Gelbvieh

The shrinking of the national cow herd and the tough economy of the beef industry has not

seemed to affect the demand for Gelbvieh influenced commercial females in the southeastern

United States. After a couple seasons of drought in the region, this summer brought more

rainfall and with that better pastures which could be contributing to some cow-calf producers

looking to rebuild their cow herds.

That seemed to be the case during a recent Gelbvieh influenced replacement female sale held

in early November in Tennessee.

“This was a tremendous sale. The quality of the females offered was top notch and buyers were

coordinators.

In its third year, 139 head of Gelbvieh influenced cow-calf pairs, bred cows, bred heifers, and

fall and spring heifers sold on the Maternal Edge Female sale which was held at the KY-TN

Livestock Market in Cross Plains, Tenn. Twenty-one different purebred and commercial

producers consigned females that were sold into four states including Kentucky, Tennessee,

Virginia and Mississippi.

The 16 cow-calf pairs on the sale averaged $1,507 and four bred cows averaged $1,187. Bred

heifers appeared to be in demand by buyers as the 42 lots averaged over $1,100. A little more

than half of the consigned lots were fall and spring open heifers which averaged $800.

“The bidding remained strong throughout the sale,” commented Steve Peddicord, American

nearly doubled the number of consignments, tripled the number of consigners and had twice as

many perspective buyers from the two previous years. The Maternal Edge sale has developed a

reputation in the southeast as a source for quality commercial females.”

Commercial producers were willing to pay a premium for those quality Gelbvieh influenced

females.

sales held in the area,” noted Bartee who is also a University of Tennessee Extension County

increasing. Since the sale, I have had several calls from commercial cattlemen asking for help

to locate Gelbvieh or Balancer bulls."

Each year, the females that are consigned to the sale are all identified with a special Maternal

Edge ear tag. Commercial producers have begun to recognize the value of the quality of

females that are part of the Maternal Edge Sale, said Bartee. Animals with Maternal Edge ear

tags are sought after in other sales in the area.

The Maternal Edge Female Sale is sponsored in part by the American Gelbvieh Association.

The sale has a two-fold purpose. First, it provides a service to commercial producers who use

Gelbvieh genetics in their program. Second, it is an excellent way to promote the breed through

advertising and building relationships with consignors and buyers. Contact the American

Gelbvieh Association at www.gelbvieh.org or 303-465-233