Gelbveih cattle "The Gentle Continental"

[Newguy]

Neighbour had a few calves got by ai this spring, al see if I can get a few pics.

Any luck with the neighbours calves?
Do you know what they were crossed with?
Thanks

 

[JP1]

Gelbveih in Canada

 

[oxfordman]

we have had gelbvies for over 20 yrs and like them, last "pure" bull we bought though bred lunatics which made me think he may have had limo in him, I still have 2 pure cows and they cross well with angus but a lot of my (small) herd contain gelbvie

 

[oxfordman]

we have won local fatstock show with one and had several E grades with them. we had a lot of them if you get the right ones they are brilliant but we found we couldnt get good quality genetics in this country and the gene pool is too small so crossed them too lims and sims probably got 20 pure cows now used to have 100 at one point

do you sell at thame? ive seen a few go through thame in the past

 

[tr250]

do you sell at thame? ive seen a few go through thame in the past

no mainly deadweight i did hear of a herd out that way somewhere though

 

[S J H]

no mainly deadweight i did hear of a herd out that way somewhere though

Was that Thrapston fatstock @tr250 ?

 

[tr250]

No market Harborough. that was 3 years ago we took a charalaisx and limx this year

 

[Newguy]

Its in a shed with 60 other calves and is the best animal out of the lot! Just started weaning this week, i will take a pic tomorrow!

How is he doing? Still the best animal out of the lot?

 

[curvebender]

On paper they sound pretty interesting - "According to the USDA Meat Animal Research Centre Gelbvieh are the only widely used breed that excels in calving ease, milk yield, retail yield, weaning growth and yearling growth combined. In sum, Gelbvieh produce more kilograms of weaned calf per cow exposed than any other widely used breed." - http://www.gelbvieh.org.nz/crossbreeding.htm

"Fertility - Gelbvieh had the largest testicles of all the breeds in the Clay Centre research and since testicular size is related to the fertility of their daughters, this probably explains why the females are most fertile. Gelbvieh bulls taken to AI centres for semen collection have had the most verile semen counts and quality seen of any breed."

They are also tame, hence their slogan - "The Gentle Continental"

Growth, calving ease, fertility, milk, tameness and their confirmation isn't terrible. (They kinda sound too good to be true.)

Guess this is why they were used to create the Stabiliser, add some elite Sim (milk/growth) and Angus (easy fleshing) genetics and you have the complete package that also has the added advantage being loaded with hybrid vigour!

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

On paper they sound pretty interesting - "According to the USDA Meat Animal Research Centre Gelbvieh are the only widely used breed that excels in calving ease, milk yield, retail yield, weaning growth and yearling growth combined. In sum, Gelbvieh produce more kilograms of weaned calf per cow exposed than any other widely used breed." - http://www.gelbvieh.org.nz/crossbreeding.html

Are there any Gelbvieh cattle in the UK? (excluding stabilisers)

They have a website. But no mention of them existing in the UK. http://www.gelbviehuk.co.uk/the-breed/

"Fertility - Gelbvieh had the largest testicles of all the breeds in the Clay Centre research and since testicular size is related to the fertility of their daughters, this probably explains why the females are most fertile. Gelbvieh bulls taken to AI centres for semen collection have had the most verile semen counts and quality seen of any breed."

They are also tame, hence their slogan - "The Gentle Continental"

Growth, calving ease, fertility, milk, tameness and their confirmation isn't terrible. (They kinda sound too good to be true.)

So why haven't they caught on over here?

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

View attachment 18588

Taken from the British gelbveih website.

http://www.gelbviehuk.co.uk/gallery/

But to be fair if you google gelbveih images they vary a fair bit.

This animal looks like a Gelbvieh cross Red Pole experimental grading up animal. I have seen this animal before and think I know who it belongs to also. You cannot judge the pure bred Gelbvieh from this picture.

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

we have had gelbvies for over 20 yrs and like them, last "pure" bull we bought though bred lunatics which made me think he may have had limo in him, I still have 2 pure cows and they cross well with angus but a lot of my (small) herd contain gelbvie

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

HI Oxfordman, Who did you buy your bull off (the one that threw Lunatics). What colour was he? Was he a light blonde or a darker more red animal?

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

As far as I remember, they are made from 3 breeds , in 'old' Germany, that now breed true. I saw them years ago at the NBA event at Chatsworth. Wife commented that she thought they were the original composites. Interestingly, Lee Leachman uses Gelbvieh in one of his American composites. They struck us both as good maternal cows at the time.

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

You may have seen my cow that day. (see attached image) I am a pure blood gelbvieh breeder. I was the secretary of the Gelbvieh Society at that point. I have not crossed my Gelbviehs with anything in over 20 years. I have cows with bloodlines going back to the original imports into the UK in 1973.

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

they are very lean so can get a big carcase we finnish bulls and they can be a little too lean. kill out well all crossed now but getting near to 60% with hiefers just over with bulls we used to have some calving issues with heifers when pure but its the cows high set tail and wide pelvis that made them a good cow with plenty of milk. some of the best cows we ever had were gelbveih out of our fresian cows when we finnished milking and started sucklers. so yes very good cattle but we got too interbred and couldnt find quality unrelated bulls it got to the stage we had extreme types some brilliant and some bad.

 

[Gelbvieh lover]

Genetics has been a problem in the UK, but don't blame the breed blame the management. One or two people trying to control the breed for their own marketing purposes can kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

 

[onthehoof]

Had a bull a few years ago bit like a small Sim,kept a few daughters for breeding, best thing about them was they always got in calf, unfortunately so did half the heifer calves while suckling their mothers, had to calve a few at 15 months

 

[bar-proper]

Tom turner near exeter breeds them pretty sure he sells stock as well

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Tom turner near exeter breeds them pretty sure he sells stock as well

Is that who often has ad in mvf for Gelbveigh and Stabilisers?