FIRST! a Braunvieh is not a cross. It is the oldest original breed known in the world. It IS a great dual purpose breed. Meat and milk. That is what they do. Meat makes us money. Milk makes bigger calves, that also makes us money.

Another common misconception is that the Braunvieh came for the Brown Swiss Milk Cow. The fact is, that it came about through selection. The top milk producing Braunvieh were selected and selected and selected, and they made them a breed of their own…the Brown Swiss.

Unique things to know about Braunvieh cattle

This calf will turn very dark to black

Color – a calf that is white at birth will be “traditional” in color, a kind of mouse brown. A calf that is light or brown that has a black tail switch will turn dark. Add dark circles around the eyes to the black tail switch and you can expect the animal to turn very dark brown or black. We have had animals that were grey to dark brown that DNA test to be homozygous black. They don’t have to be black to pass the black gene.

Disposition – more so than most breeds, Braunvieh like to be in a group. If you isolate an animal, it will most likely become very waspy.

Mother instinct – most Braunvieh cattle have a strong maternal instinct. It is not unusual to see a mother nursing some other cow’s calf. This is a first calf heifer…the maternal in these cattle is strong! Hey….look at that GREEN GRASS!!!

Carcass and finish~ Braunvieh do that very well. With high butterfat, the Braunvieh will defy the antagonism of maternal traits and carcass traits. According to MARC, they are the most efficient breed they tested. They converted an AVERAGE of 6.7 to 1 (ours do considerably better). This translates into higher yield grade on those difficult last days on feed. Higher yeild grades mean more money on the rail! This is the picture of a ribeye out of a 14 year old cow (yes, that is Mrs. Hill’s dinnerware! Thats some kind of marbling for an old gal! She has 3 generations of females on the ranch today producing for us!