Gelbvieh Owners, Fans, & Critics Get In Here

[Jabes0623]

I've found a semi local Gelbvieh/Balancer breeder. We've spoken several times & I'm headed out to his farm in a couple of weeks to look at his herd & perhaps purchase a few. In general I know what to look for but is there anything specific to Gelbviehs I need to keep a special eye out for? Also any thoughts good bad or ugly on the Gelbvieh breed?

I intended to buy some Herefords & cross them to a Gelbvieh bull but after visiting several local farms I just really wasn't overly impressed with anything I saw so I decided to look into gerting some Gelbvieh females & see if I couldn't find a little more quality cattle. Plus I won't have to worry about pink eye or eye cancer, though that wasn't a major concern it is one less thing. Anyway thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Supa Dexta]

A number of years back I tried some gelbvieh and it was the biggest mistake I've made to date - and that's a large statement in itself. :lol:

I'll be fair though, and say the animals I had prob weren't the best examples. I bought a couple of purebred cows and had them shipped in and a purebred bull at a test sale.

The cows were the wildest bunch of nogoodsonsabit**es I've ever seen. I'd say I got taken by buying over the phone and they shipped me some problem animals.. shame on them.. and me for that deal. Those cows ruined my herd for many years, and the calves would grow up even spookier. I did get good fences out of the deal after a while though.

The bull himself was easy enough going and grew out alright.. But his calves just never did it for me. After coming off years of charolais, they just didnt stack up. I kept a number of heifers out of the cross, and still have a few kicking around (char/gelb crosses, not the purebreds) they seem to be good enough mothers, and milk good. But I have no desire to try that road again.

But again, just a few animals out of a breed don't paint an entire picture - I just aint in the market for that sort of painting.

So my advice would be to narrow in on their temperament, and check the cows over for the usual stance, udders and hooves. Bags did get a little sloppy in older years, but they milked well.

 

[tistis]

I got a few and I like them they work nice for me and are good mothers wean of nice calves , The bull has not cause me any trouble I would look for some good one and go for it ..

 

[3waycross]

Good cattle!

As with all breeds inspect what you expect! Feet,Legs,udders, and disposition!

 

[Black and Good]

Good cattle!

As with all breeds inspect what you expect! Feet,Legs,udders, and disposition!

:nod: There are idiots in all breeds.. But as a rule Gelbvieh are fairly easy going. I don't look for anything in any one breed. I look for what I expect out of a cow.. Regardless of breed.
B&G

 

[dun]

Good cattle!

As with all breeds inspect what you expect! Feet,Legs,udders, and disposition!

:nod: There are idiots in all breeds.. But as a rule Gelbvieh are fairly easy going. I don't look for anything in any one breed. I look for what I expect out of a cow.. Regardless of breed.
B&G

Herefords are known for being calm and gentle, and yet the wildest craziest cows/calves I've ever dealt with were Herefords.

 

[cow pollinater]

I'm kinda new to gelbvieh as I own one balancer that's in his second breeding season and have a couple of AI calves on the ground but I'm happy so far. The bull is as easy to get along with as the herefords and he really gets out and covers cows. The calves are all doing well and their dispositions are really quiet. We branded a bunch a few days ago and I've never seen nuts that big on calves that size before. :shock: I'm being careful with milk as to much here is a trainwreck but there are enough balancers with a tad less milk for me to use.

 

[Jabes0623]

I'm kinda new to gelbvieh as I own one balancer that's in his second breeding season and have a couple of AI calves on the ground but I'm happy so far. The bull is as easy to get along with as the herefords and he really gets out and covers cows. The calves are all doing well and their dispositions are really quiet. We branded a bunch a few days ago and I've never seen nuts that big on calves that size before. :shock: I'm being careful with milk as to much here is a trainwreck but there are enough balancers with a tad less milk for me to use.

Yes I've read that Gelb's can milk far too heavily, but from what I understand that's pretty rare. Also I plan on AI'ing mine so I'll be careful to choose a low milking bull so that problem doesn't rear its head. There also seems to be quite a drastic difference in the size of Gelb's, you read about some who are 1200 lbs & others who are 1500 lbs +

 

[backhoeboogie]

There's one in my herd. I like her. She calves about every 11 months. She raises nice calves.

She's been bred to 4 different Bulls. 3 brangus and one char. All steers out of the char. She has had heifers out of the brangus. I've tried to retain some. They do not have enough milk. All have been lacking. No other issues. A few years back I decided all of her calves were terminal.

The original cow is docile. Heavy milker. She is an easy keeper. The type you would like to fill a pasture with It's a shame to have not retained anything from her.

 

[Nesikep]

We got a Gelbvieh bull when we were in a pinch.. Our shorthorn bull failed halfway through the season, and we spoke to the manager of our sale barn, and he brought us a 2 year old Gelbvieh bull... Best bull we've had yet. Not tame, but not wild, really good calves. Crossed with some of the SH's gave us really fancy calves, both male or females. A lot of the heifers are heavy milkers, and that seems to come from both sides of the family. Calves are pretty docile too.

I went and saw a Gelbvieh breeder last fall, he had a bunch of bulls there, all were very friendly and laid back, even with me being a stranger.
Our Gelbvieh bull is the one in my pic---->

 

[OldCowhand]

The Brown Swiss is Ok for growth and frame. Don't marble, or finish real nice. They fit into the commercial Select box beef model, but are not as good eating as some of the real beef breeds. IMHO.

 

[dun]

The Brown Swiss is Ok for growth and frame. Don't marble, or finish real nice. They fit into the commercial Select box beef model, but are not as good eating as some of the real beef breeds. IMHO.

Who brought up brown swiss?

 

[Jabes0623]

Assuming this guy's the real McCoy & everything is good to go. Would you all recommend I get the Gelbvieh or the Balancer? I was really intent on making some Gelb Herf crossed momma cows & then putting an angus over them for my terminal cross but I'd say Balancers would probably make about as good a momma's.

Also what terminal bull would work well on balancer females? The calves gotta be black. SimAngus?

 

[cow pollinater]

Assuming this guy's the real McCoy & everything is good to go. Would you all recommend I get the Gelbvieh or the Balancer? I was really intent on making some Gelb Herf crossed momma cows & then putting an angus over them for my terminal cross but I'd say Balancers would probably make about as good a momma's.

Also what terminal bull would work well on balancer females? The calves gotta be black. SimAngus?

From what I've seen of balancer/hereford you won't need a terminal. Those calves are some of the growthiest I've seen this year. A straight gelbvieh won't match what a char can do but offers more heterosis,especially with the hereford in the mix so you gain quite a bit of weight there. I haven't weighed anything but the two balancer/hereford steers that I have this year will match what my three charolais calves are doing. My plan was to continue my char herd for a terminal but I don't see the need now. Plus the simangus isn't going to do anything that the balancer won't.

 

[Jabes0623]

Assuming this guy's the real McCoy & everything is good to go. Would you all recommend I get the Gelbvieh or the Balancer? I was really intent on making some Gelb Herf crossed momma cows & then putting an angus over them for my terminal cross but I'd say Balancers would probably make about as good a momma's.

Also what terminal bull would work well on balancer females? The calves gotta be black. SimAngus?

From what I've seen of balancer/hereford you won't need a terminal. Those calves are some of the growthiest I've seen this year. A straight gelbvieh won't match what a char can do but offers more heterosis,especially with the hereford in the mix so you gain quite a bit of weight there. I haven't weighed anything but the two balancer/hereford steers that I have this year will match what my three charolais calves are doing. My plan was to continue my char herd for a terminal but I don't see the need now. Plus the simangus isn't going to do anything that the balancer won't.

How do those Herf Balancer calves come out color wise? Herfs get killed in the sale barns here so I've gotta keep my calves black, which is why I was going to go with Gelb/Herf as my maternal then put a homo black Angus on them. It's awful that we have to be so concerned about form instead of function but I can't afford the hit anything not black will take right now.

 

[3waycross]

The Brown Swiss is Ok for growth and frame. Don't marble, or finish real nice. They fit into the commercial Select box beef model, but are not as good eating as some of the real beef breeds. IMHO.

SO EXACTLY WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH GELBVIEH CATTLE.?

 

[3waycross]

How do those Herf Balancer calves come out color wise? Herfs get killed in the sale barns here so I've gotta keep my calves black, which is why I was going to go with Gelb/Herf as my maternal then put a homo black Angus on them. It's awful that we have to be so concerned about form instead of function but I can't afford the hit anything not black will take right now.[/quote]

if YOU WANT TO GO STRAIGHT TERMINAL ON THE HERFS USE A HOMO BLK BALANCER BULL. if YOU WANT TO MAKE GV/HERF MAMA COWS THEN GO WITH AN ANGUS FOR THE TERMINAL SIRE
sorry for the caps too lazy to type it again

 

[TexasBred]

The Brown Swiss is Ok for growth and frame. Don't marble, or finish real nice. They fit into the commercial Select box beef model, but are not as good eating as some of the real beef breeds. IMHO.

Usually don't milk worth a dam either.

 

[kjonesel]

I would suggest going with a purebred Gelbvieh (94%) that is what is called a double black and I would go ahead and add in the double polled. That would achieve what you are after.

 

[3waycross]

I would suggest going with a purebred Gelbvieh (94%) that is what is called a double black and I would go ahead and add in the double polled. That would achieve what you are after.

Not on red cattle!! If he wants predictable blk terminal calves they(the bulls) have to be homo blk and homo polled.