which will make a better cross

[Anonymous]

i have found some brown swiss and angus cattle that i am thinking of buying do you think these brown swiss will make a good cross. tell me which bull would be better the brangus or beefmaster. or is there another breed that would cross well with these brown swiss.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

My concerns with using Brown Swiss in a beef herd are:

1. their calves will lack muscling 2. their calves may be too framy, requiring more feed to get the calves to their finished weight 3. the cows will produce too much milk, which will require them to eat more grass/hay/etc. to maintain body condition.

 

[Anonymous]

> My concerns with using Brown Swiss
> in a beef herd are:

> 1. their calves will lack muscling
> 2. their calves may be too framy,
> requiring more feed to get the
> calves to their finished weight 3.
> the cows will produce too much
> milk, which will require them to
> eat more grass/hay/etc. to
> maintain body condition. ---- i did not think there would be that much diffrence in brown swiss and braunvieh you do not think either of those bulls could add muscling. well what bull could. i would think that the brown swiss cross heifers would make great replacement heifers. write back

 

[Anonymous]

Actually there is a huge difference between Braunvieh and Brown Swiss. Though both breeds originated from the same herds in Switzerland, the American Brown Swiss have been selected for the past 100+ years for milk production whereas the Bruanvieh have been bred as more of a beef animal (though they were considered a dual purpose breed in Switzerland).

A couple years ago in the Braunvieh magazine there was a picture of a Braunvieh and Brown Swiss heifer, of similar age, standing side by side. There was very distinct differences between the two heifers (i.e. thickness of the top and in the rear, etc.).

Because I live in northern Indiana I am not very familiar with the individual advantages of the southern breeds (i.e. Brangus, Beefmaster, Simbrah, etc).

If you do decide to go with the Brown Swiss cows I think Limousin or Charolais bulls would be a good choice to use. These breeds will contribute greatly to muscling and the daughters of these bulls will be more moderate in milk than the Brown Swiss.

 

[Anonymous]

I would be very careful of using brown swiss in my beef herd. Some brown swiss have a genetic defect that affects their ability to stand. I am sure someone can supply more info on this problem. I have just heard it in passing from my brother who works on a dairy.

pat