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Delkoms Alfie van Danie Delport wat tweede in sy klas (6 tot 10 jaar) was op die Internasionale Braunvieh Kampioenskappe wat vroeër vanjaar op Vryburg plaasgevind het. Hier is hy in sy werksklere.

Aurora Luigi maak skoonskip op VryburgDie selfgeteelde bul Aurora Luigi uit die Aurora Braunvieh Stoet van Lourens en Henriette Le Grange het tydens die Internasio-nale Braunvieh Kampioenskappe op Vryburg besonder goed pres teer – as die grootkampioenbul van die Braunviehs en die opperste kampioenbul van die skou. In Suid-Afrika word geen onderskeid getref tussen dubbeldoel- en vleisrasse in die inter-ras-afdeling nie, wat hierdie prestasie soveel te meer indrukwek-kend maak. Die Le Granges het dié bul in Januarie vanjaar aan André en Annemarie Reitsma (JC Braunvieh Stoet) van Suid-Af-rika verkoop. Aurora Luigi is die kleinseun van die bekende bul Nampo – op sy dag ook die opperste kampioenbul van die Vry-burg en Windhoek Skou. Hy was ook die opperste Fase C-kam-pioen van die Pretoria Skou.

Vir navrae kontak hh@iway.na of 081 124 9670

Nuusbrokkies uit die Braunvieh-stalNasionale KampioenskappeDie Braunvieh Nasionale Kampioenskappe vind vanjaar tydens die Wind-hoek-skouweek plaas – van 25 September tot 1 Oktober. ’n Sterk verteen-woordiging van nagenoeg tien telers word uit Suid-Afrika verwag, hoewel nie almal beeste gaan bring nie. ’n Kompetisie gaan ook weer aangebied word waarvan die trekking tydens skouparade sal plaasvind. Die wen-pryse op die spel is Braunvieh- en Braunvieh-kruisingsdiere.

Kursus by twee telers’n Braunvieh-kursus vir keurders en beoordelaars word net ná die Wind-hoek Skou aangebied – op 5 Oktober by Danie Delport en op 6 Oktober by Desmond en Ulrike Hart, albei van die Witvlei-omgewing. Die kursus-leier is die bekende beeskenner en interras-beoordelaar Martin Seyf erdt van Bloemfontein. Die koste is N$800 per persoon. Belangstellendes kan Henriette Le Grange kontak by hh@iway.na.

Van krag tot kragDie Braunvieh-ras bly veld wen. Die telersgetal staan nou op 16 met twee nuwe telers wat die afgelope jaar by die Namibiese Stoettelersvereniging geregistreer is. Die getal geregistreerde diere staan op sowat 2 300 diere.

Twee telers van Namibië het hulle goed van hul taak gekwyt met hul 12 selfgeteelde diere wat teen nagenoeg 90 Braunviehs van Suid-Afri-kaanse telers te staan gekom het tydens die In-ternasionale Braunvieh Kampioenskappe op Vryburg. Die Aurora Braunvieh Stoet van Lou-rens en Henriette Le Grange van die Summer-down-omgewing het met hul tien diere ses eer-ste plek ke, twee tweede plekke en twee derde plekke in die klasse vir verskillende ouderdoms-groepe verower. Een van die twee diere uit die Delkoms Braunvieh Stoet van Danie Delport het ook ’n tweede plek in die groepklasse behaal.

Braunvieh Genootskap se raad

Lourens Le Grange, die presi-dent.

Lenn de Jager, die vise-presi dent.

Henriette Le Grange, die sekretaresse en tesourier. Ulrike Hart, bykomende lid.

Internasionale Braunvieh-kampioenskappe op Vryburg

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To the commercial farmer, herd fertility is the most important profit po-tential production trait. A high percentage calf crop is essential in to-day’s beef industry for any cow-calf operation to have the opportunity to show a profit. Research has shown that on a commercial basis, herd fertility is at least five times more important than the growth traits for herd profitability.

Braunvieh bulls are noted for their scrotal and testicular development at a young age and are capable, fertile breeders at 12 to 14 months of age. “Four thousand Red Angus cows exposed to Braunvieh bulls the past four years average a 7% higher conception rate than the average of the other herds exposed to bulls of other breeds,” said Tom Wood-ward, manager of Broseco Ranches, Omaha, Texas. Broseco Ranches op-erate in north-east Texas and run a total of about 6 000 mother cows.

Another documented example of Braunvieh fertility comes from Tex-as A&M Research Centre, Uvalde, Texas, where, as part of a research pro-

ject, the centre turned out five Braunvieh bulls and five bulls of anoth-er heat-tolerant breed with 266 crossbred cows. When the calves were DNA verified to their sire breed, the research centre found that 68% of the calves were Braunvieh-sired.

Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross females are sexually mature at a young age. At the US Meat Animal Research Centre (MARC), Clay Cen-tre, Nebraska, it was shown that the average age of puberty for Braun-vieh-cross heifers was 332 days and the percentage of Braunvieh-cross heifers pregnant at 550 days was 93%. These figures are graphed to il-lustrate a comparison for the Braunvieh cross females versus the oth-er breed crosses in this study.

Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross females cycle and are fertile at a very young age. So fertile, in fact, that some breeders routinely give their Braunvieh-sired heifer calves Lutalyse at weaning.

Braunvieh genetics in a crossbreeding programme can provide hy-brid vigour at the following rates:• Increased fertility: 10 to 15%• Increased calf survival: 10 to 15%

The Braunvieh has it all … Increased fertility More live calves Milk and maternal excellence More kilograms to sell Unequalled feedlot and carcass traits Environmental adaptability Moderate size with muscle Convenience traitsBoost your bottom line with Braunvieh!

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An example of the popular crossbreeding choice of Braunvieh and Brahman.

Percentage of cows pergnant at 550 days

Percentage

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Milk and maternal excellence …Maternal excellence can be described in many ways, however, most cat-tle people associate maternal excellence with cows that -• calve unassisted on a regular basis, producing a calf every 365 days,

and• convert forage to milk, provided through a sound udder and teats in

sufficient quantities to produce a heavy, vigorous calf at weaning.Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross females are excellent mother cows. They have an inherent ability to rebreed regularly, combined with their sound udder attachment and small, well-placed teats that provide ample milk to their calves over the 200- to 250-day nursing period. This maternal ability results in sound, heavy calves at weaning.

Further data from the US Meat Animal Research Center shows why Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross females make such good mothers. The date reveals that they rebreed and calve on a regular basis and milk suf-ficiently to produce heavy calves at weaning.

Once more, putting Braunvieh genetics in your crossbreeding pro-

gramme can provide hybrid vigour at the following rates:• Increased growth of crossbred calves: 4 to 11%• Increased weaning weight due to more milk: 4 to 11%

More kilograms to sellBraunvieh genetics in a commercial cow-calf operation continue to make positive input towards profitability for those incorporating Braunvieh.

The superiority of Braunvieh genetics for producing more kilograms of marketable weight was first verified at the US Meat Animal Research Centre where Braunvieh-cross females produced 4% more calf weight per cow exposed than their nearest competing breed-cross.

Braunvieh-cross females produced 5% more weaning weight than the traditional Hereford-Angus-cross females and from 4% to 11% more weaning weight than any other continental cross females. Economically, any commercial cow-calf operator that can increase the kilograms of calf weaned per cow exposed by 4 to 11% has a tremendous economic op-portunity to increase the herd’s profit potential. By combining this calf weight-per-cow-exposed advantage with the 7% increase in the con-ception rate from the use of Braunvieh bulls, the economic advantage for using Braunvieh genetics becomes significant. The following chart shows Braunvieh’s advantage for calf 200-day weight per cow exposed.

Moderate size with muscleBraunvieh cows will typically weigh 500 to 600 kg and mature bulls 900 to 1 000 kg. While moderate in size and frame, Braunvieh females and bulls will pass on their muscle, superior quality grade, growth rate and efficient feed conversion to their progeny. The cost of gain for Braun-vieh and Braunvieh-cross cattle is comparable to, or less than that of all other breeds and, because they are of moderate size and have the inher-ent ability to grade choice, Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross cattle can be harvested from a feedlot situation at a live weight that eliminates days

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200-day weight per cow exposed

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Die Rante Braunvieh FP

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ELOB /KHAEB Braunvieh-stoetDennis en Marié Profitt

Posbus 1101 Otjiwarongoepos: dennisprofitt16@gmail.com

Tel 081 271 6776 / 081 253 4010

on feed other continental breeds take to reach marketable condition.From south Texas to the high plains of the Dakotas, Braunvieh and

Braunvieh-cross cattle have proven their superior genetics for all seg-ments of the industry.

Environmental adaptabilityBraunvieh cattle thrive in dry, tropical and cold climates. Due to the breed’s high performance and universal adaptability, Braunvieh are found in over 60 countries worldwide.

This breed’s genetics have been especially valuable in their use with Bos Indicus herds. Most beef alliance programmes accept no more than 25% Bos Indicus breeding in their feeding programmes. Braunvieh- Bos Indicus brood cows bred to a Braunvieh bull or a bull of another breed meet this requirement. This cross has proven their worth for heat tol-erance while producing the high quality, high yielding animals that fit the alliance specs and the end consumer market.

Braunvieh-Bos Indicus F1 females are also excellent mother cows that

mature at a young age and are very fertile. What better complement to your Bos Indicus bloodlines than a shot of Braunvieh with added muscle, milk and marbling, plus a bonus of heat tolerance. These are the kind of cattle to make you extra dollars in your cross breeding programme.

Unequalled feedlot and carcass traitsWhat is “value-based marketing”?Value-based marketing for today’s farmer means he is paid on the mer-its of his cattle’s feedlot and carcass performance. It is estimated that twenty grocery store chains control over 50% of today’s total beef mar-ket. This large proportion of the beef market has given rise to numerous consumer-based beef alliances that market cattle through some form of grid or formula structure.

Almost all alliances have set specifications with regard to one, or all, of the following: breed or breed crosses, carcass quality grade and/or carcass yield grade. Market alliances base their price paid for cattle on the value-based marketing system. The better the carcasses, the high-er the price.

Cattle not marketed through a value-based marketing system are marketed as commodity beef. Commodity beef is the method by which most average or below cattle are sold and, in almost every case, the av-erage price paid for commodity beef is less than the average price paid for beef carcasses that meet a value-based alliance or grid formula.

Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross cattle have, in recent years, been rec-ognised for their outstanding feedlot performance and superior car-cass characteristics producing carcasses with a high quality grade and low yield grade. This recognition continues today. Of all the continental breeds, Braunvieh is the only one that has marbling ability to go along with its muscle. RA “Bob” Long states in an Angus Journal, “The degree of muscling does not determine the amount of marbling. For example, the Braunvieh is at least one continental breed that is heavily muscled

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Mature cow weights compared to Hereford/Angus

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yet marbles very well, while Hereford cattle have a marbling problem and are not very heavily muscled.” Dating back to the early 1900s, there are numerous producer testimonials, in addition to independent test statistics, as to Braunvieh’s unequalled feedlot performance and car-cass superiority.

In 1998, Virgil Boll, Utopia, Texas, placed 7 400 steers and heifers on feed. Of them 8%, or 611 head, were Braunvieh-influenced. The 8% that were Braunvieh-influenced, however, accounted for almost half (48%) of Boll’s cattle feeding profit (before interest) for the year.

In 2000 and 2001, Robert Gray Farms, Kremlin, Oklahoma, fed 298 Braunvieh-sired steers and heifers at McLean Feedyards, McLean, Tex-as. When harvested through B3R Country Meats, Childress, Texas, these 298 head of Braunvieh-sired cattle graded 94% choice and 88% yield grades 1 and 2.

Braunvieh awards at beef expoBraunvieh and Braunvieh-crosses’ ability to grade choice or higher with desirable yield grades of 1 or 2 is clearly demonstrated by results of the Great Western Beef Expo, Sterling, Colorado. Since 1990 Braun-vieh-sired carcasses have been awarded 13 Max Fulscher Awards. The Max Fulscher Award is given to pens of five that are 100% choice qual-ity grade or better, and 100% yield grade 2 or better. Braunvieh-sired pens hold 36% of the Max Fulscher Awards given from 1990 to 2003. This is more than twice as many Max Fulscher Awards as its nearest breed competitor. Braunvieh-sired pens have more than two times the Max Fulscher Awards as the Angus-sired pens. The graph below il-lustrates the recipients and the number of Max Fulscher Awards pre-sented from 1990 to 2003.

Braunvieh-influenced cattle have proven, and continue to prove, that they produce carcasses with very desirable quality grade and yield grade. These are the kind of carcasses that today’s beef industry de-mands, with such carcasses meeting and surpassing most value-based

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alliance beef marketing programmes. Braunvieh genetics can truly pro-duce cattle with added value.

Keep in mind that there is little, or no, hybrid vigour or heterosis as-sociated with beef carcass traits. This means Braunvieh genetics have the inherent and bred-in ability to produce cattle with desirable car-casses. One cross with Braunvieh can move a herd of commodity beef producers to an alliance sought-after product.

Convenience traitsBraunvieh and Braunvieh-cross cattle can be the cow-calf farmer’s best friend. The dark pigmentation of the eyes and area around the eyes near-ly eliminates the worry about pinkeye. Braunvieh and Braunvieh-cross females not only have exceptional udder attachment and small, well-placed teats, but the udders and teats are darkly pigmented, eliminat-ing the need for the cow-calf producer to worry about sunburned and/or snowburned udders.

These cattle are known for their docile temperament and ease of han-dling. While there are occasions of a Braunvieh being a little nervous, breeders of Braunvieh have been eliminating these animals from their breeding programmes whenever they are identified. Thus, a tempera-mental Braunvieh is almost non-existent today.

Braunvieh females are well known for their staying ability and they remain productive well into their teens, many as long as twenty years of age or more. Such longevity helps to eliminate some of the high cost of developing and producing heifer replacements.

Many of the convenience traits are hard to measure economically, but they certainly do contribute towards the ease and safety of production for the cow-calf producer.

There is no single best breed …Every breed and breed cross has its strong points. Braunvieh’s strength in milk, muscle, marbling and fertility is indisputable. While diferent breeds might edge Braunvieh out in certain individual traits, Braun-vieh and Braunvieh-cross cattle do not fall out of bed for any one pro-duction trait for which they have been evaluated. Consider Braunvieh’s performance across all production traits, from conception to consum-er, and you will find that Braunvieh genetics will add profit to your bot-tom line. (www.fieldstonebraunvieh.com)

What is a Braunvieh?Braunvieh is not a crossbreed or a composite but, instead, may be one of the oldest pure beef breeds in the world. Braunvieh was originally developed in the scenic Swiss Alps, but will adapt and will perform in literally any environment. Braunvieh can be found in over 60 countries from the Tropics to the Arctic Circle.

Their genetically branded feature - a white band around the muz-zle, makes Braunvieh cattle very recognisable. Braunvieh are typically brown in colour as these pictures indicate.

Many people refer to Braunvieh as Brown Swiss and want to know the diference between the two. Brown Swiss dairy cattle were in fact developed from the Braunvieh beef cattle. Braunvieh was an extreme-ly good milking beef breed and many years ago, some animal breeders selected the best milking Braunvieh and began breeding these selected individuals for milk production. After many generations the dairy type was developed, and thus the Brown Swiss dairy cattle, while related to

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Braunvieh beef cattle, are vastly diferent in type, structure and function.

Fullblood, rurebred or composite/hybridA fullblood Braunvieh is so designated because every animal in its pedigree traces back to Braunvieh cattle that originated from the Switzerland Original Braunvieh. Fullblood Braunvieh are always brown in colour.

Purebred Braunvieh are animals that have been bred-up to pure-bred status as a result of using fullblood Braunvieh to cross with an animal of another breed. Purebred Braunvieh females must be 87,5 % or more Braunvieh genetics and males 93,75 % or more Braunvieh ge-netics. Purebred Braunvieh colours vary and can include brown, black and tiger stripes or various shades thereof, depending on the breed from which the purebred was originally started. Percentage Braun-vieh are animals with less than 87,5 % Braunvieh genetics for females and less that 93.75 percent Braunvieh genetics for males. Many pro-

ducers, both registered and commercial, use percentage Braunvieh or composite animals as both sire and dam to produce F2 composites.

Horned or polledFullblood or purebred Braunvieh can be horned or polled. Fullblood Braunvieh are almost always horned, except when a genetic mutation takes place where a polled animal is produced from the mating of two horned animals.

The polled gene is dominant to the horned gene and thus breeders are able to propagate animals expressing the polled factor.

Purebred Braunvieh can be either horned or polled. Many breed-ers have bred up to purebred status using polled animals as the origi-nating animals crossed with fullblood Braunvieh. Following breeders' original cross with polled animals, many breeders selected and saved only polled animals for their breeding programmes. The result is that a sizable number of both homozygous and heterozygous polled Braun-vieh are now available.

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There has never been a better time than now to add Braunvieh genetics to your cattle oper-ation. If you are interested in heavier weaning weights on your calves, more maternal traits in your replacement females, and more overall performance in all of your cattle, then Braun-vieh is the answer. These traits plus the gentle-ness that this breed adds to your herd will make you glad you chose the Braunvieh breed. For farmers with small herds who work alone with their cattle this is an important characteristic.

Reasons why Braunvieh has a natural and ge-netic ability to excel in today’s market:• The steers can produce desirable quality

grades without adding back fat.• Results from past ranch-to-rail programmes

showed a higher return from Braunvieh-crossed steers.

• Females out of Braunvieh sires calved un-assisted 94,5% of the time with 95% of the calves surviving to weaning.

• Braunvieh cattle adapt well to harsh environ-ments. They have survived for hundreds of years in the toughest regions of the world.

• Braunvieh has a higher efficiency of conver-sion of feed than other breeds.

• By 13,5 months of age 94,2 % of Braunvieh

females will have reached puberty and by 14,5 months of age 100 % of Braunvieh fe-males will have reached puberty.

• Better carcasses on crossbred Braunvieh steers result in better grades and less out-side fat waste.

• Crossbred replacement females have great maternal traits (milk, fertility).

• Heterosis is maximised in crossbreeding with Braunvieh.

• The Braunvieh breed is the result of hundreds

of years of genetic selection. It is one of the only fullblood breeds known, and evolved as a du-al-purpose breed (meat and milk). These cattle are heavy-muscled with a moderate frame and the natural ability to marble without adding back fat. Furthermore, the Braunvieh has be-come synonymous with performance which equals profit for the producer. The proof is in the end product which shows that Braunviehs add value and increase profits in today’s cat-tle industry. (www.cattletoday.com)

A natural and genetic ability to excel in today’s market

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