History

Gelbvieh (pronounced Gel-fee) originated in Northern Bavaria, in southern Germany.  It was once a triple purpose breed (milk, meat and draft) and was developed from several local strains of ‘Red-Yellow Franconian’ cattle; Gelbvieh translates from German, literally, as ‘yellow cattle’.

Gelbvieh are moderate size framed, docile cattle. In 1958, the German government imposed a stringent progeny testing programme on the breed in a deliberate strategy to improve performance in milk and meat production traits. They used AI extensively and applied objective measurement in selection for productivity, maternal characters, fertility, calving ease, and carcass quality.

The breed was transported to North America via semen in the mid 1970’s and soon after arrived in Australia. Gelbvieh is also present in New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and South America. When the breed arrived in the USA it was subjected to intense scrutiny and careful development through enrolment in the industry defining comparative breed experiments which were starting at the Meat Animal Research Centre at Clay Centre in Nebraska.Driven by these research findings at the Clay Centre in Nebraska Gelbvieh have become a research driven breed in the U.S. and beyond.

The results indicated Gelbvieh cows wean the most kg of calf per kg of cow put to the bull - a key suckler cow metric. Under this direction Gelbvieh have developed in the US into a very important breed to the beef industry, with the purebred animals providing seed stock for cross and composite bred animals. These crosses give the commercial producer that all important edge through hybrid vigour. Examples of this are ‘Balancers’ which are Gelbvieh x Angus commercial animals, and ‘Stabilisers’ which have Simmental and Hereford added to the Gelbvieh Angus cross. Recently ‘Stabilisers’ have gained in popularity in the UK for their commercial focus.

Gelbvieh’s have been in the UK since the 1970’s, albeit in relatively small numbers. Recent importation of North American bloodlines means world class genetics are available to UK farmers.

Characteristics

In addition to the original golden colour the breed now includes reddish gold to russet or black colours. Medium in size UK breeding has prioritised cattle frame sizes suit to graze UK pasture and uplands in high rainfall conditions. Management ease genetic traits are vital in beef and suckler breeding - Gelbvieh are polled, hardy and calm to work with. Indeed Gelbvieh are known for their quiet disposition and docile nature being called the 'Gentle Continental' originally.

Gelbvieh breeders have focussed on easy calvers with purebred male calves born with an usual weight of 35-40kg, female 33-38kg. Genomic breeding techniques are pushing the breed forward. One of the exciting development of this is the ability to maintain calving ease while at the same time increasing weaning and yearling weights. These curve bending genetics give beef farmers the chance to have their cake and eat it with easy calving yet still heavy end of season calves.

Gelbvieh have the earliest puberty of any beef breed with 22-24 month calving the norm. Linked to heifer and cow fertility bulls show much greater scrotal circumference than many beef breeds.

Maternal

Maternal strength is a pillar of the breed.  Their puberty, fertility and milk production is superior to other European cross females.  This makes Gelbvieh ideal to cross with native beef breeds in the UK.

Carcasses

From studies carried out at the Clay Centre, Nebraska USA.  Gelbvieh had the largest rideye-muscle area per 100kg of all the breeds.  Hence they have high cutout yields. In UK conditions Gelbvieh bullocks and heifers are easy fleshing and 15 month bull beef carcases make excellent weights at U and R 3’s and 4’s’

Meat Quality

Genomic selection for carcase traits is available to improve carcase weight, rib eye area, marbling and carcase fat. Through genomic development work on a significant scale the robustness of these numbers gives breeders another tool to develop the best cattle for their situation.

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.  Fertility performance is the foundation of that vital suckler farm metric – kg weaned calf/cow put to bull.

Milking Ability

Originally Gelbvieh were bred for milk production as well as beef, they have exceptional udders as milking ability.

Weaning Weight

Gelbvieh produced the highest weaning weight per cow exposed to breeding at the Clay Centre – which reflects their good performance in fertility, milk and growth.

References

The above information was cited from the following sites, and others of interest.