We have Aubrac cattle.
Why?
Horns taste good.
We look for ways to lose money, and figured a non-black-hided animal would be a great way to go.
Vets are mean people and we want to avoid them at all times.
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In all seriousness, we taste-tested dozens of breeds under many different sorts of management systems who's carcasses were processed in many different styles to determine what sort of dining experience we wanted to have ... AND ... we wanted a grass-only product of a high-enough quality we could command a nice premium when selling direct to individual families. We know that some animals don't taste all that good with a grass-only system. Well, Aubracs excel in that area -- one reason is their heritage is a dual-purpose breed (the French make one of their higher-end cheeses from Aubrac milk). Their beef is lean (but very tender) but their butterfat content is high (which translates to the flavor profile of the fat deposits in their flesh). In looking at the published research on Aubrac cattle and tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall palatability (almost all of which is in some language other than English), for all intents and purposes, Aubrac beef meets or beats all the traditional beef breeds (Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Simm, Shorthorn, Galloway, etc.) for the overall dining experience.
Next, if you add to that that, according to the French organization that monitors the comings-and-goings in all the French breeds, Aubracs are #1 in fertilty, maternal instinct, longevity and calving ease. This is backed up by the fact that the Aubrac cowherd is growing faster than all other breeds in France (in fact, Aubracs are growing and the aggregate of all other breeds in France are shrinking) ... and ... the next generation sees this (there are more children taking over their parents Aubrac operations in France than the children of any other breed). The average French Aubrac herd is 60 cows; almost 2x the average herd size of all other breeds in France. Regarding their maternal qualities, the majority of the Aubrac cow herd is bred to double-muscled Charolais bulls ... and yet they remain the breed with the best calving ease scores. Not just any ol' cow can shoot out a calf from a culard Charolais bull and say it was easy ...
For years, the simple mantra for the Aubrac has been "one calf, per cow, per year". I guess if you select for that trait for a well over a century, functional fertility and longevity should be relatively locked in.
When I was early on in my research on the breed, I spoke to a man who'd had them for nearly 20 years ... he relayed a story about the first time he went to France to look at the cattle, and commented to his host that he liked a particular cow and asked him to tell him about the cow. My paraphrase of the conversation between my friend and the French Aubrac cattleman is --
"Well, she is six years old and has her fourth calf on her, and ... look, there is her mother over there."
"Her mother?!"
"Yes, she is 13 years old and has her 11th calf on her right now. Oh, and look, on that hill over there is her grandmother."
"GRANDMOTHER?!"
"Yes, she's 21 years old and has her 19th calf on her."
...quite separately, I just saw something in one of the recent French newsletters about one of their highly regarded AI bulls from the mid 1990s who is still alive and is naturally servicing a group of cows at 17yrs of age...and, I have this bull in my tank... It's not uncommon to have an Aubrac bull naturally service 50+ cows with a 90+% conception rate in a 2-3 month window ... or ... alternatively, to have an Aubrac bull breed groups of 30-ish cows at a time for a couple of months apiece on a year-round basis (which is something Maximus, the bull below, did for a few years).
And, on this, the way the French select their bulls was very impressive to me. I've never heard of another breed doing what they do... Each year, the breed association will buy over 1000 of the top yearling bull prospects from all over France and bring them to a centralized testing station. While there, a wide variety of linear measurements will be taken (ranging from simple things like length from withers to hooks, circumference of the muzzle, etc., but will also include a three-dimensional measurement of the pelvic opening) and the association will track their weight gain on a no-grain diet (i.e., hay, protein, mineral only). From this 1000+ contemporary group, approximately 100-150 of the top performers will be retained and bred to a large number of cows. The calving ease of these calves, and the subsequent performance of these calves will further narrow the list of candidates from 100-150 down to 2-5 bulls who are approved for AI collection and exportation. And it is the very best of these bulls that were imported into the US in a few different importations from the 1990s and 2000s. We own the majority of what remains of these original French-import genetics ... plus, we also own semen from the very best of the US-bred fullblood Aubracs.
The selection criteria the French use was and is quite compelling to us and fit right in with what we wanted to do (i.e., have very hardy, input-efficient animals who'd give us calves annually and for a long time ... AND ... would taste good when the meat hit our plate).
When we were first testing out the cattle on our operation, we did a crazy little "hardiness / fertility test" ... we took a cow who'd just calved her 2nd calf before her 3rd birthday and didn't give her any mineral for the next 13 months to see if she could raise the calf, breed back, carry another calf, calve that calf and breed back again. Remember, we're a grass-only operation ... so, she also received no grain either. The only thing that went in her stomach was stuff she foraged for. Well, she was off of mineral entirely from June 1st to July 1st and during that time, she raised and weaned a heifer, got bred, calved a bull calf, and got bred again about three weeks after getting her first taste of mineral in thirteen months (she took an AI calf on the first time through ... in crazy hot-heat-and-humidity of late July here in NE Kansas). When I think about this, her hardiness and fertility still impress me.
So, in terms of our management, we have a pretty strict program with a focus on temperament, fertility (i.e., balanced hormone function), forage efficiency ... AND ... the dining experience (which we monitor through our feedback from our beef buyers who participate in our custom beef program, plus the others who attend our ticketed beef tasting events --- yes, we charge money from complete strangers to participate in our events, which feedback is used when making a variety of breeding, management and butchering decisions).
The cow in the grass is 10yrs old in the picture (her name is Upra) and was taken about one week prior to being exposed to the bull this past summer (the old bull died about two weeks into the prior breeding season and so she was open for the first time in her adult life this past year).
This cow is Violet; she was 8yrs old in that picture from 2011/2012 and she was early in the 2nd trimester with her 2012 heifer calf (who is also a part of our herd).
The sire to both cows is Nolan (the bull in the winter-themed photo below). He was 12yrs old here.
Maximus (below) is one of Nolan's sons and is (essentially) a full sibling to Violet (same sire, and the dams were full sisters).
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We'd stack these cattle against any others we've seen.
We're creating fullblood embryos for ourselves and anyone else who's interested in these genetics. And, if embryos aren't your thing, we have semen if AI is more your style.
Aubracs are thick-butted, high-yielding, maternal, long-lived, fertile ... and VERY tasty ... which is a huge reason for doing what we do with our custom beef program.
And, we get that what we do isn't for everyone, but reducing inputs, having a good dining experience, managing easy-fleshing animals who live a long time and calve easily seem to fit what we want our program to be about.
