With the start of the fall feeder cattle market, Gelbvieh Profit Partners, an investor based organization of Gelbvieh breeders, has been actively merchandising Gelbvieh and Balancer® feeder cattle across the country with strong success. Continue Reading »
At the end of three days of selling approximately 750 bulls and after compiling all the sale reports, the Gelbvieh bulls at the 2010 Midland Bull Test proved to meet commercial producer demand.
The 34 Gelbvieh and Balancer bulls averaged $2,929, topping all Continental breeds and sold as the second highest average among all breeds in this year’s sale. The 2010 Gelbvieh bull average was a five-year high, averaging well above previous Gelbvieh sales at Midland. Continue Reading »
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By ANDREA JOHNSON, Assistant Editor, Minnesota Farm Guide
GOODHUE, Minn. – The weather warmed up nicely in Goodhue County, and spring was in the air in early March. Things were going well for the beef and pork enterprises at Schafer Farms, Inc. in Goodhue County.
The Schafers scraped and clean some of the cattle lots – a sure sign of thawing weather and spring.
Schafer Farms, Inc. along with Cannon Valley Ranch, held their 25th Annual Private Treaty Bull Sale on Feb. 27 at Lowell Schafer’s farm.
To read more about Schafer Farms, Inc. and their success with Gelbvieh, click here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Minnesota, Schafer | Leave a Comment »
Listen to Frank Padilla, Director of Breed Promotion, discuss the advantages of using Gelbvieh in a crossbreeding scenario. This interview was featured on Cattlemen’s Corner with Howard Hale.
Click here to Listen to Part 1
Click here to Listen to Part 2
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Crossbreeding, heterosis, interview | Leave a Comment »
At just two months into the bull sale season, the demand is high for Gelbvieh and Balancer bulls, reports the American Gelbvieh Association. Sales held in the past few weeks were better than expected considering the tough winter, the reduced cow herd numbers and the still recovering economy.
Cedar Top Ranch, Stapleton, Neb., and Johnson Gelbvieh, Tilden, Neb., reported an average of $3,497 on 155 Balancer, Angus and Red Angus bulls for their annual production sale held February 16, with a high percentage of new buyers.
In the 2010 Red Bluff Bull Sale held January 30 in Red Bluff, Calif., 20 Balancer bulls averaged $2,953, which was the highest average of all the breeds represented in the sale. The seven Gelbvieh bulls sold for an average of $2,314. Continue Reading »
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As beef producers consider their breeding decisions this spring, one factor that should weigh into those decisions are the marketing opportunities for those calves next fall. While it is difficult to predict where the market will end up in 2011, producers can look at current beef industry trends and breed association sponsored marketing programs to help decide what direction to take this breeding season.
Recently, the beef industry is seeing a renewed interest in crossbreeding. Crossbreeding is one of the most fundamental breeding programs to optimize economically important traits such as maternal longevity and fertility, maternal milk, increased weaning and yearling growth, and carcass traits.
“There is a big advantage to crossbred cattle in the feedyard,” said Bill Sleigh, manager of Hays Feeders in Hays, Kan. “I prefer to buy all Continental-British cross cattle as they are outstanding in terms of feed conversion and average daily gain.”
Implementing a crossbreeding program is also a simple solution to avoid the potential negative effects of genetic defects recently discovered in the Angus and Red Angus breeds. Continue Reading »
Posted in Demand | Tagged marketing | Leave a Comment »
In the 2010 Clemson Bull Test near Pendleton, S.C., the highest indexing bull with a value of 8.72 is a Balancer® bull consigned by Black Crest Farms of Sumter, S.C. This Gelbvieh-Angus cross bull consistently posted some of the highest average daily gains throughout the 112 days of the test and finished with a performance leading ADG of 5.09 pounds per day. The bull, with the tag number 37, also finished with the fourth highest weight per day of age of 3.63 pounds per day.
“The 37 senior Balancer® bull’s performance was spectacular. His average daily gain of 5.09 pounds per day was 38 percent above the test average of 3.70 pounds per day in very wet and muddy conditions for half the test,” commented Dr. Larry W. Olson, Clemson Extension animal scientist and bull testing program coordinator. Continue Reading »
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Looking Back and Moving Forward
Click here for PDF with charts and tables
Posted in Facts, Performance | Leave a Comment »
Temperament of stocker cattle has long been recognized to influence production efficiency by having an impact on cattle handling and performance. More recently, scientists have suggested that flighty behavior of individual calves can also affect the performance of the entire group. So, letting just one flighty calf slip passed the sort could decrease the performance of the entire group. For humans, temperament is defined as the way a person thinks, behaves or reacts. For cattle, a good definition for temperament is the intensity of their “fight or flight” instinct. Continue Reading »
Posted in Performance | Tagged feeding, profitability, temperament | Leave a Comment »
After experimenting with several different breeds, Jim Miller was looking for the right combination of genetics for his commercial cow-calf operation. Jim’s herd started off many years ago with Hereford, black and black-baldy cows, which he tried breeding to Hereford, Limousin, Brangus, and Beefmaster, but about 25 years ago he was convinced to try Gelbvieh. He bought three Gelbvieh bulls and was really impressed with the calves. You could say that he hasn’t looked back since. Continue Reading »
Posted in Performance | Tagged Crossbreeding, Kansas, New Mexico | Leave a Comment »
