Brown Swiss

[mommyfor5]

Our first dairy cow to milk was a Brown Swiss. She is very strong willed but gives a wonderful tasting milk. She had no problem calving and was a very good mother. We do not bottle feed the calves. We let them stay with their mother as nature intended, so I cannot give any feed back on their willingness to take a bottle. I would highly reccommend the breed, however they take a little more time to train than a Jersey or Holstein.

 

[MReit]

Okay, I'm a sucker. I got twin bulls lastweek that are hol/swiss and they are just adorable. They took the bottle well and are starting to eat grain very well. They were born at 90 and 80 lbs. Yes the momma cow is alright since having them. I'll have to get some pics of the lil dolls. I knew I should have never said never...hahaha

 

[Vcomb]

our family has bred swiss for quite awhile and found them to be wonderful dairy cattle. at one point we thought of selling all the cross and holsteins and having a registered swiss herd only. aside from the extra paperwork I think the main reason they decided not to is its hard to sell steers out here that aren't the right color. We've bred holsteins to swiss as it creates high quality high production milk and as a bonus if in the right percentages they come out solid black or near it (makes selling the steers easier). In other percentages you'll get cattle that look like the Canadienne breed, ones that look like red and white holsteins, and some that are a smoky silvergrey color.

Growing up I've dealt with two kinds of brown swiss; the kind my grandpa had which were stockier, smaller dual purpose types (real light colored cows very dark bulls with silver dorsal stripes) and the more "modern" dairy swiss (much bigger, had a bull who was 6' at the shoulder, lighter colored bulls, darker cows). The swiss are smart but if you get a rank bull they can be almost as bad as holsteins. The cows and calves are smarter than holsteins and many people love the color of the young calves (born nearly solid white with little brown caps on their heads).

part of why you don't see more of them is holsteins have become "the" dairy breed much as angus are "the" beef breed. there are breeds that are just as good as them, they are just more abundant, better marketed, and thus easier to sell. Also there's the question of purity and while you may find quite a few people with cattle who look pure swiss only a fraction of them will have registries or pedigrees to prove they do not have something like jersey or gernsey in them.


Here's a link to a pic of some of our cows

http://fav.me/d1yik6r

 

[goatgirl4008]

I grew up on a dairy we milked mostly holsteins. But my show cows were strickly Brown Swiss. I tried showing a holstein once I couldn't get the old bag broke to halter. They are easy going and have a personality. Holsteins are here for one reason to make milk. A grain finished Brown Swiss steer hanging on the rail will finish and hang a choice carcass(we had one do it) he was 1500 pounds on the hoof good beef. No hormones! The Braunveih is a beef brown swiss they bring high dollar they are easy fleshing and good adg in feed yards. We no longer milk but I went out of the way to buy Brown Swiss bull calves to bottle raise cause its deep in my blood the love for "the big brown cow".

 

[clarmayfarm]

Someone said Holsteins are mindless? Huh? They can have wonderful personalities.

Yes, Swiss are gentle, calm, and slow. Their calves can be h___ to bottlefeed, not often aggressive.
They are not as popular because, generally, they are not as efficient as Holsteins and Jerseys at making milk. They can make tremendous amounts of milk, but often carry extra weight which means they must be fed accordingly.

Great animals.

 

[Vcomb]

Another reason not many folks raise them is simply market value. Its easier to sell Holsteins, just as it is easier to sell a Black Angus in the beef market.