Switzerland #1 Cattle Breeds

1-Aubrac cattle The Aubrac is a French breed of domestic beef cattle. It originates on the Plateau de l'Aubrac in the Massif Central in central southern France, from which it also takes its name. It has a wheat-coloured coat and dark hooves, switch, muzzle and eyes. 5-The Rätisches Grauvieh (aka Bündner Grauvieh, Albulah Vieh, Albula; Rhaetian Grey in English) began as a composite of diverse Grison mountain cattle strains that, starting in the 1920’s, was displaced in Switzerland by crossing with Swiss Brown cattle. However, cattle of this Albula-type was re-imported from Austria in 1985. The Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grisons in English) is the original home of the Rätisches Grauvieh and Albula is a region within it. This canton borders on the western part of Oberinntal, Austria. Bündner Grauvieh translates into Grisons Grey in English. 2-The Eringer (aka Race d’Hérens and Valais and Hérens in French; Swiss Herens in English) is a stocky short-headed mountain breed. The German ‘Eringer’ is the most common name used in Switzerland (where both French and German are spoken); the transboundary/brand name used is Hérens. The Eringer has calves born with a reddish coat with a black dorsal stripe that changes to a black or blackish coat with a red dorsal stripe as they grow. The Eringer produces a high quality of meat — which is usually dried — and milk that is used for making a rich raclette cheese. (Raclette cheese is semi-hard. In Switzerland, it's commonly heated in front of a fire, or by a special machine, and then scraped onto plates for eating.) 3-The Evolèner (aka Evolènarde [patcholée]; Evolene and Evolènard in English; Evolener in German) is an old breed that developed in the Canton of Valais (Wallis in German) in southern Switzerland where both French and German are spoken.The Evolèner started as a separate breed in 1859 when some Hérens breeders did not agree with the selection goal of a unicolored cow — so they created their own federation and thus began the Evolèner breed. Besides irregular white markings on the legs and belly, the Evolèner has a white patch on the forehead which is sometimes referred to as a ‘star’.The Evolèner, in relation to its body weight, has excellent milk yields and a good dressing percentage. The Evolèner, hardy and vigorous, also has an aggressive temperament and is used in cow fights (with each other and with the Hérens) that take place in the summer when various herds meet in the pastures in the alps. Évolène Cattle are an old breed of dairy cattle from the Valais canton of Switzerland. It is an endangered cattle breed. The Évolène is a medium-sized, black pied or red pied breed, used more for beef production than milk production. Similar to the Herens, the Évolènes have a milk production of about 3,200 kg milk per year. Its fat content is about 3.8%. The breed is adapted to mountain pasture. Similar to Pinzgau Cattle, the white parts of the fur are mostly on the back and the abdomen. The cattle are very muscular, with noticeable neck muscles in the females. Évolènes have short, strong legs and a short, broad head. The horns are very strong and exceptionally long. The height of bulls is about 130 cm, the weight 600 to 700 kg. Cows are smaller; they are only 115 to 125 cm high and weigh between 400 and 500 kg. Similar to the Tux Cattle and the Herens, Évolène females are very aggressive, with cows fighting for their ranking in very long fights. 4-The Gurtenvieh (aka Belted Brown Mountain in English) is so named because ‘gurt’ is the German word for ‘belt’ (and ‘vieh’ means ‘cattle’). In Brown Mountain cattle herds with single-color coats, the occasional belted animal is a color variant that has always existed. However, they have never been registered in Brown Mountain herdbooks. 5-The Hérens (aka Valais, Race d’Hérens; Eringer in German; French Herens and Swiss Herens in English) is a dairy/beef breed of Swiss origin that is also known for its cow fighting. Due to the limited pasture available in the Alpine valleys, various small herds are driven to graze together during the summer months. The dominate cows from each of these individual herds then push each other head-to-head to see who will be the ‘leader’ in each of these new (to them) larger herds. This is a natural process. But now these cow fights are organized into five different weight classes. Injuries are very rare because the fighting ends as soon as the vanquished cow abandons her ground. The winners of each class are crowned ‘queen’. A grand finale takes place every year in the town of Aproz (in the canton of Valais) where the ‘Queen of Queens’ in each weight class is crowned before many breeders and spectators. Winners command high selling prices. The Hérens of France has been imported from Switzerland since 1950 and is small in number. The Hérens of Switzerland (more commonly known as the Eringer) has a stable population of 6,600-7,000 as of 2015. 6-The Rätisches Grauvieh (aka Bündner Grauvieh, Albulah Vieh, Albula; Rhaetian Grey in English) began as a composite of diverse Grison mountain cattle strains that, starting in the 1920’s, was displaced in Switzerland by crossing with Swiss Brown cattle. However, cattle of this Albula-type was re-imported from Austria in 1985.The Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grisons in English) is the original home of the Rätisches Grauvieh and Albula is a region within it. This canton borders on the western part of Oberinntal, Austria. Bündner Grauvieh translates into Grisons Grey in English. 7-The Rhaetian Grey (aka Rätisches Grauvieh and Bündner Grauvieh and Albulah Vieh in German) is the smallest variety of Alpine Grey cattle found in Switzerland. In the past, it has also been called Davoser Bergvieh and Oberengadiner (which translates to Upper Engadine in English). 8-The Simmental can be traced back to the indigenous cattle of the Simme and Saane valleys of the canton of Bern in Switzerland during the 5th century.There were several local strains that, over time, were eventually amalgamated under the general name of Simmentaler Fleckvieh. The original various Bernese-Simmental strains of Switzerland were exported in great numbers (starting in 1480) for use in upgrading and improving many other cattle populations of the world. The Simmental in Switzerland is now separated into two herdbooks: • Original Swiss Simmental • Swiss Fleckvieh (seit 2009) - Swiss Fleckvieh (since 2009) Other breed names that have been used in the past include: • Spotted, Swiss Simmental Spotted • Tachetée rouge du Simmental, Pie rouge du Simmental (French) • Simmentaler Fleckvieh, Schweizer Rotfleckvieh (German) 9-The Swiss Brown (aka Schweizer Braunvieh in German; La race Brune Suisse in French; Raza Bruna Svizzera in Italian) began development through selective breeding of grey-brown Alpine cattle by Swiss Monks beginning in the 10th century. As a dominant color, brown won – the Swiss Brown is the origination of all Brown Mountain cattle breeds. Today, due to the importation of the Brown Swiss (USA), there are two breeds reported in Switzerland: Braunvieh - a composite of Schwyzer Einsiedler, Appenzeller, Gurten Vieh and others, plus the Brown Swiss (USA) Original Schweizer Braunvieh - the original type of Swiss Brown without Brown Swiss (USA) genes 10-The Tachetée noire (aka Swiss Holstein; Schweizerische Holstein and Schwarzfleckvieh in German) is the French name for the Swiss Holstein. 'Tachetée noire' translates literally to 'spotted black' in English.