Barry Taylor with a one of his Brown Swiss calves. Photo Rebecca Glover.

There’s a little bit of Swiss on the Awhitu Peninsula – Brown Swiss, to be precise. Barry Taylor’s sleek brown girls comprise half of his milking herd and they aren’t just pretty faces. “They’re great milking cows, and I’m rapt with them,” he says.

With milk production to rival the ubiquitous Friesian, quiet temperament, good feet, robust health and longevity on its side, it’s a wonder every New Zealand dairy farmer isn’t milking Brown Swiss.

In the rest of the world they’re the second most popular breed. Barry puts their rarity in this country down to overseas breed production figures which don’t convert well against Friesians.

However, “they definitely compete” with the rest of Barry’s herd, which includes Friesian, Ayrshire and crossbreds.

The slow maturing Brown Swiss produce less milk than Friesians as two year olds, but quickly catch up and are likely to be still in the shed long after their black and white sisters have gone to hamburger heaven.

Barry cites a Taranaki cow still milking at the ripe old age of 22.

A big plus for the breed is their low somatic cell count, resulting in less mastitis, and their resistance to milk fever.

Barry finds them more tolerant to heat stress than Friesians. When Friesians are looking for shade, the Brown Swiss will still be grazing and that keeps the milk flowing.

They are eager to get to work, too – Barry reckons his Brown Swiss walk 25% faster than Friesians, and are always first to the milking shed.

Brown Swiss have been in New Zealand since the 1970s.

“There used to be heaps in the Waikato and Taranaki, but numbers have now dwindled to about 1000 purebreds.”

It’s a different story in Australia, however, where according to Barry the breed has really taken off and is almost as numerous as Jerseys.

Originally a draught breed which was also milked, American breeders in the nineteenth century increased the milking capabilities; but as in many things, American influences were not always entirely beneficial.

Barry feels the cows were refined too much. “They looked like a tall Jersey – they need a bit of substance,” he says.

Barry’s breeding programme mixes American and European bloodlines with New Zealand stock to give hybrid vigour. Bull calves are sent to Tuakau saleyards, where their attractive appearance makes them popular with lifestyle block bidders.