@simme Is the Fleckvieh breed a closed registry? It seams the current Simmental breed is the labradoodle of the beef world, lol. Not putting it down, we raise mostly Simmentals and Angus. But we do have a couple belted cows from breeding up, and I could see traits like line back or brindeling being propagated to a Purebred Simmental that isn't a typical color pattern.
I will respond with what I believe is correct. Anyone with additional or more correct information is encouraged to reply. There is no separate Fleckvieh registry in the US. The US Simmental registry includes the following designations (from the ASA website):
"
Registration Types
How an animal is registered depends on its breed composition. Breed composite is determined by the parents of the animal.
Purebred (Simmental) Any animal whose parents are registered as purebred and any animal with 1 parent registered as purebred and the other parent registered as 3/4 Simmental.
SimAngus Any animal whose parents are both registered and is at least 1/8 Simmental and 1/4 Angus and no more than 1/4 other breed
SimAngus HT Any animal whose parents are both registered and is at least 1/8 Simmental and 1/4 Angus, no more than 1/4 other breed and have at least 1/8 Brahman
Simgenetics Any animal whose sire is a registered and is at least 1/8 Simmental and is not a Purebred, SimAngus or Fullblood
Simbrah (Simmental-Brahman composite) Any animal whose sire is registered and is at least 1/8 Simmental and 1/8 Brahman and no more than 3/8 other breed. A Simbrah animals also qualify as Simgenetics or SimAngus. Breeders must specify if the animal is to be registered as Simbrah. Note: To qualify for the Simbrah Registry an animal must have a combination of Simmental and Brahman blood of five-eighths (5/8) or greater.
Purebred Simbrah (Simmental-Brahman composite) Any animals whose parents are registered and is 5/8 Simmental and 3/8 Brahman.
Full Blood Any purebred Simmental animal whose parents are both designated as Fullblood
Foundation Any animal that is registered with another recognized breed association and has been requested to be entered into ASA's registry (see foundation registration for further information) or an animal qualifed by its registered parents."
The Fleckvieh cattle fall under the Fullblood category. Fullblood is the designation for those cattle that are direct descendants of those Simmental cattle/genetics originally imported into the US. So, no outside genetics added. In that sense, you could say that the Fullblood portion of the registry is "closed". The imported cattle came from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France from 5 different breed registries. Fleckvieh from the German and Austrian cattle registry. Simmental from the Swiss registry. The "simmental" from France were from 3 different registries - Abondance, Montbeliard and Pie Rouge. So, you could say that the fullblood simmental were at least 5 different "breeds". (There was also an Italian registry, I believe) They were selected for import from Europe due to their very similar breed characteristics - allowing them all to be called "simmental" in the US and Canada. The first "simmental" bull imported to North America was Parisien in 1967. Imported into Canada from France. So, he would have been from one of the 3 French registries (not technically a Simmental?). In fairness, I believe all were descendants originally of the Swiss cattle, but were developed over many years in these other countries and registered as different breeds in those countries. History seems to show that the original Swiss simmental cattle were a cross of a large German breed and a smaller Swiss breed in the middle ages. In reality, all current breeds of cattle are crossbred from many many hundreds of years ago. Angus, Hereford and Simmental were not from the original creation or did not each crawl out of the swampy mud depending on your beliefs.
So, are the US simmental the "labradoodles" of the breeds? Maybe. People love their labradoodles. The simmentals in Europe were bred for milk, meat and draft animals. In the US, they were needed for meat. We already had dairy cows for milk and tractors for pulling a plow or logs. Those original simmental cows milked like a dairy cow. We don't need that. With an open registry, there is more opportunity for faster genetic progress.
I think all the above is correct, but welcome comments or correction.