Beautiful Braunvieh Bulls

When we purchased the HPR in 1995 I set out to look for an ideal Bull to breed our Black Angus Cows. My research was directed at the traits of offspring (it's just like finding a good partner for life......look for good traits before you consider the breed!). In other words, when a Black Angus Cow, bred to a certain breed of Bull had a Calf, how did the Calf's (assuming beef) carcass "grade out". In other words, did it have minimum back fat, a good sized ribeye, were its yield grades (excess fat) low (1 or 2), and did it grade out at least Choice, and, hopefully, Prime (less than 5% of carcasses). In my research I discovered the Braunvieh (German word for "Brown Cow") breed. A breed of dual purpose (e.g. milk and beef) animals from Switzerland that could trace their pure bloodlines to 800 B.C. (even my Mormon genealogy doesn't begin to go back that far!).

In 1983 Harlan Doeschot of Firth, Nebraska, traveled to Switzerland looking for Simmental Bulls. In his travels he discovered the Swiss Brown Cow, or Braunvieh breed. He imported some of the finest Braunvieh Bulls and has, along with his son, Harlan, Jr. and son-in-law, Jon, developed a first-class operation supplying Braunvieh breeding stock to producers like the HPR. Braunvieh Bulls are good looking, gentle, and their genetics, when crossed with a Black Angus, produce a very good carcass for beef or females for breeding. We recently purchased 8 replacement Braunvieh Bulls from Golden Link. They are expensive but they are good. Their offspring are, typically, black hided, qualifying for CAB (Certified Angus Beef). Our program gives us the popular color (Black) with carcass traits that grade out well. We have, for many years, won carcass awards at the Great Western Beef Expo in Sterling, Colorado.

You may see some Black Angus Bulls at the HPR. These are used as Heifer Bulls (to breed young Heifers) and to breed our Half-blood Braunvieh X Black Angus females for a three quarters Black Angus X Braunvieh cross. Good Bulls and Cows are the foundation of a solid herd. We are the largest user of Braunvieh Bulls in the northwest. Isn't it ironic that our manager, Urs Schmidlin, would manage a ranch in Montana with a Swiss breed of Bulls? Urs was as surprised as most ranchers when he discovered the Braunvieh Bulls at the HPR. When I was first investigating the Braunvieh breed I used to ask seasoned ranchers about them and they would say "you mean Gelbvieh or Brahma?" Hardly anyone knew of the breed when we first starting purchasing them. The Braunvieh are also a popular breed in Canada and Mexico.