Gelbvieh Cattle History
Upon graduating from college I was given the opportunity to basically start a cattle operation from scratch. I had a ranch to work with and an "education". Most of my real education came later, but the one thing that helped me most was not having preconceived prejudices about breeds and breeding programs. Luckily for me I stumbled upon a Gelbvieh bull at the National Western Stockshow. Bellringer brought that added growth we really needed, and something severely lacking in growthy crossbred cattle--gentle, good milking heifers. He also brought a few calving problems and cows really too big for our range conditions. I tried many of the popular AI bulls but really found much of the same--big calves = big cows. It seems that much of the industry was coming to the same conclusion and a new more functional sort of cattle were emerging. Cattle with less frame, less birth weight, less mature cow size, and a whole lot less attitude. Coincidentally there was a push towards black and polled cattle.
As with many ranchers, we have seen the need for crossbreeding. Heterosis is more than some idea a college professor dreamed up, it's real! We have seen the value of the crossbred cow and more recently see the added value of hybred bulls. We have used the Salers and Angus breeds in our herd. We find commercially, that 1/4 to 1/2 Salers makes a little tougher, more durable cow. Too much, and you know the problems! Angus and Gelbvieh just seem to go together. Their moderate size, calving ease, and exceptional marbling ability really make Angus a great complimentary breed. Gelbvieh--Black Genetic Base Our black genetic base started with the use of black baldy cows bred to Bellringer and Ghostbuster, a sale topping Hemo son. We purchased a few 1/2 blood cows from Valhalla Ranch along with a set of heifers from Bill Bledsoe in Hugo, Colorado. Black Classic and Black Edge matings left us with some very good cows. The Kerst Ranch from Wray, Colorado provided to be a good source for a few more females but most importantly, we purchased Polled Stetson and Special K from them. Good bulls from good people. Phil Vandervoort offered us some of the first semen on a bull named Imprint. He turned out to be the first Homozygous black polled bull of the breed.
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mprint left us with outstanding females and one super son in Blackjack. His being homozygous black and polled is great but his eye appeal and growth have caused us to use this sire very heavily. Right now our herd is filled with Imprint, Blackjack, and Tuition females. "Tuition" is a Bennett Premier son that topped the Wyoming Gelbvieh Association sale several years ago. Both his bulls and heifers have worked well for us. Right now Bud Ice, a Bud son and "Equity" are the cornerstones for our program. Bud Ice was purchased at the Top of the Rockies sale from SEGA Gelbvieh. Steve and Gail sold a good one here! Stylish, easy calving, and dependable performance. We use him hard.
Homozygous Black!
We are pretty proud of this one! We have never been quite as excited about a bull as we are about Equity. In fact we are doing only minimal AI this year, to allow us to maximize this bulls genetics. Check out his statistics and see if you don't think that he's the sort we all need to be raising. This year Equity has had 1 calf over 80 pounds out of heifers!
| Birth Weight | BW EPD | ACT WW | WW EPD | ACT YW | YW EPD | Milk EPD | ADG |
| 85 | -.4 | 605 | 33 | 1005 | 61 | 22 | 4.0 |
Equity's sire--Bud Ice(son of Bud)--has proven with his first crop to be a truly superior bull. He not only works on heifers but brings the optimal level of growth for our tough environment. The phenotype of the calves has been truly outstanding as has been the structural conformation. We have never had a group of bulls perform in the feedlot like these Bud Ice calves. We have had a lot of knowledgeable cattlemen compliment everything about Equity!!
