Gelbvieh and Balancers

[clarkmorefarm]

Haven't seen much mentioned about Gelbvieh & Balancers.

Anyone have experience with them?

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I use Gelbvieh and balancer bulls quite regularly. I'll breed them to either pure Charolais, pure angus, or angus/charolais cross. Calves really seem to grow well. I've got a small herd of middle aged angus that will be "retired" in a few years. Thinking very hard about replacing them with a herd of pure Gelbvieh. I also know of a guy that crosses Gelbvieh and Herefords. Those are quite impressive also.

 

[clarkmorefarm]

I use Gelbvieh and balancer bulls quite regularly. I'll breed them to either pure Charolais, pure angus, or angus/charolais cross. Calves really seem to grow well. I've got a small herd of middle aged angus that will be "retired" in a few years. Thinking very hard about replacing them with a herd of pure Gelbvieh. I also know of a guy that crosses Gelbvieh and Herefords. Those are quite impressive also.

How does the crosses look with charloias?

I like the red hide of Gelbvieh, of course I'm in the minority on that these days

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I agree on the red hide! The Charolais Gelbvieh calves come out usually a light red, but some cream colored. Super "big boned". Very muscular and very fast growing. A little bit "leggy" but that could have been helped somewhat if I had used shorter, stockier bulls.

 

[Hogfarmer10]

Ignore the deep red one with white tag. The blacks in the background are from Angus cows. The gray/cream and the light reds are Charolais Gelbvieh cross.

 

[clarkmorefarm]

View attachment 53300
Ignore the deep red one with white tag. The blacks in the background are from Angus cows. The gray/cream and the light reds are Charolais Gelbvieh cross.

They look great, thanks for the pictures.

You're not too far from me, where did you get your Gelbvieh bull?

 

[Hogfarmer10]

Nope. Not far at all. Several members on here in our general area. Can't remember his name but the best one I've had came from Tazewell TN near LMU. Ive also bought a couple from a lady near me but she's since gone out of cattle. I've got a number for a man in Kentucky that raises phenomenal Gelbvieh cattle that often has bulls for sale fairly reasonably. His are some extremely docile animals. If you need it, let me know and I'll pm it to you

 

[clarkmorefarm]

Nope. Not far at all. Several members on here in our general area. Can't remember his name but the best one I've had came from Tazewell TN near LMU. Ive also bought a couple from a lady near me but she's since gone out of cattle. I've got a number for a man in Kentucky that raises phenomenal Gelbvieh cattle that often has bulls for sale fairly reasonably. His are some extremely docile animals. If you need it, let me know and I'll pm it to you

Yes, please PM the guy from KY when you have a moment.

How are birth weights on Gelbvieh, about like any bred now? Have high and lows?

Looking for something to bred some heifers too this year.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Liked the Gelbviehs we had. David Slaughters in Fredonia Ky can hook you up.

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I had one Gelbvieh that was not a low birth weight bull that I used on older Charolais cows. Avg 90lb calves. I messed up and bred some 20 month old Charolais heifers to him- had to pull 17 out of 21. But I've used a low birth weight Gelbvieh and the calves averaged around 70-75 lbs from the same cows. I prefer a balancer for heifers now. Seems like I have much better results, plus a balancer bred to Charolais gives me a 3 way cross that really grows well.

 

[crossbreed]

Haven't seen much mentioned about Gelbvieh & Balancers.

Anyone have experience with them?

Turned out my first gelbveih bull in May so should know soon. I have all brangus type and Smokey's as have ran char bulls for the last 5 years. I have really been interested in the red chars from all the discussions on this forum but with all the info from some guy from Georgia I'm not sure I know anything now seems like a red chars cow and red gelbveih bull might load a great trailer of big calves

 

[crossbreed]

I had one Gelbvieh that was not a low birth weight bull that I used on older Charolais cows. Avg 90lb calves. I messed up and bred some 20 month old Charolais heifers to him- had to pull 17 out of 21. But I've used a low birth weight Gelbvieh and the calves averaged around 70-75 lbs from the same cows. I prefer a balancer for heifers now. Seems like I have much better results, plus a balancer bred to Charolais gives me a 3 way cross that really grows well.

Looking forward to seeing what the gelbveih will do with this type of char/brangus cross will do