By Dana Stewart, American Gelbvieh Association Director of Member Services

Gelbvieh breeders have always focused on meeting the needs of commercial cattlemen. From creating commercial marketing positions to publishing commercially focused publications, the commercial cattleman has always been a critical part of the American Gelbvieh Association.

However, some may not realize just how important the commercial breeder has been in Gelbvieh history and development. To understand this importance, one has to look back to the very beginning of the breed’s introduction to the United States.

A Breed is DiscoveredGelbvieh originated in Germany through

strict breeding and performance testing programs and were relatively unheard of in the U.S. However, in 1969 Leness Hall, the director of international marketing for Carnation Genetics made his first encounter with the breed while in Neustadt Aisch, Germany. Leness was there looking for a better supply of Simmental semen when, going through an A.I. center, he first laid eyes on a bull like none other than he’d seen.

“While going through the barns... I spotted a big, long bodied (the longest bull I’d ever measured of any breed), well-muscled, solid red bull that just had to be one of the greatest meat type animals I have ever seen,” wrote Hall.

The bull’s name was Hass. Hall had never heard of these Gelbvieh cattle before, and while they left an impact on him, he left the

A.I. center without much thought to the breed since he wasn’t looking for additional semen.

Eventually though, the bull began to enter Hall’s thoughts. “After a time I began to wonder if I had made a mistake in measuring him, was he really all that long and well-muscled?”

The next spring Hall returned to Germany with M.T. “Shorty” Jenkins, assistant general manager of Carnation Farms. The goal of this trip was to select bulls for breeders in Canada and to make arrangements between the A.I. center and the USDA for imports.

Hall toured herds of Gelbvieh cattle this time and returned to visit Hass. “It was with relief and renewed confidence that we found Hass to be as great as I had remembered, and after re-checking, that I had made no mistake in measuring him - he was the longest animal either of us had ever seen, and also definitely one of the strongest topped and best muscled we had ever seen.”

The pair further explored the breed. They visited packing plants and also found that Gelbvieh were highly fertile. The breed had a reputation for winning German carcass shows, milked well and was structurally sound. The fact that the solid red cattle had good pigmentation around the eyes and underlines added economic value to them for some regions in the U.S. So, the decision was made to add Gelbvieh bulls to their semen import project despite the breed’s lack of recognition in the U.S., or the lack of an organization to promote the breed.

Fortunately, Gallager Rule of Newkirk, Okla., made a trip to Germany, as several other influential cattle producers from the U.S. would during this time. Rule was a Carnation Genetics salesman and dairy breeder. Homer Knost of Clinton, La., another Carnation employee made the trip as well. Upon their arrival back to the U.S., they helped to create an interest in the semen before it began arriving. And, in 1971 Rule gathered a group of men together in his milk barn to establish the American Gelbvieh Association. Rule, along with Mitch Dodson, Merle Buss, Fred Tweitmeyer, and E. Edd Pritchett signed the articles of incorporation for the American Gelbvieh Association on June 28, 1971.

Overcoming the Obstacles

As Gelbvieh bulls were being added to Carnation’s project, Carnation Genetics was working to set up quarantine stations to prepare to export semen back to the U.S. Most early bulls were never imported to North America, but rather went through the quarantine process in Germany.

The health requirements for Carnation Genetics station were very strict. Feed for the bulls had to be flown from the U.S. to the German station. Additionally, USDA employees and their families were also required to move to Germany to oversee the project. ABS later picked up the contract and worked with USDA to modify some of the safety requirements - namely the feed importation stipulation.

Besides the challenge of shipping all semen through a strict quarantine process, the commercial cattle market at the time proved to be an additional obstacle.

When the commercial cattle market crashed in the mid-1970s, a large amount of Gelbvieh semen that had been so difficult to import, was destroyed because it appeared the initial boom and excitement about Gelbvieh had declined. Fortunately, several Gelbvieh breeders had bought excess supplies before the disposal.

Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., began releasing research data as the cattle market returned. The MARC data showed Gelbvieh in a very favorable light and interest in the breed spiked again. Many look back at the release of the MARC data as

Commercial Producers Have a Long History with Gelbvieh

Leness Hall

Director of international Marketing for Carnation Genetics

Gallagher Rule

Carnation Genetics sales-man and founding member of the American Gelbvieh Association

Today, Gelbvieh influenced females can be found in many commercial herds across the United States.

a very exciting time for the breed. Gelbvieh showed great advantages compared to other breeds. Those who had initially fallen in love with the breed now had the data to back up their experiences.

However, due to the destruction of much of the early semen it was a challenge for breeders to find quality genetics to work with. As a result, the AGA began to publish sire summaries for breeders to use as a selection tool.

A Blessing in DisguiseUnlike many of the other breeds that

were imported in the 1970s, the Gelbvieh breed didn’t fall into the hands of seedstock producers. Some may say this was a disadvantage for the breed since without seedstock producers the breed didn’t receive recognition through the show ring and with high-dollar breeders. On the other hand, some may say that it was one of the best things that could happen for the breed because it allowed the breed to be developed by its true customer - the commercial cattleman.

In an interview with long-time Gelbvieh breeder Jeanette Rankin of Kicking Horse Ranch in Montana in 1990, Jeanette stated, “We started out as commercial cattlemen and then started breeding up these cattle and registering them, and all of a sudden we were in the registered cattle business.”

Johnny Green from Franklinton, La., wrote a paid advertisement in BEEF magazine to bring attention to the breed. Johnny wrote, “The people involved with this breed are primarily performance-minded commercial cattlemen.”

However, Johnny recalls that it took a long time for those commercial cattlemen to adjust how they marketed those cattle that were eventually bred-up from the commercial herds.

Johnny believed the reason the AGA lacked the high-hype, quick in-and-out promoters or tax-motivated investors was because of the association’s high standards for registration. The registration rules, which included required performance data, “coupled with the annual publication of a national sire summary, put before the public the true economic worth of sires and made it very difficult to artificially create quality in a sire by limiting the supply of offspring, flaunting showring success, and/or waving the advertising flag. This sort of rule-making is excellent for the development of a breed of cattle but very tough on the survival of a young breed association.”

Another challenge was geography. Most cattle were concentrated in the high plain states since that is where large herds that were using A.I. were located.

Johnny further wrote, “Had it not been for the USDA’s MARC report, the word would have never gotten out.”

The Best Kept SecretThe commercial cattlemen knew all

along the advantages of Gelbvieh. It was the seedstock producer who needed help recognizing the breed’s value in its early days.

Paul Bennett from Knoll Crest Farm recalled his first introduction with the breed in the same 1990 interview. “Back in the early 1980s when we were looking at Gelbvieh as a possible addition to our operation, one breeder told me the Gelbvieh breed was the best-kept secret in the livestock industry. That was probably the case, because I think during the first 10 or 15 years the breed was in the hands of cattlemen who were commercially oriented. They were breeders rather than promoters, and that was probably good for the long-term, well-being

of the breed. We were able to establish a fairly wide genetic base that was developed under practical conditions to meet the needs of the commercial cattle industry.”

Today’s GelbviehFast forward to today and commercial

producers continue to play a critical part of the AGA. The AGA publishes The Profit Picture, a commercially focused tabloid, twice annually. AGA’s Maternal Edge Female Sales offer marketing opportunities for Gelbvieh influenced females from commercial herds utilizing Gelbvieh genetics. AGA provides the new owner of every transferred animal with a subscription to Gelbvieh World. AGA offers free for-sale listings for Gelbvieh influenced replacement females and feeder calves as well as a SmartCross® tag program.

But more importantly the breed has adapted to meet the needs of its customers. Frank Padilla, AGA’s director of breed promotion, points out that “Gelbvieh cattle have withstood the test of time in regard to being cattle that consistently work as hard as what the people do who raise them. AGA members since the beginning have been in tune with the needs of commercial producers. This focus has allowed them to make the Gelbvieh breed ‘rancher friendly’ in terms of lower birth-weights, less mature size and more maternal efficiency while meeting the needs of the feedyard and consumer customer.”

As AGA celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2011, yesterday and today’s commercial producer deserves recognition for embracing the breed, developing it to further meet the needs of a changing beef industry, and for continued business. In return, today’s Gelbvieh will work harder than ever for you.

These Gelbvieh-Angus cross females are part of a commercial cow-calf operation owned by Fred Moore, Downing, Mo.

Commercial Producers: A Long History with Gelbvieh