A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 28, 2000 Braunvieh MICHELLE RANCK Lancaster Farming Staff If you can speak a little Ger man, perhaps you’ll be able to correctly pronounce “Braun vieh,” or “brown cow,” when you refer to the smoky-shaded cattle associated with the Swiss Alps. According to information from the Braunvieh.com website, Braunvieh is not a crossbreed or even a composite breed. This pure breed makes up roughly 409 c of the Switzerland cattle MICHELLE RANCK Lancaster Farming Staff FORT COLLINS, NY La ment and Leigh Ann Ennis, of L & L Cattle Company in North Collins, New York, are enthusi astic about the breed. The couple sold their dairy and began to manage a 140-cow Angus opera tion plus begin to build their own Braunvieh herd. Currently they own about 20 fullblood Braunvieh. A fullblood is an animal that is completely Braunvieh.. An animal can “breed up,” however, to a pure bred status. Ten of the Ennis’ fullblood animals are embryo transfer calves. In addition the couple owns three Angus cows bred to Braunvieh bulls and one crossbred cow used as a recipi ent. A newspaper in Alabama sparked the couple’s interest in the breed. “We were hauling registered cattle in Alabama and I hap pened to pick up a newspaper that had a spread about Braun vieh,” said Leigh Ann. “What in terested us was that they’re well noted for their carcass character istics and large ribeye and that they marble easily without a lot of back fat. They can grade Choice but only have 2/10 inch of back fat.” Out west, in the fed steer con tests, the Braunvieh have consis tently done well, noted Leigh Ann. On that same trip in De cember 1997 the couple stopped at a farm to check out the breed and were impressed with the thickness, muscle shape, and look of the breed. The Braunvieh cattle, from Switzerland, have made their mark on dairy and beef breeds. Lament and Leigh Ann Ennis of L & L Cattle Co., along with their year-old daugh ter, Sierra, raise and sell the adaptable animals. The Braunvieh in the picture, Veronica, was reserve grand champion female at the Braunvieh show at the North American Inter national Livestock Exposition (NAILE) in 1999 and will appear in show rings again this year. NAILE, which will be under way from 4-17, is the world’s largest purebred live stock show, with more than 20,000 entries in eight livestock divisions. Genetics Contribute To Beef, Dairy Breeds herd and has spread throughout the world. These smoky-brown cattle have a light-colored muzzle and poll while their shoulders and neck tend to be darker. They may also have a dorsal stripe. The calves are born very light and darken with age. A group of 130 Braunvieh were imported to America in the late 1800 s and are actually the basis for the development of the American Brown Swiss dairy In And Out Of The Show Ring, Braunviehs Perform For They bought a percentage cow (an animal less than SO% Braun vieh) with a heifer calf and in January 1998 bought their first fullblood animal from Denver, Colorado. The breed fits nicely into the beef industry, according to Leigh Ann. “They have a lot of muscle ex pression, meat, and thickness The Enni Oklahoma. wherever they need it,” said Leigh Ann. “Also, if you breed a brown Braunvieh to a black bull, you’ll get a black calf. That’s im portant for the current market ing situation.” Although a shaded gray is the traditional color of Braunvieh, the breed is changing color. “The Braunvieh are turning black according to the trend in ils family bought Fieri at a production sale in She is bred to calve this fall. breed. In 1984, for the first time since the 1800 s, a Nebraskan who had been in Switzerland looking for Simmental cattle was impressed by the Braunvieh and imported more original Swiss Braunvieh. Lately, in the 19905, several frozen embryos of original Braunviehs have been imported from Switzerland. According to Braunvieh.com information, the breed’s coat is sleek and fine in warm weather the cattle industry,” said Leigh Ann. While brown is considered a fullblood animal, 50 percent or more Braunvieh is considered registerable. A heifer must be 7/8 Braunvieh to be considered purebred, and a bull must be 15/16 Braunvieh to be consid ered purebred. “Because of that (the percent- ages) you can breed up to pure bred status,” explained Leigh Ann. “It’s more marketable. Black is bringing a premium be cause of the belief that black is quality. New York has a lot of small producers that market through sale bams and they’ve learned that black calves sell bet ter.” “We got into it (Braunvieh and will become heavy in colder weather which enables the Braunviehs to adjust to different environments. They prove their adaptability by residing in coun tries such as Mexico to India to heights of Venezuela to the reaches of the Artie Circle in Canada. In the late 19605, in order to increase milk production, Swit zerland began importing Ameri can Brown Swiss semen to use on the native Braunviehs. As a re- Braunvieh calves are born lighter but will darken with age. Misty, from L & L Cattle Co., was a 1999 heifer. breeding) because there’s a need for the kind of animal in the beef industry that can grade Choice and not be fat, a breed that’s cost-efficient, that you don’t have to feed forever. If we didn’t think Braunvieh could fill that need, we wouldn’t be in the busi ness.” Not everybody needs a full blood product, said Leigh Ann. “I think some of the best beef comes from crossbreds which take ad vantage of that hybrid vigor,” However the Braunvieh, be lieves Leigh Ann, could make impor tant contribu tions to the ge netic pool of tomorrow’s cat tle. “I see them as infiltrating crossbreed pro grams or the composite breeds out West, or having a place in a good cross breeding pro gram,” said Leigh Ann. “One thing that we noticed is that you sacrifice material char acteristics with breeding for car cass quality, such as the heifers are hard to get bred, or there’s not much milk left. In the Braunvieh, which started as a multi-purpose breed, these char acteristics are not sacrificed.” The couple uses embryo sales as a different, practical way to market Braunvieh genetics. “It’s easier to send breeders in Texas an embryo than a whole heifer,” notes Leigh Ann. “It’s much easier to look at a pedigree suit the majority of the Braun vieh cattle in Switzerland as well as other European countries today have been crossed with Brown Swiss. The Braunvieh Association of America was organized and in corporated in 1984. For more in formation, the Braunvieh home page is http:// www.braunvieh.com/index.html or the Braunvieh Association of America’s home page at http:// www.braunvieh.org. than for someone to come the whole way up to look at an ani mal.” “There’s a pretty tyig market for Braunvieh embryos. There’s not as many opportunities to buy the animals, and embryb® can be shipped in a tank UPS.” The couple plans to stay small and produce quality animals to con- £We got into it (Braunvieh breed ing) because there’s a need for the kind of animal in the beef industry that can grade Choice and not be fat, a breed that’s cost-efficient, that you don’t have to feed forever. If we didn’t think Braun vieh could fill that need, we wouldn’t be in the busi ness.? Leigh Ann Ennis choosy when we bought fe males, to make sure they were donor quality to get the core group of donor females to work from,” said Leigh Ann, who says that they cull hard, also. “We send our embryos to Col orado and get back weaned calves,” said Leigh Ann. “Pure bred dairies are doing that be cause they don’t like feeding re cipients all the time. If they don’t cycle they stand open until the next time and you’re feeding them and not getting anything from her.” sign to major Braunvieh sales each year. They flush three main donor cows then freeze and sell the embryos be fore breeding the donor cows back for live calves. Currently they are con sidering shift ing their mar ket toward selling frozen embryos for locations rea sons, as most fu 11 bIo o d Braunvieh are in the west or south west. “We were
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