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The First Canadian Import
ARON IN CANADAMost people are interested to know why Aron came over into the New Country. At that time there was a big boom in the Simmental business and this was the second year when Canadian breeders were able to import new Simmental bulls. The first year it was only Parisien. My brother, Hans Ulrich Jr., was involved with raising Simmental and he came over to Switzerland from Canada with the founder of the Simmental Association, Travers Smith from Cardston, Alberta, Canada. They came to our house in Switzerland, walked into the barn and saw at the far end of the barn, the cow Enziana which had just calved a few days before, she brought twin calves, and she produced close to 100 lbs of milk per day. They were so impressed with the conformation of the cow, her production and her offspring that they decided to apply for a change in the import permit from a Simmental to a Braunvieh bull. They received the OK from the Government of Canada, so they imported Aron as the first Braunvieh bull after more then 38 years. Aron had the advantage to be a foundation sire in the breed, in the first few years he had no competition and he was used as a complete outcross bull, mainly in American Brown Swiss cattle and in smaller numbers of British Breeds. OFFSPRING PERFORMANCEHis female offspring averaged a 205 days weight of 667 lb while his male offspring averaged 711 lb. This works out to an average daily gain of 3.33 lb for females and 3.55 lb for the males. When 8 of his male offspring participated in a 140 day test at a feedlot, they gained an average of 3.49 lb per day. They also tested 17 head of crossbred Aron daughters out of Angus and Hereford cows, raised under poor range conditions. They had an average 200 day weight of 410 lb and as yearlings 696 lb. All these heifers were bred artificially and settled in the first 22 days of their breeding period at 12 to 13 months of age. Here we can see that Aron proved himself as the right kind of bull to use to efficiently produce beef under our harsh Canadian range conditions. PHYSICAL APPEARANCEAron was extremely tall for a Braunvieh, 162 cm tall. He was longer then most other bulls, yet he was very smooth. He had excellent feet and legs, just like his mother. If one looks at the side of Aron (see photo above), one could say that it would be nice if he had more muscle in the hind quarters. Since he comes from an extremely high milk producing cow, it is not surprising that he shows some dairy characteristics. It was and still is, after almost 30 years, not hard to pick out at any show or on any farm yard his offspring. He transmitted his characteristics to his offspring so strongly that it was easy to see. It is now almost 30 years since he came to Canada, yet he is still used and available through many A.I. stations. He has proven himself as a true Foundation Sire, a bull with which one is able to start a breeding program that carries the desired dominant characteristics: fertility, longevity, high productivity, beef characteristics, and excellent feet and legs. Today we have quite a few 15, 16, 17 year old cows which are still in production, not only here in Canada but also in Mexico. I am sure Aron will show up even in the future in many pedigrees as more and more people continue to use Aron blood. OUTCROSS POTENTIALIt is a problem in the Braunvieh breed to find a real outcross bull
which is not related to what is now wide spread. I am sure it is hard to find or
even impossible to find a better outcross bull than Aron, today in our breed. That
is why I used him as an outcross in my breeding program. If anyone is interested to
see what you can do if you use him selectively you will see what he is able to produce in
the pedigree of Maranatha Arthur 4Y. Arthur 4Y goes back to the bull Aron (in the
sixth generation) on his mother's side. Although Aron is six generations back, you
can still see his characteristics in combination with other old proven bloodlines, some
which were not widely used, like Ueli. Yes, Aron is really and truly a dual purpose
Braunvieh bull which has proven that the characteristics from the breed are usable in many
different countries as an outcross, not only in the breed itself but also as a foundation
sire in an upgrading program. Aron and his offspring are used in Canada, USA,
Mexico, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and other
countries. We as Braunvieh Breeders on this continent
are fortunate that Aron came over first and started the Braunvieh breed over here.
He is a bull which produces that which we promote the breed for: higher milk production,
better beef production, which eventually leads to cheaper meat production even under harsh
conditions. Because of his excellent pigmentation and frame structure and high milk
production background over bloodlines which are otherwise extinct worldwide he has given
us a unique opportunity to improve the breed. We need to be careful to keep
bloodlines like that alive or activate new ones which promise to do the same as the
bloodline of Aron. |
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