Breed – Gelbvieh
Several societies for improved breeding of the cattle were founded. The societies aimed at improvement through standardizing the indigenous breed by selecting the best bulls, purebreeding for a single color and improvement of performance in work fitness and milk production. In 1897, the Breed Society for Yellow Franconia Cattle for Middle and Upper Franconia Cattle for Middle and Upper Franconia in Nurnberg was founded. It was followed by the Breed Society for Gelbvieh in Lower Franconia, based in Wurzburg and founded in 1899.
Since World War II, Germany used a stringent selection program to repopulate its cattle herds. Only three percent of the registered cows were used to produce potential bulls. These cows were selected on structural soundness and conformation.
On Target Tips
Spring Work
A couple weeks ago we vaccinated our Red Poll cattle as well as wormed, weaned, and castrated most of the bulls. Fall calving allows us to get the herd up, work them, and turn the cows back out for summer grazing.
Our protocol is very simple:
1. Cows are weighted, their hip height is measured, and a body condition score is determined.
2. Cows are palpated for the last time to confirm pregnancy dates.
Winds of Change on the Farm
Winds of change - where are they blowing us today? Wind energy is one of the world’s fastest growing energy sources.
Businesses and individuals around the world are looking for renewable energy alternatives to cut costs, meet power needs, and reduce their carbon footprint. We intend to summarize opportunities around small wind energy resources on the farm and provide introductory direction on how to evaluate them.
Breed – Galloway
Rich in history, Galloways originated in Britain before 1570, came to North America in 1853 and came to America in 1866. The American Galloway Breeders’ Association (AGBA) was organized in 1882 and in 1906 Galloways were one of four breeds that started the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
Shoot-N-The Bull - On Target Tips
Here is a program that I use on my herd of Red Poll cattle. We artificially inseminate most of the cows and I use a super clean up bull on them afterwards to keep a short calving season. My good friend and mentor Dr. Dan Schmiesing from St. Henry, Ohio helped me work out this program. He is a veteran bovine reproductive specialist that worked with me to get the job done quickly and cost effectively. I encourage others to work with their local veterinarian and livestock agent to make your breeding program successful too.
The first thing you should do is choose the date you want to start calving. So figure when to breed your cattle and back the date back two weeks to start your Ova-Sync program.
Cattle Dogs - It’s a Dog’s World
In this technologically advanced world, there is an area that is what I would call a “throwback” of sorts when it comes to handling cattle. Ask a cattleman who their most entrusted employee is and the response will often be this: my dog.
Cattlemen’s Directory of Cattle Breeders & Cattle for Sale
With American Cattlemen you can access our directory of cattle breeders and cattle for sale. This directory contains over 500 cattle breeders from across the United States, as well as those offering various types of livestock for sale. Both our web site and magazine contains the latest information on cattle equipment, profiles of successful cattlemen and informative features for cattle breeders.
