e Special
Spotlight on
GELBVIEH
Section f
Gelbvieh History and Development Origin of Breed - The Gelbvieh breed is one of the oldest German cattle breeds, first found mainly in three Franconian districts of Bavaria in southern Germany. Starting in 1850, systematic breeding work began in stud herds. Through purebreeding, the “red-yellow Franconian cattle” were developed from several local strains, including Celtic-German Landrace and Heil-Brown Landrace cattle. These local strains have been further improved with intensive breeding work since 1870. This solid colored breed of red-yellow cattle enjoyed great popularity as draft and slaughter cattle. Since World War II, Germany used a stringent selection program to repopulate its cattle herds. Only three percent of the registered cows were used to produce potential bulls. These cows were selected on structural soundness and conformation.
Bulls from these select cows were performance tested, and the top half was progeny tested. The progeny evaluation included gestation length, birth weight, calving ease, growth rate, slaughter weight, carcass quality conformation, udder soundness, and fertility and milk production in daughters. Semen was released only from bulls that proved their superiority in progeny testing. In the 1960s, Red Danish cattle were included in the herd book to improve milk production. Development in America - Leness Hall, the director of International Marketing for Carnation Genetics, first saw Gelbvieh cattle in 1969. He worked towards importing Gelbvieh semen to the U.S., and finally was able to bring 43,000 units to America in 1971. In that same year, the American Gelbvieh Association was formed.
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Today, there are approximately 45,000 active, registered Gelbvieh cows in the United States and 1,400 active members of the American Gelbvieh Association (AGA). AGA is the largest Gelbvieh association in the world and ranks fifth in number of registered animals among beef breed associations in the United States. Most registered U.S. Gelbvieh are classified as purebreds (at least 88 percentage Gelbvieh) and were bred up by mating fullbloods and purebred Gelbvieh bulls to foundation cows.
services to assist in maximizing return on investment in Gelbvieh and Balancer bulls and replacement females. Cow/calf producers who use Gelbvieh genetics are eligible to add value to females by marketing them through the Maternal Edge commercial female sales. Visit www.maternaledge.com for more information about a sale in various areas. For cattlemen looking to market bulls, replacement females or feeder cattle, check out the AGA’s free Exchange service, including: Bull Listings, Female Listings,
and Feeder Calf Listings. Visit www. gelbvieh.org/exchange to view current listings or to post a new listing. Brand your Gelbvieh influenced feeder calves with SmartCross® ear tags. This ear tag tells the buyer he is getting quality and predictability. Contact the AGA office at 303-465-2333 for more information on the three tag styles to fit any management program, as well as electronic ID tags. For more information about Gelbvieh and Balancer genetics, visit www. gelbvieh.org.
Characteristics of the Breed
Breed Registry and Improvement Programs - Purebred Gelbvieh cattle as well as hybrid cattle can be registered with the AGA. Breeders can document Gelbvieh influenced bulls and females with registrations and EPDs through AGA’s three hybrid registry programs: Balancer®, Southern Balancer®, and Hybrid. Balancer cattle are registered hybrid seedstock and have documented pedigrees and EPDs. Balancer animals are 2575 percent Gelbvieh with the balance Angus or Red Angus. Southern Balancer is a Gelbvieh heat tolerant composite specifically targeted to producers who want the maternal heterosis, disposition, fertility, and carcass consistency of a Bos Indicus x Gelbvieh cross. Hybrid animals, of any breed or cross, may be recorded using the Hybrid Cattle Recording Service. The AGA documents the pedigree, breed composition, and calculates performance data and provides EPDs. For Gelbvieh members and commercial users of Gelbvieh and Balancer genetics, the AGA offers several
The Carolina Cattle Connection q JULY 2020
Coloration - Traditional Gelbviehs are reddish gold to russet or black in color. Traditional German Gelbviehs tend to be darker on their necks than the rest of the body; this is more prominent in bulls than in cows. Red Gelbviehs can be confused with traditional colored Limousins because of the same light pigmentation around the eyes and nose. Gelbviehs also have strong skin pigmentation, which makes them ideal for temperate to arid conditions. Body type and characteristics - Gelbvieh are beefy, moderately muscular cattle, with frame sizes ranging from medium to large. They are long and smooth-haired, with bulls averaging around 2,300 lbs and cows averaging around 1,300 lbs in weight. Head characteristics - Though the traditional Gelbvieh breed was originally horned, this has been bred out in most of the modern day Gelbvieh cattle. Cows have a moderately long face, not dissimilar to Simmentals, Charolais, or Limousins, and bulls
have similar head characteristics to the aforementioned breeds. Other characteristics - The Gelbvieh breed is great for its high fertility, freedom from genital defects, superior calving ease, mothering ability, exceptional milking ability, and high growth rates. Carcass characteristics have a lot of potential, since the breed is mostly lean, but can be crossed with breeds like Angus to get an exceptional carcass quality. Gelbviehs are also very quiet and docile, which is easily passed on to their offspring, crossbred or not. They are also highly adapted to hot arid climates, with not only the skin pigmentation that makes them resistant to sunburn and able to stand out in the hot sun without any problems, but also their ability to restrict blood flow to the areas where they have been bitten by ticks, isolating the ticks and starving them. This is a characteristic that has been noticed and proven by South African Gelbvieh Association, and is currently undergoing more research.