Braunvieh SA has various membership categories, differentiated by age, members’ contribution to the breed and whether or not applicants actively breed Braunvieh.
An application fee is charged, whereafter members have to pay an annual subscription fee and are charged for herd assessments based on the number of their cattle that participate in the programme. Members undertake to abide by the stipulations, order and regulations of the society’s constitution when they join the society.
As with all the cattle breeders’ societies, Braunvieh SA has clear guidelines in terms of record-keeping and the way in which animals should be marked and identified. Records have to be kept of all registered animals, and all animals must participate in performance testing and physical evaluations to determine whether they will be accepted for registration or not.
The first selection for cows takes place during weaning when, for example, heifers with birth defects, genetic abnormalities, that are too small or too large, look unfeminine and have underdeveloped reproductive organs, have a poor or wild temperament and or functional faults, in terms of their built and legs, should be culled. Those from cows with a record of reproduction and birth problems will also not make the grade for stud production.
The second selection of heifers ordinarily takes place just before they are serviced at 15 to 24 months of age. At this stage, the animals are again evaluated for physical defects as well as post-weaning growth.
The third selection, fourth and final selection takes place during pregnancy evaluations, calving and weaning, with cows that did not take, failed or struggled to calve and those that failed to raise a calve or acquired a poor weaning index, being excluded from the stud. This is unless the failure can be justified by natural causes.
The Braunvieh, named after the brown colour of its coats, is one of the oldest and purest cattle breeds and part of beef production in South...