Gelbvieh Bulls

[Cross breeder #1]

http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=186
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=209
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=296
Top 3 picks for a maternal bull, what do you think opinions good and bad wanted

[HOSS]

I like the Post Rock bull best followed by Astro. The Exposure bull has been used allot. I saw some females out of him 3 months or so ago and I was not overly impressed. He lacks milk and calving ease unless you are breeding him to a cow stacked with what he is lacking. I have seen some nice bulls out of him though. 3waycross will probably have more experience with the red bulls. Hopefully he will chime in. He knows his Gelbvieh as good as anybody.

I have heard that these bulls are making dynamite females:
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=375
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=4
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=260

[Cross breeder #1]

im realllyy liking the red post rock bull

[double v]

So far in your post about gelbvieh's you have been all over the place. What are you trying to do from here it dosen't look like you have to much of a clue.

[banekar]

I like the Exposure bull, but I am partial to the black calves.

[hillsdown]

I have to agree with double v a little ,it sounds like you do not have a game plan. You need to set a plan for the next 2 years at least before you pic a bull unless your goal is just to have calves on the ground to sell each year . When I choose bulls I am looking many generations down the road ,not just that calving season .I have a set goal in my ranch and work to get there .

[3waycross]

I like the Post Rock bull best followed by Astro. The Exposure bull has been used allot. I saw some females out of him 3 months or so ago and I was not overly impressed. He lacks milk and calving ease unless you are breeding him to a cow stacked with what he is lacking. I have seen some nice bulls out of him though. 3waycross will probably have more experience with the red bulls. Hopefully he will chime in. He knows his Gelbvieh as good as anybody.

I have heard that these bulls are making dynamite females:
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=375
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=4
http://bullbarn.com/gelbepd.asp?ID=260

I am pretty sure the Atlas bull is the best cow maker of the bunch. I have 3 dtrs of his and I wouldn't trade one of them for anything..The Bennett S30 bull is a 1/2 brother to our new herd bull so I have to like him. Post rock granite is my least favorite and The TOP Brass bull has WAAAAAAAy too much milk. Rolex has a negative EPD for nuts, And the extra exposure is just not my kind of bull!

For a Red GV bull I love Tabasco as long as PAP is not an issue. ALso Kalina Moderator is a good bull. There was a bull out there called Rupple Yukon that I wish I had tried. If you want a show calf I would use Collateral, I am receiving some semen on him tomorrow!

BTW I agree with Double V and Hillsdown. You don't really seem to have a plan just firing random shots in the dark so to speak. Make a Plan and then work it.

[Cross breeder #1]

My plan is to breed my angus cows to gelbvieh to get 50/50 replacements from there i breed the 50/50 balancers to a polled herf and breed these baldies to an angus and from there I dont know

[3waycross]

My plan is to breed my angus cows to gelbvieh to get 50/50 replacements from there i breed the 50/50 balancers to a polled herf and breed these baldies to an angus and from there I dont know

Then buy yourself a good homo polled GV bull and go to town. For sure stop talking about buying cows from JR.

[Cross breeder #1]

i wasnt ever talking about buying females from them just a bull

[UG]

Cross breeder 1,

Your general plan of producing Balancer females, with the next step of breeding them to a Polled Hereford bull is solid.

However, to better comment on which bulls may work best for your program, it would be beneficial if we understood what is your end goal. For example, if you are planning on selling weaned calves at the sale barn, you likely want to put more emphasis on weaning weight EPDs, but if you are planning on retaining ownership on the calves through the feedlot and selling on a grid, you will want to put more emphasis on the yearling weight EPD and carcass traits. If you are planning on selling freezer beef, once again you will want to put more emphasis on YW and carcass, and should see if DNA tenderness scores are available. Also, if you plan to continue producing your own replacements, you need to also pay close attention to traits such as milk, maternal calving ease, etc.

[Cross breeder #1]

I am mainly planning to sell at or near weaning keep a few steers for personal and family use and DEFINATELY keep the replacments out of the herford, if i wasnt looking for replacements I would just throw a char bull on em

[UG]

Cross breeder 1,

Since you are wanting to keep back replacement heifers and will also be selling calves at weaning, I would likely go with Astro. He has acceptable CE and CED EPDs, has the highest weaning weight EPD of the three bulls you listed, and also is moderate for milk. I have not seen any Astro progeny in person so I can't comment on their structure, muscle, etc., but the few reports I have heard on the bull are positive. Hopefully he will sire daughters with good teat and udder structure. This is something I would quiz producers on who have Astro daughters in production.

Though I have searched for years I have never found a perfect bull in ANY breed. One EPD that concerns me a bit for Astro, is that he does have a -.2 for scrotal circumference. As you may know, there has been some research that shows a correlation between a bull's scrotal circumference and his daughters fertility (daughters out of big scrotal bulls tend to be more fertile, and daughters out of bulls with smaller SC tend to not be as fertile). Another one ofAstro's EPDs that I would also like to see higher is REA, but since you aren't selling cattle on the grid, this likely won't impact your pocketbook too much.

Regarding Top Brass, he seemed to be fairly popular early on but most producers quit using him after one or two calf crops. I don't remember exactly why, but seems to me that that Top Brass calves in general lacked overall thickness. Also, if his milk EPD is very high, and it is difficult for cows in most parts of North America to maintain body condition and breed back if they are giving so much milk.

We only have one Extra Exposure daughter, so my experience with this bull is minimal. The cow we have has a very nice udder and teats, but is a bit light on the mlik, as Extra Exposure's EPD indicates. However, if you are in short grass country this bull may work well for you.

Best of luck!

Ug

[3waycross]

Personally I can't figure out why a Semen Company would even sell semen on a bull with a Negative Scrotal EPD.....and yes it hurts the fertility of their dtrs. I just culled a Midnight Target cow because she wouldn't breedback and he has a - scrotal epd!

[Cross breeder #1]

hmm ya well since i dont AI i could get a son of top brass with a lesset milk epd