bulls of this type were among the cattle shipped to the Cape of Good Hope by Willem Adriaan van der Stel during his time as governor of the Cape Colony (1699–1707).

[5]: 625 De Blaarkopstichting, a non-profit foundation for the development and conservation of the Blairkop, was established in 2002.

[6] The Blaarkop breed is sturdily built with matching muscles, a horned head, and strong legs.