Mr. Greenjeans":1urekwbn said:
Outstanding WalnutCrest! Thank you for posting pics of your (I assume your) cattle.
Thanks!
For the record, Nolan and Maximus are no longer alive. Upra and Violet are our cows. I also have Violet's 2012 heifer, and two other females who are (essentially) half-sisters to Upra and Violet.
Nolan was never collected, but I have semen on his sire (the French bull Hector AIA), a half-brother (another Hector AIA son, a French bull named Jlandais AIA), and multiple US-bred sons/grandsons of his.
Mr. Greenjeans":1urekwbn said:
Can you give more information in regard to environmental pressures that these cattle endure throughout the year and how they perform? What geographic location exactly? How do Aubracs compare to other continental breeds in crossbreeding with British based breeds? I have read that Aubrac cattle are top grazers.
Greenjeans
Regarding environmental pressures, we purchased these cattle (Upra and Violet) within the past year and so can only definitively tell you what's happened under our watch and what we strongly believe to be the case for their life before joining our herd. The first three (Nolan, Upra and Violet) lived in north-central Wisconsin for the first part of their lives ... now, they (Upra and Violet) live in NE Kansas with us (Nolan died in 2012). Their calving season was mid-May to late June; we're toying with pulling them forward to March 1 to April 30 over the next couple of years ... or ... migrating to a fall-calving (due, in part, as a response for some of the embryo work we're hoping to do with them as implaning embryos is a higher probability event if done in December / January than if done in June / July).
These cattle have had no vaccinations of any form while in our possession; I very strongly believe they have had no vaccinations of any form at any time in their life. They've had no grain of any form while in our herd (we're a grass-only operation); I very strongly believe the fanciest thing they've ever ingested would be some nice alfalfa-mix hay.
The cows calved every year, on the year ... except this past year (2013) as Nolan died at the very beginning of the 2012 breeding season and their former owner didn't have a 2nd bull around, so the cows were open. The picture of Upra (above) reflects an open cow a week prior to being exposed to the bull this past summer. Violet (above) is shown to be at the beginning of her 2nd trimester in the winter of 2011/2012 (the calf she's carrying is a very promising heifer in our herd).
If all goes to plan, we'll be flushing both Upra and Violet to fullblood Aubrac bulls in the near-term.
Regarding comparing "Aubrac x. British" vs. "Other Continental x. British" crosses ... I will not claim to be an expert. I will happily pass on what I do know ... a very large portion of the Aubrac herds in France (and elsewhere in Europe) are crossed with big double muscled Charolais bulls in a terminal cross -- Aubrac cows can carry and calve pretty much anything you could throw at them in terms of a big bull. This branded beef program is called Fleur d'Aubrac. You can read more about this program here ==>
http://www.fleur-aubrac.com/ Not every breed's cows could consistently take on the challenge of dealing with calves sired by a culard Charolais bull.
Also, Aubracs have shown to be far more persistent in grazing during bad weather (whether extreme heat / humidity in the summer or cold/snow in the winter) than other cattle we've had. While anecdotal stories aren't precise, I'll tell you two summers ago, one day when I went out to check on our cows at 11:30am it was already 104 degrees ... and I saw our (then) 3yr old 15/16ths Aubrac cow going to town on a locust tree, her 15mo old 15/16ths daughter was in the middle of the pasture grazing grass with out any shade in sight, and her six week old 15/32nds heifer was eating on a dead thistle plant. That single sight sold me on the cattle more than about anything else I'd seen to that point. To note, this 3yr old cow had already had her 2nd calf ... and ... she gave us a nice bull calf this past spring and is carrying a calf right now ... despite the fact that we gave her zero mineral for a full year as a sort of "fertility experiment" just to see if she could raise a calf and breed back without any mineral for a year; she did and she looks great (and is back on mineral now).
Then, when this experience of watching them perform in what I call the "stupid heat" was piggybacked with the calving experience I had with a group of half-blood Aubrac cows this past winter, pursuing this breed was a no-brainer for me. I purchased seven bred half-blood Aubracs who were bred to a 15/16ths Aubrac bull and had the cows delivered the first week of February. They were due to calve starting Feb 22 through mid-March. The first calf arrived on beautiful a Sunday morning (low 40s, sunny and no snow on the ground) ... and by Tuesday we were due for very heavy snows, lower temperatures and high wind. Well, since the cattle were on leased pasture about 10 miles from the house, I wasn't able to check on them for three days (we ended up with about 12" of snow in that storm) ... by the time I got in to check on them, we'd had two more calves ... no problems with anything ... AND THEN ... two days later, another huge storm came (giving us another 8" on top of the 12" we'd had a few days prior) ... and, again, I wasn't able to get over to check on them for another 36hrs or so after the snow stopped ... and, we'd had two more calves during the second storm (the final two calves were born within 10 days of the end of the 2nd storm with still over 10" of snow on the ground). No problems with any of them -- every one lived, everyone kept their ears, etc. And, to top it all off, the cattle were pushing aside up to a foot of snow to get to the grass below ... even the calves were getting in on the action. I was blown away. We still have five of the half-bloods -- four are due to be recips and the fifth is going into our custom beef program (which is a whole other cool part of our operation).
So, I couldn't tell you too much about how "Aubrac x. British" would compare to "Other Continental x. British" as I've never had the pleasure of working with (for example) Pinzgauer x. Galloway ... Charolais x. Hereford ... Romagnola x. Angus ... etc ... but, it's my belief that (when compared to most other continental breeds) the Aubrac's have a more moderate frame, higher maternal abilities, and (what I call) forage persistence (i.e., grazing in extreme weather), they would add positive traits to most herds. Then, to top it all off, in the research I've seen comparing Aubrac beef to the other traditional beef breeds (Angus, Hereford, Shorthorn, Charolais, Limousin, etc.), the Aubracs meet or beat them in terms of flavor, tenderness, juiciness and overall palatability. Our own proprietary beef tastings we've held via our custom beef program have backed up these findings (which was another aspect of us picking the breed).
I hope this detail helps; thanks for the questions.
