Gurtenvieh
(most common name in English)

(local/other name):
• Gurten Vieh
local/other name (English):
• Belted Brown Mountain

The Gurtenvieh is so named because:
(German) gurt = belt
(German) vieh = cattle

In Brown Mountain cattle herds with single-color coats, the occasional belted animal is a color variant that has always existed.

• 1897 - Swiss Brown herdbook established initially combining Schwyzer Einsiedler, Appenzeller and others, including belted and colorsided animals

Some breeders thought that belting indicated crossbreeding, however others felt that a belted cow in the herd brought good luck. Numbers of belted and colorsided cattle declined due to a preference for animals with a grey-brown coat.

• 1997 - Gurtenvieh were specifically admitted to registration and semen from progeny tested belted bulls became available. (Although it has been verified that the belt mutation maps to a small region on chromosome 3, there is still much to be tracked down, including whether this is the same mutation as in the Lakenvelder and Belted Galloway.)

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-17

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