regolith
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Gelbvieh cross Jersey, about twenty months old.
Gelbjer
- Thread starter regolith
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wbvs58
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Looks like he has some meat on him. What are the others at the feed trough with him? Looks like a winery in the background.
Ken
Ken
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regolith
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the taller ones are about the same age as him - two more gelbjer and one out of an Ayrshire cow and a heifer who is probably only a quarter gelbvieh but still looks beefy. The rest of the group are July/August born steers, a mix of full dairy and dairy/gelbvieh crosses.
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regolith
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one of the in-milk heifers this one has since adopted a calf of a similar breed mix she doesn't make an udder for the dairy shed any more but the calf is big and fat.
MurraysMutts
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Good grief! Too bad that ain't a heifer. I'd love to have a few of those. Very nice!
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regolith
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I have heifers. It's a few years since I started using the gelbvieh - just one AI bull, Tawera Rau U822. I've milked six of the heifers in the dairy herd since then. Got a photo of the calf that's latched onto the heifer above, this afternoon, but she's not a Rau daughter. I put a Rau straw into an AngusJersey cow and last year ran her son with the four gelbjer yearling heifers, and the milk thief calf is out of another of those heifers. They milk okay, not like a good dairy heifer but production similar to a low average Jersey heifer; and always very good behaviour.
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regolith
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I'm wondering if that is what you guys call rat tail? I see one like that and tend to presume mamma got a bit overenthusiastic drying off the baby after birth, but this calf has always had that short tail. Out of a gelbjer heifer sired 
by a half-brother out of an angusjersey cow.
by a half-brother out of an angusjersey cow.
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regolith
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Sire of the heifer calf - he's quite young himself here, about 8 months old, as I've got a years's worth of photos not backed up on a malfunctioning computer.
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regolith
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These are leaving today. Red and white is gelbvieh out of an Ayrshire sired cow, Black steer is the biggest of the spring calves (about 16 months now) and the only Angus cross (never get gooThese are leaving today. Red and white is gelbvieh out of an Ayrshire sired cow, Black steer is the biggest of the spring calves (about 16 months now) and the only Angus cross (never get good conception to angus straws), blond is 265 above, about 21 months, with a 2 yr old gelbviehcross Jersey heifer who has done a short lactation (with the milking herd, there wasn't enough grass to run cows and calves in early spring or she could have raised her own). I'd like to see the weight returned for that angus cross before sending the remainder of the spring-born steers.
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regolith
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new calves. The heifers either side of the big fella are about a week old and sired by my Jersey bull. Boy in the middle is three days, first time on the feeder for all of them they were with their dams till yesterday. Boy is out of a Swiss-sired cow (he's a giant, I helped him out a bit but he would have come on his own eventually) and I'm reckoning he's about two weeks overdue on the possible heat I saw with the beef bull (pictured higher up on this thread). Doesn't look like a Jersey-sired calf to me.
The remainder of the summer calf group, oldest are 3 - 4 weeks and all pictured sired by the beef bull out of Jersey and Jersey cross cows.
Calving this time of year, the calves only come inside if I need to catch them to train them on the milk feeder; half of these haven't been locked indoors at all they were clever enough to follow the other calves to drink off the feeder (those would be the ones that aren't tagged yet). They have a shed to shelter I'm looking for an opportunity to close the door on them and get the tags done in the next couple of days. Also one showing a blood scour, she's not quite four weeks I checked her birth date. Vets would say coccidiosis and I'll dose her for that later, but it's never been confirmed to my satisfaction what is causing that. Curiously, it's been a problem with the spring calves and it's nearly all beef crosses that have suffered, not the full dairy calves.
The remainder of the summer calf group, oldest are 3 - 4 weeks and all pictured sired by the beef bull out of Jersey and Jersey cross cows.
Calving this time of year, the calves only come inside if I need to catch them to train them on the milk feeder; half of these haven't been locked indoors at all they were clever enough to follow the other calves to drink off the feeder (those would be the ones that aren't tagged yet). They have a shed to shelter I'm looking for an opportunity to close the door on them and get the tags done in the next couple of days. Also one showing a blood scour, she's not quite four weeks I checked her birth date. Vets would say coccidiosis and I'll dose her for that later, but it's never been confirmed to my satisfaction what is causing that. Curiously, it's been a problem with the spring calves and it's nearly all beef crosses that have suffered, not the full dairy calves.
farmerjan
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NICE looking little calves... love the jer crosses... The gelb cross seems to put some nice bodies on the otherwise "dainty" jersey build.
Spring time, I would have to agree with vet's thoughts on the coccidiosis... seems I have had more of it in 2-4 week old bottle calves in the spring time.
Right now, not raising any bottle calves... At $750-1500 a head, just not practical.
Ever use limousin on the jerseys? It is across that is encouraged for some of the dairy/beef crosses... the calves are not huge... more long than wide so not usually a calving problem... get that same "jersey look" with some nice bodies also...
Spring time, I would have to agree with vet's thoughts on the coccidiosis... seems I have had more of it in 2-4 week old bottle calves in the spring time.
Right now, not raising any bottle calves... At $750-1500 a head, just not practical.
Ever use limousin on the jerseys? It is across that is encouraged for some of the dairy/beef crosses... the calves are not huge... more long than wide so not usually a calving problem... get that same "jersey look" with some nice bodies also...
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regolith
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No, Limousin have a name for being extremely high-headed in the UK where I come from, and probably aren't all that common here. I've never used the breed. The calf market is good for Angus, Hereford or Charolais over dairy. I've used Angus for years, but never got good conception rates from the straws so I tried Gelbvieh and was happy with that. Unlike the Angus, they are very placid.
Good to know about the age of calves; in this country it's generally presumed that calves need to be treated at weaning (about twelve weeks) for coccidiosis & in the spring I saw enough calves suffering that I treated every calf four weeks and up with the preventative but I wasn't able to find a minimum age for using the product. If it's the same condition, I've seen it in "calves" over a year old in previous years but was never able to get it confirmed on poop sample.
farmerjan
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Limi's have had a reputation for being high headed in the past. The last 20 years they have really worked on the dispositions and the last 2 "Lim-Flex" bulls we have had are very laid back dispositioned. The Lim-Flex is lim/angus crosses. I am not sure what the percentage requirements are, but it can vary from something 25/75 to about 50/50, on either side... Maybe the angus helps to calm them, but there is a reg purebred Lim farm here close and the animals now are a whole different"breed" from the ones that my son worked with 30 years ago... Those cows would try to kill you if you wanted to tag calves during calving season etc...
On the other hand, the Gelbvieh breed here has a reputation for being a little high strung. We had a reg bull from a neighbor that downsized a couple years ago. Bought both bulls, and sold one to a friend. He does not move/trailer his cows around like we do, and he loves the calves.. but they do not get worked with much.... and he has several that are not friendly to deal with... the bull we kept seemed fairly easy to work with. His calves grew like gangbusters, and they were/are very much more nervous/high headed. He sadly got a scotal hernia and had to sell him... the few heifers we kept are NOT my favorites for disposition... NICE HEIFERS.... disposition stinks. We are down to 4 from 7 we kept as the other 3 would run through you in barn if they wanted out. These 4 are marginally better. Because we move and trailer our cattle to pastures, and generally handle them more than some people, this "super alert, head up, nervous nellie" type attitude does not go over with me. We will see what happens after these heifers get bred....
I always liked the Gelbvieh breed... like the muscling and such... but these are making me much less of a fan.
On the other hand, the Gelbvieh breed here has a reputation for being a little high strung. We had a reg bull from a neighbor that downsized a couple years ago. Bought both bulls, and sold one to a friend. He does not move/trailer his cows around like we do, and he loves the calves.. but they do not get worked with much.... and he has several that are not friendly to deal with... the bull we kept seemed fairly easy to work with. His calves grew like gangbusters, and they were/are very much more nervous/high headed. He sadly got a scotal hernia and had to sell him... the few heifers we kept are NOT my favorites for disposition... NICE HEIFERS.... disposition stinks. We are down to 4 from 7 we kept as the other 3 would run through you in barn if they wanted out. These 4 are marginally better. Because we move and trailer our cattle to pastures, and generally handle them more than some people, this "super alert, head up, nervous nellie" type attitude does not go over with me. We will see what happens after these heifers get bred....
I always liked the Gelbvieh breed... like the muscling and such... but these are making me much less of a fan.
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regolith
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The Anguscross was just a shade too light... 380 kg liveweight, 192 carcaseweight according to the returned paperwork and it's giving away nearly $2 a kilo to not have hit a 195 carcase. There's several more 16 month steers out there that will be within 30 kilo of his weight but he was the biggest of his age group. 21 month steers were all 430 - 500 kg liveweight 230 - 260 kg carcaseweight.
Youngest of the heifers was the heaviest of the heifers by a long way and her breed mix certainly wasn't contributing... she was about 100 kg heavier than I'd expect for that breed mix and age. Now wondering if that Jersey bull calf I found her mother hobnobbing with that day is *not* the father.
Youngest of the heifers was the heaviest of the heifers by a long way and her breed mix certainly wasn't contributing... she was about 100 kg heavier than I'd expect for that breed mix and age. Now wondering if that Jersey bull calf I found her mother hobnobbing with that day is *not* the father.
My best friend manages her dad's ranch, and they have primarily PB Gelbvieh. The cows are okay but she's around them a lot. The calves? Hard pass. I helped them wean and was amazed none of us got kicked or run over. This year. Her dad was flat out a couple years ago. Anyway, checked with her the next morning to see how the weaners were doing. She was numb and in a state of shock because they busted the chains on the gates to the corral and every single one was out. That's 140 calves to round up again and this time they were a little more feisty.
GoWyo
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Wait til you have that one critter that is the last of the bunch and misses the gate. A Gelbveih by itself can be a force of nature.
Ky hills
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I’ve had mixed results with Limousins bought as weaned calves around 500#.
I bought a group of heifers of both red and black ones I think there was 8 of them total. Some seemed normal like the rest of the calves I’d bought that day, and 3 of them were trying g to jump over gates and running into gates. I didn’t want to ruin my whole group so I got those crazy ones back on the trailer and took them back to sell in the next days sale, at a loss of course but at least I was rid of them. The other ones calmed down and blended right in with the other calves and never caused me any trouble. Kinda
always wished I’d a kept those remaining Limousin heifers for cows.
A few years back I bought a red Limousin bull. He was probably the calmest bull of any breed I’ve had. Everybody said I was crazy for buying a Limousin bull and that even if he wasn’t crazy his calves probably would be, but his calves were no more high strung than my Angus or Hereford calves in the same group.
I’ve had 3 brushes with Gelbveih and Gelbvieh crosses in bought calves.
Bought a few low quality gelbveih cross heifers that I never was impressed with. I thought at the time they might grow out of it but not really. They were just never really bloomed out like I like, just kind of slab sided tall and lanky.
Another time I had a buyer buying some 500 weight heifers for me, and I wound up with 5 dark brown Gelbviehs. They were big framed and had that gelbvieh look of a lot of leather on them on the neck and navel kinda reminded me of Brahman influence. They were crazy, they got out someway and the weather was bad and they all got sick took a long time to try to get them back to the barn as they were in the hardest field I have to get cattle up from. They were treated and improved except for one that I just knew was going to die. I sold back the others again at loss but didn’t want to ruin my group as this group was going to bred and sold. The one heifer I kept back made a comeback and I reckon after having her away from the others and up in a barn stall, she became dog gentle and outgrew everything else. She was so much bigger framed that she had to sell by herself as we couldn’t match her up with any others. In the ring she was calm and stockyards manager was working the ring he walked all around her waving the sale catalog at her to show how gentle she was and never budged.
The last year I bought heifers I got another group of what I think were gelbveih and gelbveih Angus crosses.
We kept them for cows with mixed results. They were pretty good calf raisers. Black or dark brown with white udders, and a range of sizes. A couple were pretty tame, the rest were a little flighty when trying to work them. One I called he77 cat, I was actually a little afraid of. She would go berserk when trying to sort or get in an alleyway. She’d hit the head gate like a freight train going full speed and if she turned around on you she would go right over you.
Her calves were always the same way and always the worst to work.
I was pretty happy the day she came up open.
I bought a group of heifers of both red and black ones I think there was 8 of them total. Some seemed normal like the rest of the calves I’d bought that day, and 3 of them were trying g to jump over gates and running into gates. I didn’t want to ruin my whole group so I got those crazy ones back on the trailer and took them back to sell in the next days sale, at a loss of course but at least I was rid of them. The other ones calmed down and blended right in with the other calves and never caused me any trouble. Kinda
always wished I’d a kept those remaining Limousin heifers for cows.
A few years back I bought a red Limousin bull. He was probably the calmest bull of any breed I’ve had. Everybody said I was crazy for buying a Limousin bull and that even if he wasn’t crazy his calves probably would be, but his calves were no more high strung than my Angus or Hereford calves in the same group.
I’ve had 3 brushes with Gelbveih and Gelbvieh crosses in bought calves.
Bought a few low quality gelbveih cross heifers that I never was impressed with. I thought at the time they might grow out of it but not really. They were just never really bloomed out like I like, just kind of slab sided tall and lanky.
Another time I had a buyer buying some 500 weight heifers for me, and I wound up with 5 dark brown Gelbviehs. They were big framed and had that gelbvieh look of a lot of leather on them on the neck and navel kinda reminded me of Brahman influence. They were crazy, they got out someway and the weather was bad and they all got sick took a long time to try to get them back to the barn as they were in the hardest field I have to get cattle up from. They were treated and improved except for one that I just knew was going to die. I sold back the others again at loss but didn’t want to ruin my group as this group was going to bred and sold. The one heifer I kept back made a comeback and I reckon after having her away from the others and up in a barn stall, she became dog gentle and outgrew everything else. She was so much bigger framed that she had to sell by herself as we couldn’t match her up with any others. In the ring she was calm and stockyards manager was working the ring he walked all around her waving the sale catalog at her to show how gentle she was and never budged.
The last year I bought heifers I got another group of what I think were gelbveih and gelbveih Angus crosses.
We kept them for cows with mixed results. They were pretty good calf raisers. Black or dark brown with white udders, and a range of sizes. A couple were pretty tame, the rest were a little flighty when trying to work them. One I called he77 cat, I was actually a little afraid of. She would go berserk when trying to sort or get in an alleyway. She’d hit the head gate like a freight train going full speed and if she turned around on you she would go right over you.
Her calves were always the same way and always the worst to work.
I was pretty happy the day she came up open.
