Gelbvieh roll call

[HOSS]

I am curious about how many folks on CT either raise, have Gelbvieh cows or use Gelbvieh bulls? That could be either registered or commercial. Maybe you have a few salted into your herd of mixed cattle. I am not looking pimp or bash responses I am just curious as to how widespread the use of Gelbvieh genetics is across the whole CT spectrum. I would also like to see comments on your overall thoughts and experiences with the breed pro and con. I will lump Gelbvieh crosses in this as well so if you have Balancers or other crosses feel free to chime in.

 

[cowwrangler]

i have some of both,reg cows and bulls,also have a few balancers,most of my cows are commercial

 

[denvermartinfarms]

In the last 6 years i have had, 2 registered red gelbvieh bulls on charolais cows, I never had any calving trouble and the steers turned out probably a little better than if i had been useing a limousin bull. But out of either bull witch buth were from a good breeder and should have been as good as any gelbvieh, Niether one's heifer calves ever made good cows, and did not milk very good. This is about all i know about them, and i don't think i would want another one.

 

[Black and Good]

I've got 1 Reg. Blk Gelbveih 3 yr old Cow,2 Reg. Blk Heifers bout to calve and a 18 month old Balancer bull I raised out of that cow. No complaints easy going cattle good mother hope the heifers follow in her footsteps.

 

[UG]

We've been running registered and commercial Gelbvieh and Balancer cows for over 15 years, as well as some other breeds including SimAngus, Braunvieh, reg. Angus. The Gelbvieh and Gelbvieh influenced cows have worked the best for us, with overall good disposition, milking ability, fertility, and growth.

However, as is often stated, there is a great deal of variation in all of the major beef breeds. So, it is possible to find calm and flighty Herefords, good marbling and poor marbling Angus, and good milking and poor milking Gelbvieh.

In response to denvermartinfarms comment of poorer milking Gelbvieh cows, this didn't surprise me much. In the late 90's and into the 2000's there have been a handful of popular Gelbvieh AI sires that were used extensively across North America (most of these were "pretty" show oriented type cattle). Unfortunately, as these bulls daughters started coming into production a few years later, many of them didn't milk very well, and so over time the milk EPDs of the sires started going down. In my opinion, it is disappointing that some high profile Gelbvieh producers have continued to use these low milk bulls (and their sons). However, for many of these breeders it is more important to win the purple banner at Denver or Louisville than to produce cattle that will work for their commercial customers.

 

[3waycross]

In the last 6 years i have had, 2 registered red gelbvieh bulls on charolais cows, I never had any calving trouble and the steers turned out probably a little better than if i had been useing a limousin bull. But out of either bull witch buth were from a good breeder and should have been as good as any gelbvieh, Niether one's heifer calves ever made good cows, and did not milk very good. This is about all i know about them, and i don't think i would want another one.

I would sure like to see the registration numbers on those bulls!. FWIW that would not be a cross i would use to make cows. Most likely a good british bull on your cows would give you a lot of heterosis and then you could go with a balancer bull for market calves and probably some nice replacements too!

How's the milk on your Chars usually. I won't say that there are not some crappy milkers in the GV breed but generally they milk pretty well!

 

[LazyARanch]

We bought a Balancer bull last spring. I had wanted to go straight Gelbvieh but hubby found a bull he liked. Our cows are a mixed commercial beef bunch with Herefords, Angus, a little Char and Simi in the mix on some of them also. We've used Angus bulls extensively for many years, just trying to add a little heterosis on our heifers and young cows which are now predominantly Angus.

 

[HOSS]

I cross my Gelbvieh bull on mostly angus based cows (commercial side) and I have to be cognizant of getting too much milk. The bull that I use on my commercial cows has a slightly below average milk epd to keep from getting overly heavy milking offspring. Gelbvieh influence will almost always increase milk. I would say that your situation was very out of the ordinary denver.

 

[bigbluegrass]

I have Gelbvieh in the tank but I haven't used it yet. All crossbred commercial cattle.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Have a put together cow herd that is moving towards bwf or rwf.
Had Angus and Limi bulls in the past. Limi cross calves were the best I have raised to date.
Purchased a Balancer bull last year. No calves on the ground yet.

 

[MartinFarms]

I am half way through calving my first balancer sired calves. I'm keeping heifers for replacements and moving towards a predominantly Gelbvieh based herd. I prefer red cattle so I can change the color by switching bulls. Hard part is finding red Gelbvieh close to northwest Georgia.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I don't still have the papers or remember alot about them, but i understand that they are not all bad. As for that cross it is very common around here, alot of people are trying red gelbvieh bulls on there charolias cows. I'm glad to here everyone else is having better luck with them then i did.

 

[Isomade]

You almost have a better chance of seeing Bigfoot around here. I saw my first GV influenced bulls ever 3 months ago. A guy I know bought 4 Balancer bulls and boy did they look good.

 

[dun]

We use some semen and still have some that are descended from our original F1 RAxGelbvieh from back before they were balancers.

 

[tom4018]

We have 2 Gelbvieh cows and have kept 3 balancer heifers out of them.

 

[Lazy M]

We have 8 or 9 black reg GV cows in our herd. We bought them cheap in a dispersal a couple years back when the market was awful. They all give dandy calves with our angus bulls. My only complaint is that one of them is the most hateful wild idiot cow that I've ever owned. I really need to get rid of her but she always throws about the best calve of any of our cows of any breed (plus the thought of catching and loading her is not appealing)..

 

[3waycross]

We have 8 or 9 black reg GV cows in our herd. We bought them cheap in a dispersal a couple years back when the market was awful. They all give dandy calves with our angus bulls. My only complaint is that one of them is the most hateful wild idiot cow that I've ever owned. I really need to get rid of her but she always throws about the best calve of any of our cows of any breed (plus the thought of catching and loading her is not appealing)..

I HAD one like that. Life is too short to take a chance on crazy cattle. Sell her for killer and forget her!

 

[DOC HARRIS]

We have 8 or 9 black reg GV cows in our herd. We bought them cheap in a dispersal a couple years back when the market was awful. They all give dandy calves with our angus bulls. My only complaint is that one of them is the most hateful wild idiot cow that I've ever owned. I really need to get rid of her but she always throws about the best calve of any of our cows of any breed (plus the thought of catching and loading her is not appealing)..

I HAD one like that. Life is too short to take a chance on crazy cattle. Sell her for killer and forget her!

With the tremendous amount of investigative breeding having been done with genetics and cattle-handling methods, it is a proven fact that docility (or the lack therof) is a geneteic inherited trait and characteristic. The environmental influences which all cattle experience, both desirable and undesirable, also induce and dispose individuals to perform in certain characteristic manners. Some of those actions are acceptable in our cattle management protocols, and a heck of a lot of them are absolutely NOT acceptable.

My suggestion to breeders who are dealing with flighty or volatile cattle, regardless of how they perform in the breeding herd, is to ship them to slaughter - yesterday!. It is not worth taking a chance on your, your family, or an employee getting hurt or killed on the outside possibility that - - "...maybe she will change this time". the odds are she will NOT change, and her progeny will be just as goofy as she is, both as a result of genetic inheritance factors ("mean genes"), and the goof-ball teaching and training that she will impart to her offspring! Take what she brings on the rail (don't pass her off to another breeder!), and add some amount of investment dollars to it and get an addition to your breeding herd that is better than any of the seedstock that you have at the present time!! In other words, replace the "Killer" with a "Docile Donor"!

DOC HARRIS

 

[plumber_greg]

I have a man just south that raises GV and balancers. He rented a pasture just next to mine for 3 years, before they plowed it up. Sloans have always had reputation cattle, and I was impressed with what they had. If anything was wrong, I'd have to say the cows were too big. Looked to be 1500+ lbs.
But, I was getting too big a cows and was really watching other breeds size at that time, so I may have overly critictial. I know every year they have a sale and sell 7 year old cows and haifers, and they bring $300 above top dollar for replacements every year. gs

 

[double v]

good animals and bad in all breeds not playing in this one, handling and reading EPD's(understanding) makes selection and improvement in one's herd. bull and cow selection can't be stated enough. will stand behind gelbvieh and balancer cattle.