What is the History of Brahmousin Cattle ?

The Brahmousin was created in the late 1970's by Daryl Wiggins in Texas. The first of the breed were produced from a multiple embryo transfer from a French-imported Limousin dam called Gloria. This resulted in six heifers and three bull calves which formed the Limousin base.

The stock was then cross bred to Brahman cattle which achieved an F-1 cross, and further crosses over a broader base led to the 5/8 to 3/8 purebred. This mix has been found to be the most widely accepted and most useful for the majority of the United States.

The goal was to blend the best of the Limousin and Brahman traits, this created a breed that have excellent reproductive efficiency, mothering ability, excel in muscling and growth traits and are adaptable in varying environmental conditions. 

However, the American Brahmousin Council offers a flexible program that allows animals that are not purebred to be recorded as long as they are at least one-quarter (1/4) Limousin and one-quarter (1/4) Brahman. 

It is important to note, that in order to be recorded as a Brahmousin, the animal must be sired by a registered Limousin bull, registered Brahman bull or a registered Brahmousin bull. 

Brahmousin cattle offer beef producers a wide array of genetic options so they can customize the cattle to their environment. By varying the percentage of Limousin and Brahman blood, cattlemen can select bulls and females with the appropriate amount of Brahman blood that provides them with the best fit for their environment and customer base. The purebred Brahmousin fits the best for most parts of the nation.

What are the Characteristics of Brahmousin Cattle ? 

The Brahmousin is generally golden red to tan in colour, the legs, around the eyes, muzzle and underbelly are a lighter shade. 

Their skin is slightly loose like the Brahman. It is a large breed with a strong frame and beefy conformation. 

The bulls are rugged, thick, fertile and are active breeders, the females are broody, long lasting and fertile, and also and display carcass quality. 

This breed takes qualities such as the heat tolerance, insect resistance and feed efficiency from the Brahman and the excellence in muscling and growth traits, carcass quality and conformation from the Limousin to make a very useful American breed. 

The breed is characterized by excellent carcass quality, feed efficiency, and foraging ability. From a feedlot and carcass standpoint, Brahmousin provides an excellent return relative to dressing percentage. They excel in muscling and growth traits, which makes it easy for them to finish with ease. 

Brahmousin has excellent adaptability, reproductive efficiency, and mothering ability. Their fertility and excellent maternal qualities are ideal for calving high-quality offspring.

The longevity of the Brahman combined with the carcass traits of the Limousin make Brahmousin an unbeatable breed for cattlemen. 

The animals protect each other by standing in a circle in order to secure the young animals which are located in the middle of the circle. They are practicing their defense strategy on a regular basis on the pasture.

What Are Differences Between Brahman x Limousin Breeds and Other Crossbreeds?

The Northern Crossbreeding project is part of the Beef Industry Cooperative Research Centre. It is a comparison of eight breeds crossed with Brahman cows. Twelve Limousin sires were used in the project representing both "old" and "new" genetics in the breed. Half of the cattle are finished on grass and the other half are finished in feedlots in northern and southern Australia. The progeny are grown to three slaughter weights; domestic, Korean and Japanese markets.

Liveweights

• Limousin calves were intermediate for birth weight averaging 34.6 kg which was 2.0 kg lighter than Charolais sired calves but 2.6 kg heavier than Angus sired calves. Due to the ability of Brahman cows to restrict the size of their calves and their pelvic shape the incidence of calving difficulty was very low for all sire breeds. • Limousin X Brahmans were significantly lighter than Charolais X Brahmans at weaning, 12 months and 18 months of age but much heavier than purebred Brahmans.

Carcase

• The carcase results are where Limousin starts to show out. The average carcase weight for Limousin cross steers of 300kg was only two kilograms lighter than for Charolais X Brahman (302kg) and heavier than all other breed crosses. The Limousin X Brahmans were 50kg heavier than pure Brahmans.

• Limousin and Charolais cross steers had slightly less fat than the other breeds but had adequate fat cover for all three market requirements. The lower fat levels on Limousin cross heifers was an advantage because of the improved yield.

• As expected Limousin cross had superior eye muscle area and percentage retail yield to all other breeds. When compared for the weight of primals and total retail cuts, Limousin cross cattle excelled.

Consumer Tests

• Samples of sirloin from a proportion of the carcases were tested in the Meat Standards Australia consumer testing program. Consumers ranked the grilled cuts for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall acceptability which are combined to give a Meat Quality (MQ4) Score.

• The minimum requirement for MSA grading is an MQ4 score of 46. The results for the carcases tested showed that the MQ4 score for Limousin cross Brahman carcases was slightly lower than Angus X Brahman but far superior to pure Brahman.

What is the Weight of Brahmousin Cattle?

They weigh about 500 kg to 650 kg.

References

afs.okstate.edu
americanbrahmousincouncil.org
thecattlesite.com
cattle-exchange.drovers.com
irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com
young-brahmousin.com
cattlerange.com