How to Identify Simmental Cattle

This is an in depth guide of how to identify modern Simmental and Fleckvieh-Simmental cattle.

Steps

1. Do a search on the Internet or look in a Cattle Breeds book on "Simmentals."
   
2. Study the pictures and the characteristics of the breed. Note the following:
   
   • Colouration: Most Simmentals have a white face with a brownish-red body. They do not have the white stripe down the nape of their necks like Herefords do, nor do they tend to have white down their dewlaps and brisket like Herefords do; however some Simmentals may have a bit of white on the brisket. Other Simmentals will be all black, and others all brown or red. Still others may be all black or all red except for a white face. The biggest thing to remember when identifying a Simmental from a Hereford is their ears: All Simmentals will have their ears the same colour as their body.
     • A traditional Fleckvieh-Simmental will range in colouration from a light buckskin/yellow colour to a brownish-red. They will have a white face that almost always forms a border line just before the jawline, and a white underbelly. Some may have one brown patch over each eye; others may just have one patch over one eye. White may be sometimes shown on the flank and elbows, forming a stripe from the behind elbows and/or the flank all the way up to the topline. A lot of Fleckvieh-Simmentals will have this striping pattern on them; some more than others. In addition, they will have a lot of white on their legs from the underline down. Finally, the tail of a Simmental-Fleckvieh will primarily be all white or white half-way down.
     • Modern Simmentals tend to have less white on them than the traditional Fleckvieh animals do, and are also a darker brown, almost to a red. Most of these animals will have less white on the underbelly (some none at all), with a little white on each leg, primarily from the knee and hock joint down. They still maintain the white face, however most will have the patches over the eyes, and the white may or may not extend up past the poll. You may find some modern Simmentals may still have a white stripe from the shoulder down to the elbows, or from the top of the loins to the flanks.
     • Fullblood or Straightbred Simmentals may be all black, all red, black and white, black with only a white face, or red with only a white-face. You may even find some with their faces half-white and half-brown. Still others may have an all-brown face with one or two longitudinal L- or I-shaped patches down their forehead to their muzzle. Fullbloods, to get these colourations, are often bred to Red Angus, Angus or Hereford cattle. You will most often get Black and black-white-face Simmentals from an infusion of Angus genetics. Red and red-white-face Simmentals are often a result of breeding this breed with Red Angus. Other Simmentals as described in the previous bullet point above, can be fullbloods or straight breeds if they have been infused with Hereford genetics.
   • Body type and characteristics: Simmentals are big animals. Cows often weigh anywhere from 1200 lbs to 1800 lbs; Bulls can weigh from 1600 lbs to 2800 lbs. A Simmental bull will have more muscle mass over his shoulders and hindquarters than a cow will. Both cows and bulls are blocky-looking beasts, but don't have that rectangular look like Limousins do, even though the muscular traits of being classified as a Continental breed are present. Simmentals tend to have more of a looser and pendulous dewlap (from their chins to their briskets) than either Limousins, Angus or Herefords do, and this pendulous dewlap make bulls look like they have a goatee on them. The pendulous dewlap is a good way to distinguish this breed from other breeds that are also have black cattle, like Charolais, Gelbviehs, Maine Anjou, Salers, and Limousins. Cows tend to have a largish udder on them (though still smaller than the Holstein), since they have been historically used as a milk cow in the Swiss Alps.
   • Head characteristics: All Simmental bulls will have curly hair on their foreheads, some more noticeable than others. The characteristic gouté as mentioned above also is a typical characteristic of many bulls. A Simmental's head may look long like a Holstein's, forming a flat plane from the poll to the nose, but do not have as long a muzzle as Holsteins do. A Simmental also does not have as wide a mouth or loose-looking lips as a Hereford does, or, the lips on a Simmental are a little more trimmed- and refined-looking than a Hereford. Simmentals may be horned or polled, with the horns being quite short and jutting out and up. Most modern Simmentals are polled, however, in accordance of the cattle market's demand for polled cattle over horned.
   • Other characteristics: Simmentals, though adapted to the rough mountainous terrain of the Swiss mountains, are not as adapted nor equipped to handle the rougher and tougher ranching conditions as Herefords or Angus cattle are. This is because Simmentals are notorious for having calving issues, and consequently need far more assistance during calving periods than any of the British breeds are. They do, however, finish and grade well in a feedlot--even better when they are crossed with a British breed--and are one of the most popular breeds raised in the USA and Canada today, next to Angus and Charolais. In addition to their excellent milking ability, they tend to be quite docile and even-tempered.
3. Memorize the details and characteristics of this breed.
   
4. Go on a field trip or road trip and see if you can find farms or ranches with Simmental cattle. Take pictures of what you thought were Simmental cattle, and compare them with pictures of Simmentals on the Internet and in your Cattle breeds book.
   

Tips

• There are actually four different types of Simmentals that are registered to the American Simmental Association and Canadian Simmental Association: Fleckvieh-Simmental, the traditional purebred Simmentals that have their genetics traced back to Switzerland; purebred modern Simmentals; Fullblood Simmentals; and straightbred Simmentals. The last 3 types are more common in North America than the Fleckviehs.
• You will find confusion with Simmentals that have been crossed with Angus and Red Angus breeds. Often these "Simmentals" will look more like an Angus than a real Simmental.
• In Canada, you may come across advertisements of cattle referred to as "Super Baldies." These primarily refer to white-faced Simmentals crossed with Red or Black Angus cattle. H-2 cattle are in reference to Simmentals crossed with Herefords (called a Hereford-Fleckvieh hybrid).
  • In the USA, Super-baldies primarily refer to Brahman cattle crossed with Simmentals or Herefords or a Hereford-Simmental-Brahman mix.
• Use the ear colouration, dewlap, and muscularity to decipher the differences between an Angus bull and a Black Simmental bull. You may be up to your ears in this sort of challenge though.

Warnings

• Try to not get confused between purebred Aberdeen Angus cattle and those Red and Black Simmentals. However that may be a bit of a difficulty because even veteran cattle-folk can get confused when they're trying to tell whether a particular animal is really a Simmental, especially if they were given a picture of a Simmental that looked a bit like an Angus. So please be careful here.
• Don't get Simmentals confused with Herefords. Remember the muscularity, size, ear colouration, lack of white on the neck, and pendulous dewlap if you see some Simmentals that may, to you, look like Herefords.

Related wikiHows

• How to Identify Black Angus Cattle
• How to Identify Red Angus Cattle
• How to Identify Limousin Cattle
• How to Identify Charolais Cattle
• How to Identify Hereford Cattle
• How to Identify Cattle Breeds

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