History
The Gelbvieh breed was over looked in the 1970s when European Bos-Taurus cattle were imported on alarge scale into Australia, they were however imported to USA and Canada. Canada the development focused on beefy, rangy animals with good conformation, growth potential and overall efficiency conversion of feed to milk and muscle.
The Gelbvieh breed readily adapted to the hard conditions in Canada, harsh summers to very cold snow bound winters. Their docility made them easy to handle and they became a breed of the true cattlemen rather than the entrepreneurs. In the nineteen eighties the breed was included in crossbred trials, in the USA. Twenty different breeds were included where the judging criteria was for heifers to rear a high weight gain calf and be back in calf within 12 months. The Gelbvieh breed came to the forefront.
The Gelbvieh breed is originally from Germany, established in 19th century as a dual-purpose breed of small herds, housed in winter. The selection there was for quiet good milking cattle and in the early 1900’s bullocks were selected for muscle and easy handling as they were used as working livestock. In the 1950’s Gelbvieh were the first breed to select for performance traits and under a government supervised improvement program with objective measurement; performance recording selection was for maternal soundness, productivity and carcass quality.
The 1988 Gelbvieh Australia P/L was estalished to import Gelbvieh cattle from Canada and founded the GA Stud with the purchase of 10 heifers. They were part of the first consignment of live Gelbvieh cattle imported into Australia. At the time Margaret Wilksch, stud master of the Vernon Park Murray Grey Stud which had been founded twenty years earlier, was looking for the right breed to cross over some of the Murray Grey herd. The Gelbvieh breed was considered to be ideal for cross breeding, and the animals in Canada had been selectively bred since the early seventies with selection for hardiness, conformation, soundness and the ability to thrive under the hard conditions of the Canadian Rangelands.
The newly imported Gelbvieh were to be used to breed bulls to be used in a crossbreeding program with the Vernon Park Murray Grey herd (then located on a 3000acre property at Keith) to produce ideal cattle for the trade from F1 females with milk, growth and efficiency of feed conversion.
At the time, the Vernon Park Stud had been very successful in winning Carcass competitions in Adelaide and Melbourne. Since the dispersal of the Murray Grey herd in 1990, the Gelbvieh Australia Pty Ltd herd has been run as a Stud but under commercial conditions.
Gelbvieh cattle are naturally horned and over the years the mating and selection has included the aim to produce polled cattle.
In 1997 herd was moved to Mari-ma Farm, Flaxley in the Adelaide Hills, and the selection has been for correct conformation, hardiness and the ability to thrive under commercial conditions. The GA Gelbvieh herd has shown the ability to cope with hard conditions, rearing their calves well and when the feed grows they quickly put on condition.
In 2006 embryos from 6 donors were sold and in 2007 almost half of the herd was sold to a breeder. The present aim is to carry on the Stud on a small scale with 10 selected females with a range of genetics and to offer embryos and semen for sale as well as young bulls and and a limited number of females.
Celebrating 20 years of Breeding...
Breeding History
Two daughters of Jon Glen, JBM Rose and JBM Kylie founded two strong bloodlines, both being Show Champions in the early days of the breed in Australia. In 1995 Ballanee 8A Summit N25 was purchased from the Ballanee Stud Dispersal in Victoria. Ballanee had for two years running, won the pen of 3 carcass at Melbourne Royal with Gelbvieh/Hereford steers. GA Pol Summit GAPS5 (son of Summit N25 ) from GA Rosetta P2 has produced 100% polled progeny with lots of style.
The bloodlines of Jon Glen and Ballanee Poll Summit 08A, noted bulls in North America, are not common bloodlines in Australian. Families founded on JBM Rose - (Rose, Rosetta, Rosie, Rosalie), JBM Kylie, Fairyvale Hussar - (Julie, Mistress) and Whisky Hill Olympia.
In 2001 a few selected older females were added to the herd to mate to GA bulls, from the purchased at the Beauchamp dispersal. The Mandy family is based on matings to GA Pol Summit. Another Summit bull was GA Summit U6 from GA Rose N17 and was a full sister is GA Rose S30 an embryo donor.
GA Rosetta P2 born in 1990 produced her first calved close to her second birthday and her last progeny are two ET calves, heifer GA Rosetta C2 by Pol Cody and a young bull GA Zephyr C14 by Norolle Zephyr Z34.
GA Rosetta’s sons, GA Pol Summit S5 and GA Sensation U9 have both sired polled, small easy calved sons and daughters.
GA Sensation by Lars Sensation from GA Rosetta P2 (born October 1999) so now 9 years old is producing polled growthy calves and his daughters are rearing top calves.
In 2006 a top young bull Norolle Zehpyr Z34 (18 months old) was purchased from Queensland just before he was due to go to the 2006 Beef Week where a brother (GK Ziggy Z37) by the same Sire was Junior Champion Bull and where the Champion of all Breeds was a son of Norolle Absolute Power, a grandson of the noted DDM Mr Sherman Tank a forbear of Zephyr Z34. The Dam of Zephyr Z34 is Lady in Red T62, a Grand Champion Female at many Shows in Queensland and at Sydney Royal. N Zephyr Z34 in his first showing was Grand Champion European Bull at the 2006 Millimerran Show (Queensland). Norolle Lady in Red T62 was Brisbane Gelbvieh Grand Champion 2001 and paired with Absolute Power to be Interbreed Champion Pair.