I saw something I had never seen before today. Some half Brown Swiss half brangus cows. Not a cross I would have set out to achieve. They looked good, and there calves were especially impressive. Anybody ever had any cows with some brown Swiss in them?
Brown Swiss/Brangus
- Thread starter Bigfoot
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Red Bull Breeder
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Yep sure have. When you get them down to about a eighth Brown Swiss they work real good. The half bloods got way to much milk. They will sure blow a calf out in short order.
VanC
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My uncle had a couple that were Brown Swiss/Holstein but I'm guessing that isn't what you had in mind.
Taurus
Well-known member
When my late grandpa still milking the dairy cows, raising brown swiss calves are sure pain in a$$. Don't know how to suck or eat. When my grandpa converted dairy operation to beef operation, he bred his brown swiss cows to an Angus bull, the calves weren't so lively and still act dumb at birth. But the calves were sure heavy at weaning. Tried kept a F1 as a replacement but unfortunately she had udder problems before she calved.
Red Bull Breeder
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Grandpa must of had some sorry Brown Swiss cows. Had 60 head of halfbloods around here at one time never had any of those problems. Must have got lucky.
Taurus
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yup it was pure luck. They were stupid as rock, we have to teach them how to suckle from either bottle or the cow. The calves act like they want to die than eating. And that is COMMON in brown swiss cattle. Good thing you have HALF blood brown swiss cows!Red Bull Breeder":hq6ixxic said:
Red Bull Breeder
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How do you think i got the halfbloods?? You and your friends and relatives seem to have alot of problems with about any breed mentioned. I would say that maybe you folks are just unlucky.
Taurus
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More like its norm for other breeds. Every breed has its flaws and you should know that.
TexasBred
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Only problem I ever had with Swiss cattle were they were big as a house, ate like an elephant and milked less than a jersey. I see nothing to be accomplished by ruining a good brangus by crossing it with a swiss.
Red Bull Breeder
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i would agree with you TB on crossing with a brangus. Way back when we had a bunch of them great black baldie cows that would wean about a 300 lb calf. Dad got a Brown Swiss bull. Those half blood heifers would wean a 600 lb calf with ease. Bred the those half bloods to the first limousin bull we owned had a lot of 600 lb calves at 5 months. Took years to breed them big fuzzy ear off those cattle.
Red Bull Breeder
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Tarus you have not a clue of what you are talking about. Pretty sure what you really know about cattle would not fill a thimble.
Lucky_P
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It's an old veterinary joke - and a Swiss veterinarian once told me he'd heard it there, too - but, I once had a dairy client who milked Brown Swiss cattle call me - told me he had a bull calf that something wasn't right about. "What's wrong with him?", I asked...
"He knows how to suck!" he said. lol
Still want to try some Braunvieh sires over some of my Angus and ANxSH cows at some point - same gene pool, originally, but don't know if dumb calves are a problem. Local Beefmaster breeder had some Braunvieh bulls several years ago - loved the halfblood cows and the calves, but said the bulls were the meanest things he'd ever had - and they sometimes run a Jersey bull on heifers, so I suspect he knows mean... But, they recently got another group of Braunvieh bulls, so I guess he liked 'em enough to go back to the well.
"He knows how to suck!" he said. lol
Still want to try some Braunvieh sires over some of my Angus and ANxSH cows at some point - same gene pool, originally, but don't know if dumb calves are a problem. Local Beefmaster breeder had some Braunvieh bulls several years ago - loved the halfblood cows and the calves, but said the bulls were the meanest things he'd ever had - and they sometimes run a Jersey bull on heifers, so I suspect he knows mean... But, they recently got another group of Braunvieh bulls, so I guess he liked 'em enough to go back to the well.
LauraleesFarm
Well-known member
I have a moderate sized (1000 pounds) Brown Swiss nurse cow that now runs with the herd. First calf she laid down at the salebarn and calved an Angus sired bullcalf, mothered up and sold as a pair. She still had just baby teeth. He grew off REAL nice and heavy and you could not see dairy in him when he was weaned. After she raised about a dozen more calves we bred her to hereford bull. That heifer weighed every bit of 650 when we weaned her at 5 1/2 months. I got sick of foster calves. So I put her with the beef herd. Now she is due in July with another Angus. And that poor goofy Brown Swiss is YES dumb as a brick, but sweet and gentle. The calves knew how to suck but they were really slow to start eating feed. Mostly because they were never hungry for it. She's a milkwagon.
Taurus
Well-known member
we tube them up if they don't take the bottle at first when they are few hours old. Took few tries to get them on the bottle for few days but some calves ended up with tube feeding for few days. It was very challenging. On other note, they were quite large calves at birth.Bigfoot":34bzkdog said:
Taurus
Well-known member
really? Pretty sure the thimble is full, you just being mad at me and trying to insult, typical old red bull breeder.Red Bull Breeder":1rg9cl4d said:
TexasBred
Well-known member
LauraleesFarm":21xqi85m said:
But not enough milk to cover her feed cost in a dairy barn. Just my opinion but I wouldn't have another one on the place.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Red Bull Breeder":11m0iv1q said:
You had brangus weaning 300 lb. calves?? Must be a management thing. :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :mrgreen:
