Aubrac, the French cattle that grow well on forage

Originally published on May 2, 2008, in "The Land."

By Richard Siemers

Bob Schelhaas pastures cattle on his farm north of Edgerton. He has had Gelbvieh cattle for a number of years, but now he is adding another breed to his herd ? Aubrac (pronounced OH-brock). He discovered them by accident on the internet when he saw an ad about a grass-efficient breed.

"I thought this was a new breed of cattle that someone had bred up to fatten on grass," Schelhaas said. "I soon found out this is a very old breed of cattle that was founded hundreds of years ago in southern France."

The ad directed him to the website of Aubrac International Inc., where he read that the First National Aubrac Sale was to be at Pleasant Dale, Neb., on March 1, 2007. He sent for the sale catalog, and made several phone calls to the sales manager to find out all he could about the cattle on the sale. It sounded promising. When a heavy snow forecast made travel unwise, he registered to bid online. He purchased six heifers and two bulls.

Now, a year later, he is getting his first calves, purebreds from the Aubrac heifers and crosses from 32 Gelbvieh cows and seven Gelbvieh heifers. All of the heifers are calving easily, he said.

"The calves are livelier, more aggressive. They get up and nurse a little quicker, I think."

According to the Aubrac website, the Aubrac region of France supports little grain production, so they developed a forage-based beef. That fits well into Schelhaas' farming.

"I have a lot of pasture and raise a lot of mixed hay, so they are able to grow good on the forage I have available," Schelhaas said. "Some of the hay fields are next to the pasture, so they can be pastured later in the summer when the pastures don't have enough grass. I do rotational grazing on my pasture to get more feed, and manage one pasture to encourage the growth of native grasses so I have more grass in late summer and early fall."

Schelhaas finishes his cattle on barley, corn and mixed hay. He harvests the corn on the cob, grinds the ear corn, and mixes in some barley.

"They're finished on a ration with a little more roughage than most," he said. "This will be a good mix for the Aubrac-cross cattle and they will do well on far less grain."

Schelhaas direct markets some of his cattle. The drug-free, locally-grown beef is popular at the farmers markets in Slayton, Luverne and Pipestone. He also sells quarters to people in the area, and to friends of his daughter, who lives in the Twin Cities.

"The people who get quarters from me like it that it is drug-free, but the biggest thing is they know it came direct from the farm," he said.

While Schelhaas had been mistaken about this being a new breed, Aubrac is new to the United States. He said it was first brought into Canada and the United States in the early 1990s. The Aubrac International website promotes it as excellent for cross-breeding with current beef cattle, using terms like "easy-keeping," "foraging ability" and "feed efficient."

Schelhaas plans to work toward more Aubrac in his herd, since he wants to sell breeding stock. But if the cross works out well, as he expects it will, he'll use crossbred cattle for his direct marketing meat sales. The direction he goes will work itself out with time. For now, he likes what he sees in the Aubrac, a smaller animal that "doesn't take so much feed."

"The Aubrac stay in condition real easy on grass," he said. "Usually when you turn cattle out on grass, they will probably lose condition some, but Aubrac actually gained condition from what they were in the yard."