5 Brown Cow Breeds with Pictures

All black, white, and brown animals catch our attention instantly as these solid colors do not look good on humans but animals as well. Brown coat is common in horses but it is quite rare to find a cow with this spectacular color.

Only a few cattle breeds are registered and recorded as brown cow breeds. That’s proof that only one in twenty or thirty cows can have a brown color.

Brown Cow Breeds

The few recognized and registered brown cow breeds that deserve to be discussed are;

• Brown Swiss Cattle
• Braunvieh
• Red Angus
• Latvian Brown
• Japanese Brown

1. Brown Swiss Cattle

Brown Swiss is an American dairy cattle breed that is not truly brown but it still is categorized as a remarkable brown cattle breed.

If we pay attention their coat appears paler brown, this little brown hint brings Brown Swiss cattle to the list of brown cow breeds.

In the country of origin, the Brown Swiss Cattle breed is either referred to as “Brown Swiss” or “American Brown Swiss”.

The Brown Swiss used to have supernatural draft and beef capabilities but the selective cross-breeding has enhanced the milk production and lost the draft and beef capabilities.

The milk Brown Swiss produce is immensely demanded as it has about 4% butterfat and 3.5% protein.

The percentage of butterfat and protein makes it highly suitable for cheese. The Brown swiss’s yearly milk yield is reported to be around 22600 lbs.

As the beef and draft capabilities are now lost, the intentionally cross-bred the twenty-first century Brown Swiss is raised and kept either for milk or cross-breeding.

The American Brown Swiss is a medium-sized cattle breed that can be recognized by the creamy white muzzle, dark nose, dark nose eye pigmentation, and uneven yet spectacular grayish-brown coat.

This no-so-brown yet brown cattle breed can be horned or naturally polled. The livestock farmers agree that the Brown Swiss cattle has been blessed with the best limbs and hooves. This breed has a white face or ears.

Moreover, the said cattle breed is hardy, adaptable, and has a very well-balanced build.

The American Brown Swiss is prized for its beauty, fur, and exceptional milking abilities. It is distributed in almost all countries of the world.

The fully mature healthy American Brown Swiss can be bought in exchange for a price of more or less $8,950.

2. Braunvieh

Braunvieh is another worth-discussing brown swiss cattle breed that happens to originate from Switzerland. “Braunvieh” is a German word that means brown cattle.

As per the records, there are twelve types of brown mountain cattle of Switzerland and Braunvieh is one of them.

The other members of the brown mountain cattle are Herens, Evolene, Original Schweizer Braunvieh, Swiss Fleckvieh or Simmental, Original Simmental, Fribourgeoise (extinct), and Rätisches Grauvieh etc.

This brown cattle breed called “Braunvieh” looks breathtakingly similar to the American Brown Swiss cattle breed.

However, if we pay attention Braunvieh has been blessed with several Distinguishing features.

The said cattle breed has uniform grayish brown to brown coat, the nose is usually a bit darker, and has a pale circle ring.

All Braunvieh cattle are horned, they are usually polled intentionally.

This group member of the brown mountain cattle breed does not have spectacular horns, their average-sized horns are usually pale and have prominent dark points.

This spectacular cattle breed is distributed across the globe but the majority of the Braunvieh population is serving the residents of Switzerland and the Alpine region.

Germany, Italy, and Spain are taken as Braunvieh’s second home. Braunvieh is usually mistaken as American Brown Swiss cattle so they are often mistakenly referred to as Brown Swiss or American Brown Swiss cattle.

Those who can distinguish Braunvieh and American Swiss cattle call it either Braunvieh or Schwyzer.

This brown cattle breed is an original breed, it has never been cross-bred to get desirable characteristics.

Braunvieh is a triple-purpose cattle breed, it can be used for milk, meat, drought purposes. Despite serving for drought work, Braunvieh remains a predominantly dairy breed.

As per the legit reports, well-raised Braunvieh cattle can produce milk up to 12000 liters annually.

3. Red Angus

Red Angus is browner than the cow breeds mentioned above, so not listing it down here would not be fair to this brown cow breed.

As it’s name suggests, Red Angus appears in reddish-brown spectacular color. The Red Angus cattle have been blessed with such a unique color that they can easily be recognized out from the crowd.

Red Angus is closely related to Aberdeen Angus, which is taken as the true Angus cattle.

Apart from the dramatic reddish-brown color, Red Angus and the Aberdeen Angus more or less share the same characteristics.

The unusual coat color has got this cattle breed recognized as a separate breed in Canada, United States, and Australia.

The Red Angus is a medium-sized cattle breed with a beefy carcass.

The said cattle breed is naturally polled, has a compact low-set body, fine quality of flesh, and an impressive dressing percentage.

The bulls belonging to this breed are muscular and usually weigh around 1800 lbs whereas the Red Angus cows do not weigh more than 1200 lbs.

The reddish-brown cattle have a decent amount of fat on their body. So, the Scottish livestock keepers usually prefer to raise it for meat.

The meat produced by Red Angus cattle is very well-marbled. For it’s marbling factor, their meat is immensely demanded in meat markets, supermarkets, and restaurants.

The bulls are equally in demand, as the Red Angus cattle are becoming rare and rare so the bulls get demanded to cross-breed.

Despite the dramatic appearance, Red Angus is still not admired enough to have good names.

It is either called Angus cattle or sometimes to distinguish it from the black Angus cattle the livestock keepers start referring to it as Red Angus cattle.

Other than that, the few livestock keepers have a few nicknames for Red Angus. The two most common ones are doddies and hummlies.

4. Latvian Brown

Latvian Brown is a brown cattle breed that originates from the Republic of Latvia, a country located in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.

The Latvian Brown has an as dramatic reddish-brown coat as the Red Angus.

The Latvian Brown made its entry into the cattle world in the middle of the last century when the Angeln cattle were brought to Lativa.

The Angeln cattle were cross-bred with the local cattle breeds to improve the productive cattle, the intentional cross-breeding rewarded us with the Latvian cattle.

The Latvian Brown appears in different shades; it can be light reddish-brown to dark reddish-brown. Unlike the other brown cow breeds mentioned above, Latvian Brown is a full-sized cattle that are believed to have a strong constitution.

The Latvian Brown cattle have darker heads, necks, and legs whereas the red of the body appears a bit lighter but still brown enough to be called brown. These brown cattle have been blessed with light, small, and moderately long heads, deep chest, long body, well-developed udders, and a slightly raised rump.

All Latvian Brown cattle are naturally horned, their horns do not go well with their size as they are curved and small.

As Latvian cattle are regarded as full-sized cattle, the Latvian Brown bulls and cows are generally heavier weighing around 1000kgs and 560 kgs.

The Latvian Brown cattle are generally raised and kept for meat but their milking capabilities are equally impressive.

An average Latvian Brown cow can easily produce 4537 kgs or more in their lactation period. The milk produced by Latvian cattle is immensely demanded as it contains an impressive amount of fat, about 4.28%.

Unlike the other large-sized cattle, Latvian Brown is hardy, strong, active, and adaptive. It’s one of the reasons why this brown cattle breed got the most advanced livestock keepers’ approval.

5. Japanese Brown

Japanese Brown is the last one on the list of brown cattle breeds. As the name suggests, Japanese Brown originates from Japan.

This Brown cattle breed is one of the six most recognized Japanese breeds; Japanese Shorthorn, Japanese Polled, and Japanese Black, etc.

This brown cattle breed is widely distributed in Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu but it is admired and recognized in almost all parts of the world.

The world knows and recognizes the Japanese cattle breed as Akaushi, Akage Washu, or the Japanese Brown cattle. It is a fluffy breed.

The Japanese Brown cattle are excellent milk producers but they are usually preferred for meat.

The meat obtained from Japanese Brown cattle never go out of demand, it is demanded and cooked at expensive restaurants.

Both sexes belonging to the Japanese Brown cattle breed are naturally horned. The polled Japanese cattle you see used to have horns as well, their keepers might have chosen to dehorn them for good.

Summary

Brown Swiss Cattle, Braunvieh, Red Angus, Latvian Brown, and Japanese Brown are the few most recognized and registered brown cattle breeds.

All these cattle breeds have been blessed with distinctive qualities, the brown coat is the only thing they have in common. Brown Swiss cattle is an American dairy cattle that has lost it’s beef draft capabilities but is now known for excellent milking abilities.

Braunvieh and Brown Swiss cattle look breathtakingly similar but they have been blessed with a uniform coat and have darker legs and noses.

Red Angus is the unique and rarest cattle breed that has got a dramatic reddish-brown color. Latvian Brown originates from the Republic of Latvia, a country located in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.

Latvian Brown is a large cattle breed that is raised for meat. Japanese Brown is a well-known Japanese cattle breed that is preferred for both meat and milk.

Resources

• Breeds of Livestock – Braunvieh Cattle
• http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/braunvieh/index.html/

• Latvian Brown genepool characteristics and resources
• https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=LV2018000083