Braunvieh?

[Lon]

Anyone have any experience with them as purebreds or crossbred for maternal cows?
Also just kind of wandering what breed the seem to compare to the most? From best i can tell i would guess Gelv but with better carcass traits but less selection. But again i dont know nothing about them so could be wrong there.

 

[chippie]

We have two Braunvieh cows. Both registered, one is a Full blood and the other a Purebred. We breed them to Angus bulls. Never had a dud calf and one that was kept as a bull produced excellent calves on commercial cows.

I recently sold a weaned heifer 6 months old, weighed 575 that brought $1.65 a couple of weeks ago. That was the high price for her weight and grade.

They are a gentle cow, easy to work and handle and excellent mothers. Milk well and raise a good calf.

 

[bigbull338]

ive got a cousin that runs braunvieh.an i dont like their calves at all an never will.now im not saying they arnt good its a personal preferance.the cows are big heavy son of a guns.the bull makes his calves so you know what they are out of.

 

[Beef Man]

Saw the first Braunvieh several years ago in Denver and was, I supposed impressed, . Long ago my dad bought a string of half brown swiss that had been turned out to the hills as yearlings and just left alone. They were as wild as deer and well grown out. THe idea was to make them into family milk cows, no way. The point I'm comeing to is they turned out to be the best damn cows and lasted forever. So when I saw those first Braunvieh it did so remind me of those old B.S. cows. Not necessarily the wildness but type and frame. Had one more interesting experience with the Swiss crossbreed and it had to do with Angus cross's. Fed a big pen of black cattle many years ago and as the cattle grew some of them turned a lighter shade of black and had big brown ear's . When the packer buyer got done with his sort he had every one of these cattle in the alley to the scales. Upon checking back on the origens of the cattle they had used one of their milk cows calves run as a bull and the steers were 1/4 brown swiss. To my knowledge these were as profitable as any cattle that we fed that year. Never went back and trie'd any of these on the range as we are definetly not in a area where dairy cattle can survive and produce year in and year out.[ Think that is why all the continental cattle turned black so fast] Anyway I just always thought that the Braunview and Brown Swiss were first cousins.

 

[UG]

We've had a few Braunvieh and Braunvieh/Angus cross cows, and still have a couple on the place. We have bred them to primarily Angus and Balancer bulls and have been pleased with the calves. In my opinion Braunviehs are most similar to Simmental and Gelbvieh of all of the major beef breeds. In general Braunviehs produce more marbling than GV and SM.

Probably the biggest weaknesses of the breed relative to GV and SM is:
-the average birth weight of Braunvieh sired calves is higher
-there are less polled genetics in the Braunvieh breed
-and because the overall breed population of Braunviehs in North America is relatively small, it can be more difficult to identify genetics that fit what producers are looking for. For example, if you are looking for a Branvieh bull that offers calving ease, above average growth to weaning, moderate milk, and is homozygous polled, you won't have near as many bulls to select from as you will in the GV and SM breeds.

Though I like our Braunvieh cows I can't say that overall they are any better than the AN, GV, and SM cows that we have. We have one BV cow that consistently breeds back on time and weans a nice calf every fall, but have had others that weren't as consistent of producers; just like with AN, GV, and SM.

 

[Lucky_P]

Have no personal experience with them - but have liked everything I've seen about the breed, and intend to use some Braunvieh sires in our program sometime in the next 5 years.

Local Beefmaster breeder used some Braunvieh bulls several years ago, on purebred BM and commercial BM-cross cows - and REALLY liked the steers and the halfblood Braunvieh cows he got out of the deal, but said the Braunvieh bulls were the meanest things he'd ever had on the place - and they have used some Jersey bulls on heifers from time to time, so they must have been bad... He went back to BM bulls for a while, but I've seen 'em with some young Braunvieh bulls in the bull lot by the highway again, so they're evidently coming back to 'em, once again.

 

[Bigfoot]

Have no personal experience with them - but have liked everything I've seen about the breed, and intend to use some Braunvieh sires in our program sometime in the next 5 years.

Local Beefmaster breeder used some Braunvieh bulls several years ago, on purebred BM and commercial BM-cross cows - and REALLY liked the steers and the halfblood Braunvieh cows he got out of the deal, but said the Braunvieh bulls were the meanest things he'd ever had on the place - and they have used some Jersey bulls on heifers from time to time, so they must have been bad... He went back to BM bulls for a while, but I've seen 'em with some young Braunvieh bulls in the bull lot by the highway again, so they're evidently coming back to 'em, once again.

I'm good friends with the same guy. I had hoped he would retain ownership of some of the half bloods, to see how they did in the feed lot. He didn't. it would have been intersting to see some carcass data on the calves. His hiefers made some nice cows.

 

[KNERSIE]

Love the look of Braunvieh cows, hate the bulls.

The general consensus here is hard calvers with some of the slowest starting calves, but if they survive the first day they grow like a weed.

 

[UG]

Lucky_P,

The comment about the guy who said his Braunvieh bulls were the meanest bulls he had ever had on the place surprised me. Overall our Braunviehs have been quiet cattle and comparable to the GV and SM. However I know that there are bad actors in every breed and maybe this guy just happened to get some Braunvieh bulls that were more high-headed than the average Braunviehs, or he purchased the bulls from an operation that "cowboyed" their cattle, since environment has a large effect on cattle disposition.

 

[brimmer X]

I currently have 29 pure bred and cross bred braunvieh cows and heifers. I like the breed and there dispostion. The only real fault to running straight bred braunvieh and selling off spring at the barn is the white stripe around the muzzle. You will get docked for that thinking some dairy influence. They are long lived and take care of their calves. The cows are great looking in my opinion, very feminine females. The purebred bulls are fine, but generally maternal.

I have about 8 Hereford x Braunvieh calves on the ground now. All are red to yellow with a white face. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I will try to keep some of the heifers. I'll have lots of options with the calves. Using bruanvieh as a cross will work. Most off spring will take the color opposite of the braunvieh. I'm expecting some black calves in March from braunvieh heifers bred to Angus.

 

[insurman]

I have 1 Simbravieh heifer out of MHF Manhattan. Solid black and gentle as she can be.. Bred to our black 3/4 Simbrah. Looking forward to her first calf.

 

[Jake]

We had a half char half braunvieh bull that came out of one of Golden Link's donor cows that got bred to the neighbor bull. Calves crew like weeds but you sure got some funky colors.

 

[bigbull338]

ok ive heard you guys mention brown swiss as compared to braunvueh.the reason they look the same is because they are the same.the braunvieh is the beef brown swiss.i know retired brown swiss breeders that run braunvieh cows now.

 

[Lucky_P]

UG,
I don't know where the Beefmaster guy got his initial - or second group - of Braunvieh bulls; Bigfoot may.
I'm sure some herdsmen select more heavily on disposition than others - I know it's true in other breeds - and environment plays a role - and sometimes demands a different degree of aggressiveness or docility.

Old veterinary joke (and I even heard it told by a Swiss veterinarian, once):
Brown Swiss dairy producer calls his veterinarian- "Doc, I have a bull calf with something I've never encountered before."
Veterinarian says, "What seems to be the problem?"
Producer- "He knows how to nurse!"
ba-dum.

Seriously, though, if big, dumb calves were as big a problem as some have purported them to be, I doubt that there'd still be folks using Braunvieh or Braunvieh-cross cattle in big, open country. Still, I'm planning to use some Braunvieh semen on some mature Angus & ANxSH females in the next few years.

 

[UG]

Lucky_P,

Yes, I agree that not all Braunvieh sired calves are born dumb and lazy or the breed wouldn't have survived here in the US...I've heard similar comments from folks that used some of the earlier Simmental bulls as well. Though we haven't had a lot of Braunvieh influenced calves born on our place, I don't recall ever having one that was slow to get started.

Once you get those first Braunvieh calves on the ground I look forward to reading your updates on them.

 

[brimmer X]

We had 2 breeding seasons using a braunvieh bull. Not one calf pulled and NO dumb or lazy calves. Close to 40 calves from a sire that had a birth weight of 92lbs. Close to 40 calves, and only one died a premy and it got stepped on. Bull was sold and no calving problems from the purchaser either.

The bull bred Braunvieh, Charolaise, and cross bred cows. There are some bulls out there that could be a problem, the same with any breed. We did NOT use our bull on heifers. We are not members of the Braunvieh association. We liked the cows and wanted to build a good base of animals to keep. We have not been disappointed.

 

[Lon]

So really there isnt anything about them that would set them above something like a gelv or sim cow on a production wise basis but they come with less options as far as bulls are conserned. I do see that alot of the people raising them are from farther south than my area. Is it safe to assume they are more for a warmer climate versus one with cold winters like ours?

 

[Taurus]

Well Brown Swiss do well in the winters up north and Braunvieh came from Switzerland so I would guess that they will be fine in South Dakota.

 

[rob2]

I have run fullblood and purebred braunvieh cows and bulls since 2001. Still have a few of the original cows with 2013 fall calves by their side. Started out A.I. to Polled Plus and used a couple fullblood braunvieh bulls for clean-up. One was out of Swiss-Way Chinook, the other out of Mr. Beau. Later on bought a purebred Tony son and an Angus bull out of Strategy to use on replacement heifers. The last bull I used was a purebred braunvieh that you could use on anything with no worries. The braunvieh cows ran side by side with angus cows for the first 7 years, and I got a firsthand lesson over a 3 year period on performance of the calves from fullblood/purebred braunvieh to 1/2 bloods sired by both angus and braunvieh, to purebred angus. At weaning...1st place FB/PB braunvieh, 2nd place 1/2 blood, 3rd place PB angus. This was consistent for three calving seasons on the average for steers and heifers. I feed out most of the calves since they don't fare to well at the livestock auction, and save back heifers for replacements.
pros & cons: Birthweights can be a problem if you let it. Most people don't like to mess with the horns. It's hard to stomach the dock at the salebarn. Very minimal fly control required. Minimal bad eyes. Easy to handle (have had a few that were easy to sell). calves gain good in the feedlot and I've never had a complaint on the beef that I've sold over the last 10 years. Almost forgot, the 1/2 bloods were sold at auction. They were black hided and usually topped the sale for their weight.

rob2