Braunvieh
Template:Short description Template:Infobox cattle breed
The BraunviehTemplate:Efn or Swiss Brown is a breed or group of breeds of domestic cattle originating in Switzerland and distributed throughout the Alpine region.[1]Template:R/superscript It falls within the "Brown Mountain" group of cattle breeds.[2]Template:R/superscript The Swiss Braunvieh was originally a triple-purpose animal, used for milk production, for meat and for draught work; the modern Braunvieh is predominantly a dairy breed.[3]Template:R/superscript
In the latter part of the nineteenth century cattle of this type were exported to the United States, where they were selectively bred for dairy qualities only, and developed into a distinct breed, the American Brown Swiss.[2]Template:R/superscript[3]Template:R/superscript From about 1960 the Braunvieh was extensively cross-bred with these American cattle, such that over 75% of the genetic make-up of the Swiss Braunvieh is from the American breed. Small numbers of the original breed, unaffected by cross-breeding, are registered as Original Schweizer Braunvieh or Original Braunvieh.[2]Template:R/superscript
History
The Braunvieh derives from the grey-brown mountain cattle raised from mediaeval times in the Swiss canton of Schwyz in Central Switzerland. Documents from the late fourteenth century at the Monastery of Einsiedeln record the export of such cattle to Vorarlberg, now part of Austria.[4]Template:R/superscript The first known herd-book for a cattle breed was that kept at the monastery for the Braunvieh from 1775 to 1782.[4]Template:R/superscript A description from 1795 of Schwyzer cattle calls them the largest and finest of the country.[5]Template:R/superscript[6]Template:R/superscript[4]Template:R/superscript
Cattle of this type were shown at the Exposition Universelle of 1855 in Paris, and at the International Exhibition of 1862 in London.[7]Template:R/superscript
The Schwyz and two other breeds of Alpine brown cattle were recognised in 1875, and in 1879 the three were combined into a single-herd book with the name Schweizerische Braunvieh.[4]Template:R/superscript In 1897 a breeders' association, the Script error: No such module "Lang"., was founded in Bünzen, in the canton of Aargau.[7]Template:R/superscript
Between 1967 and 1998 there was substantial cross-breeding with the American Brown Swiss with the aim of improving milk yield, physical size, and udder conformation.[8]Template:R/superscript[9]Template:R/superscript[10]Template:R/superscript In Germany what began as a programme of improvement became in effect a programme of substitution; by 1994 the genetic contribution of the Brown Swiss to the Braunvieh had reached 60%.[9]Template:R/superscript
The Original Braunvieh
In Switzerland some breeders had continued to breed the traditional type of dual-purpose Braunvieh, and this was formalised as the Schweizer Original Braunvieh in 1993.[11]Template:R/superscript It is registered in the same herd book as the modern-type Braunvieh, but has different breeding aims. Efforts to preserve the original Braunvieh type had begun in Germany in 1988 with the formation of the Script error: No such module "Lang"..[9]Template:R/superscript In Italy it is known as the Bruna Italiana Vecchio Ceppo or Bruna Originaria.[12]Template:R/superscript
In other countries
The Braunvieh has given rise to several European cattle breeds in the Alpine region – in Austria, in Germany, in Italy and in Spain – as well as the Brown Swiss in the United States.[4]Template:R/superscript
The Montafon of the southern Vorarlberg of Austria was of medium weight, muscular, usually brown with a pale dorsal stripe. In 1923 the name was changed to Voralberger Braunvieh.[13]Template:R/superscript
The Bruna Alpina or Bruna Italiana is distributed throughout Italy. Braunvieh were imported from central Switzerland from the sixteenth century, and diffused from the Alpine valleys into the flat country of Lombardy and the Veneto – where they rapidly supplanted the mostly red-coated local breeds – and then further south as far as Calabria.[14]Template:R/superscript In 1950 it was still the principal dairy breed of Italy, before the Frisona Italiana, the Italian Holstein-Friesian breed, achieved dominance. In Sardinia, Bruna bulls were used to cover local cows, leading to the creation of the tough and productive Sardo-Bruna.[14]Template:R/superscript
Braunvieh exported to the United States from about 1870 were bred exclusively for milk production, and developed into the modern American Brown Swiss.[10]Template:R/superscript
Characteristics
The Braunvieh is a uniform brown or grey-brown in colour; the nose is black and encircled by a pale ring. The horns are pale with dark points. Cows weigh some Script error: No such module "val"., with a height at the withers in the range Script error: No such module "val".;[15]Template:R/superscript bulls weigh on average Script error: No such module "val"., with an average height of Script error: No such module "val"..[8]Template:R/superscript
Use
The modern Braunvieh is a dairy breed. The average milk yield is Script error: No such module "val". in a lactation of 300 days; the milk contains on average Script error: No such module "val". milk-fat and Script error: No such module "val". milk protein.[8]Template:R/superscript
Notes
References
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- ↑ Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties, sixth edition. Wallingford; Boston: CABI. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ a b c Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ a b Valerie Porter (2008). The Field Guide to Cattle. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ a b c d e Marleen Felius, Marie-Louise Beerling, David S. Buchanan, Bert Theunissen, Peter A. Koolmees and Johannes A. Lenstra (2014). On the History of Cattle Genetic Resources. Diversity. 6 (4): 705–750. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers"..
- ↑ Ludwig Wallrath Medicus (1795). Bemerkungen über die Alpen-Wirtschaft auf einer Reise durch die Schweiz (in German). Leipzig: Gräff; cited by Engeler.
- ↑ Willy Engeler (1947). Das schweizerische Braunvieh: Monographie und Quellenwerk über die Braunviehrasse, ihre Verbreitung, Züchtung und Förderung in Geschichte und Gegenwart (in German). Frauenfeld: Huber.
- ↑ a b [s.n.] (2012). Geschichte (in German; in English ). Schweizerische Braunvieh. Archived 4 March 2016.
- ↑ a b c Breed data sheet: Braunvieh / Switzerland (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2025.
- ↑ a b c Wolfgang Kustermann (1994). Schwerpunkt - Rinder: Das Original Braunvieh (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Accessed October 2015.
- ↑ a b Sophie Maria Rothammer (2011). Genomweite Detektion von Selektionssignaturen in divergent selektierten Rinderpopulationen mit anschließender Identifikation eines möglichen kausalen Gens (doctoral dissertation, in German). Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Accessed October 2015.
- ↑ [s.n.] (2012). Schweizer Original Braunvieh (in German). Schweizerische Braunvieh. Archived 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Breed data sheet: Bruna Originaria / Italy (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2025.
- ↑ Marleen Felius (1995). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Doetinchem, Netherlands: Misset. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ a b Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. Template:Isbn. p. 9–11.
- ↑ Tiergenetische Ressourcen der Schweizer Landwirtschaft (in German). Bern: Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft. Archived 24 January 2023.
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