FEBRUARY 18, 2025
12:30 pm Burwell NEBRASKA
Welcome to the Sale
Dear Beef Producers,
What a time in the cattle business. It seems every week we go higher. How high seems to be on everyone’s mind. That I cannot answer, but profitability is back to the cow calf sector. I believe we are at a new plateau for prices in the cattle industry so I believe we are in the area of prices we will see from now on. Reasons are many, but simply there are not as many cows in the country and I don’t ever see a rebuild back to where we were just a few years ago.
The bulls are so exciting this year! This is the best set ever with front end profit generating bulls in volume. I take my cattle mating very serious and mate cattle on kind and quality first and foremost. Feeder cattle are sold on how they look and perform….not on numbers. The numbers guys constantly are trying to sell you that it is coming but it never does and it won’t until the numbers can be trusted and understood. EPD’s need to be understood to a ranches resources and management. The most growth will only work if cows are kept in a feedlot and fed silage year round. An all grass setting needs to select a lower number to get the cattle to perform, high growth cattle need X amounts of nutrients to grow to their numbers. Basically, a great big engine needs more fuel or it will not hardly run. We have many examples of this fact with over 20,000 animals on grass tests. Those high growth cattle will actually weigh less if not given enough feed whereas the lower numerical cattle will perform as their net energy maintenance is met so they can do net energy gain. Please call if you would like help to find the best fit for your operation. There are so many tools to use but these tools can make your operation go backwards faster than you can go forward if not used correctly.
With all that, we have been working for years to identify cattle that gain on grass first as that is what you are selling as a cow calf producer. Then we do a feed efficiency test to identify cattle that convert starch to real world pounds. We believe you can find cattle that do both and we are finding them regularly. Without both tests you cannot find both and we are the only operation doing both. We want these bulls to sire progeny that return profitability at all three aspects of the cattle pyramid of profitability. They are ranch-feedlot-carcass in that order with each aspect being twice as important as the next. As many of you all know, we have been individual carcass testing since the early 90’s (18,000+ individual data), and have set our operation apart from all others in the Balancer business. Resulting in truly balanced trait bulls that you cannot find anywhere else with data to back it up.
The bulls are unconditionally guaranteed through the first season. The bulls are absolutely great for kind and quality. They will sire profitable cattle at all aspects of the beef industry. Come view at any time and I encourage you to come a day ahead to go through them all as the quality is so strong. It’s a great time to be in the beef business!
Scott Starr
Eldon & Kathy Starr
210 Starr Dr. Stapleton, NE 69163 800-535-6173
Fax 308-587-2248
bullbarn@accessdirectwb.net
Scott & Raberta Starr
212 Starr Dr. Stapleton, NE 69163
308-530-3900
cedartopranch@yahoo.com
Austin & Ellie Starr
214 Starr Dr. Stapleton, NE 69163
308-530-2720
starr.austin@ymail.com
Rich & Maureen Johnson P.O.Box 248 Tilden, NE 68781 402-750-7814
Johnson_labs@yahoo.com
AUCTIONEER:
LIVESTOCK PRESS REPRESENTATIVES:
BULL SALE 47th Annual
FEBRUARY 18, 2025 12:30
MATERNAL EMPIRE
Tracy Harl, Wellington, CO..............................................402-461-3575
American Gelbvieh Assn. • 785-547-7999.......................Tom Strahm
American Angus Assn. • 740-272-1386 Will Harsh
American Cattleman • 308-539-6195........................... Randy Rasby
Tristate Livestock News • 605-380-6024.............................Scott Dirk
Midwest Messenger • 402-640-2377..........................Kent Snowden
Livestock Digital • 402-380-8244....................................Chris Buetler
AMERICAN GELBVIEH ASSOCIATION:
Tom Strahm ...................................................................785-547-7999
ACCOMMODATIONS:
Pump and Pantry............................................................308-346-5556
Rodeo Motel..................................................................308-346-4408
Crest Motel, Taylor, NE....................................................308-942-3430
Wildlife Inn, Taylor, NE....................................................308-942-6234
Airport Motel, (North Hwy. 11, Ord, NE)............................308-728-3649
HERD HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE:
All cattle will be ready for interstate shipment within the United States. All bulls sell with performance data, are fertility examined, and DNA tested for all available markers. All bulls will be tested negative for BVD, Johne’s, and leucosis.
Ranch Veterinarians: Dr. Richard Christen and Kevin Albertson, Stockman’s Veterinary Clinic, North Platte, NE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Cash sale day. All cattle will sell under the recommended terms of the AGA and the AAA. CTR and Johnson’s will retain ½ semen interest in all bulls selling.
LIABILITY:
Neither the sale host, sale facility, sale management, nor auctioneer assumes any liability for any accidents which may occur.
SALE DAY PHONES:
Scott Starr
Cell: 308-530-3900
Eldon Starr
Cell: 308-530-0825
Cell: 308-530-6344
Rich Johnson Cell: 402-750-7814
Austin Starr
308-530-2720
Sale Barn
308-346-4257
DELIVERY & TRUCKING:
Cedar Top Ranch and Johnson Gelbvieh will cooperate in every way possible to deliver your bulls. Free delivery in Nebraska. Free delivery to surrounding states on purchases of $7,500 or more. Free delivery to anywhere in the continental U.S. on purchases totaling $30,000 or more. Bring your own trailer and deduct $100 per head if hauled away sale day. Deliveries will begin soon after the sale as bulls are older and don’t require extra feed. If this does not work, please notify us to make other arrangements before the sale.
VOLUME DISCOUNTS: 5-9 head........................ 5% 10 or more...................10%
GUARANTEE:
Unconditional first breeding season guarantee against death or injury. If something were to happen to your bull, Cedar Top Ranch and Johnson Gelbvieh will get a replacement for the season and give credit in our next bull sale. Credit for the amount of purchase less salvage value will be applied toward a replacement. Credit or liability can never exceed purchase price. The end of the breeding season guarantee shall be September 1. However, if you breed out of season (fall breed), notify us and we will adjust to your needs. DNA for Homo Black, feed efficiency and actual scrotal will be available sale day or call ahead and we will send a supplement sheet. DNA was not available at printing time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
CTR RINGGOLD 9700G ET
SIRE OF LOTS 1-8
Ringgold has bred up to his expectations now that we have been through a cycle with daughters in production. Daughter are super maternal with excellent udders and look to be the kind to last in our Sandhill environment. The most exciting thing about the Ringgold progeny is what they do under the hide and for performance. Kill data on over 300 head has been top notch at the very top of all cattle we have tested him against and the feed conversion is phenomenal. Steers were able to come out of the lot 30 days before yard average. Feed efficiency tests of Ringgold himself and sons in this sale tell the story of why less feed was required to get them to an optimal end point. Use sons to give your herd a well-rounded cowherd and keep all the daughters you can.
Lots 1-8
A mating of quite possibly the best two animals on Cedar Top Ranch. This group of flush brothers can go into any seedstock herd in the country and excel. This flush of bulls would create a set of feeder steers that will be in more demand than anything in the beef industry. The replacement daughters will be second to none. The dam is in our opinion the top cow in the entire Gelbvieh/Balancer database and she has proven it with production…never an average calf in all the flushes. If you wanted to make the best set of calves in the country put all these full brothers in one pasture full of cows.
out of
CTR RINGGOLD 3553L
"Good footed bull that is correct and square made. Dam is a flush sister to the popular flush of Money sons a few years ago.
We have been raising Balancer cattle for some time and have tried a few different operations. The CTR cattle impressed me from a maternal standpoint in what they could raise and how well they crossed with other breeds when I worked for Scott. Scott was doing large carcass tests at the time for the AGA and the data was very good for their home raised cattle and sires. After trying some other genetics I have settled on the CTR cattle our last year’s calf crop went 95%CH or higher with 39% going CAB. And 12% Prime. Weights were heavy indicating the grow these cattle have even though they are maternal bred. We feed several other cattle out as well and Scott has helped me source those cattle and I am always in the market if your cattle are CTR sired, especially 100% CTR sired. Call Scott if you have some to sell and he will get a hold of me. I don’t want a lot of calls and he will know what I’m looking for.
- Travis and Crystal Reith, Avoca, MN
CTR NET RETURN 0700H ET
SIRE OF LOTS 1-34
Net Return was a highlight of our ’22 sale and has proven himself to be our top use bull at Cedar Top Ranch for the last 2 years. Steers are the growing kind with added base width and bone structure. We anxiously await the first daughter in production and steer progeny being tested at Adams Feedyard in Broken Bow. If you want the kind of bulls that have impeccable structure and can cover a lot of country walking out on a big properly shaped foot then this is your sire group. Net Return will continue as a top use sire at CTR.
CTR CTR JACKPOT 8660F ET
SIRE OF LOTS 35-48
Daughter are in production and are some of the top calf raising females we have ever seen. Jackpot has proven to be a top carcass bull with added weight and breed leading marbling. If you feed out your cattle I highly recommend this sire group and if you want low input type of momma cows he is the bull. Daughter stay in excellent condition with their added production.
growthy long made bull.
Very long and thick made.
JACKPOT 3800L
CTR JACKPOT 3802L ET
CTR JACKPOT 3803L ET
Lots 41-47
Stout flush of purebred ET bulls that will impress cattlemen across the country. If you want a higher percentage in your cowherd this set of bulls will impress.
CTR JACKPOT 3804L ET
CTR JACKPOT 3812L ET
Impressive (25,000) Black Ink (21,000) and a host of other incredible bulls to sell through this sale. The
CTR CTR GRIDLINE 10C ET
SIRE OF LOTS 49-54
Sire of added muscle and base width. Proven genetics that have been popular for several years. Bulls have breed character and more crest indicating more female fertility. Use Gridline sons for solid well rounded cattle that do everything well.
GRIDLINE 314L
Deep, soggy ,thick made bull.
SIRE OF LOTS 55-64
New sire line for an old proven Sandhill proven line. Wasatch sons are absolutely wide made, soft and easy fleshing, and gentle. Wasatch proved himself the old fashioned way…through our commercial herd. His dam is the very proven dam of Goodnight 715T and known for her phenotypic qualities. Daughters will be the production and longevity kind. Steers will crush the scales down and will hang a top carcass.
Alexx’s bull and her graduation gift keeps on giving. One incredible bull. Deep and Wide is a mild way of describing this wide moving powerhouse. Looked fat all season on grass and his dam will be entering the donor pen next year. Powles Ranch purchased her first son and the future cowherd this bull creates will be the kind to leave the cake truck parked.
BALANCER BULLS
CTR CTR INTEGRITY 0704H ET
SIRE OF LOTS 67-72
Integrity topped our “22 sale and was talk of the Balancer business by all who seen him. Integrity breeds true to his incredible phenotype and quality of muscle and balance. Integrity semen was on short supply the first year but rest assured there will many more foe years to come. Integrity will be a popular sire for added quality and well rounded balance. We are eagerly awaiting the daughters in production, If they follow the great 7228 they will be some of the best ever. Long and big topped. Impressive bull
Attractive with good muscle expression. Birth
3630L
Long stretchy good footed bull.
Flush of maternal bred bulls. If you keep females this set would come as highly recommended as any in the sale. Rebuild Americas cowherd right here. Full sisters are incredible.
CTR SHOOTOUT 3517L ET
CTR SHOOTOUT 3518L ET
CTR INK 3516L ET
The top natural performance bull. 7301 is a donor cow now at CTR and will have numerous sons in upcoming sales. Long stretchy
AND CASINO SONS
CTR VEGAS 3556L
CTR CASINO 3585L
What a flush of Alpha sons on a time tested donor. Top Bulls that will make the kind of females to last you a lifetime. Moderate deep and easy fleshing bulls. Find this set.
ALPHA - Sire of Lots
JRI MS ON CUE 214B5 - Dam of Lots 93-94.
Long bodied and stout.
Lots 93-94
Powerful red flush of 2 complete outcross red bulls. We purchased this flush to enhance our red genetics. If you want to make red
business here you go.
CTRN ASTRO
104 CTRN RUNNER
Complete long and thick…Top
Lots 108-115
SIRE OF LOTS 108-119
7757 has been one of our favorites for well-balanced cattle. They calves easy, grow well and turn into super momma cows. 7756 topped our ’19 sale and has seen continuous use ever since. 7756 has sired sale toppers and pasture winners. Solid time tested bull that you can’t go wrong with.
This is the most anticipated flush ever at CTR. We tied together the 2 best Sandhills daughters in the Balancer business. Sandhills is the leader for gain on grass, carcass and females that are producing legends. If you want a herd bull to excel your program to the nest level of beef production here they are. This flush will excel at every trait you want to improve…calving ease, growth, carcass, females, bulls or steers. We will be collecting semen on some of this flush to use in our commercial and seedstock programs.
LIFELINE 3508L ET
LIFELINE 3509L ET
LIFELINE 3510L ET
LIFELINE 3514L
Lots 108-115
This is the most anticipated flush ever at CTR. We tied together the 2 best Sandhills daughters in the Balancer business. Sandhills is the leader for gain on grass, carcass and females that are producing legends. If you want a herd bull to excel your program to the nest level of beef production here they are. This flush will excel at every trait you want to improve…calving ease, growth, carcass, females, bulls or steers. We will be collecting semen on some of this flush to use in our commercial and seedstock programs.
Long bodied bull that is thick made.
D A R LOGO
SIRE OF LOTS 120-124
One of our favorite bulls to date in the beef business. Heifer safe and they grow with the big boys. 1287 sired more steers into the big sort of steers than any other calving ease sire ever before. But the reason we brought him into the operation was his proven donor dam, one of the best ever in the Angus business. The Logo are known for fertility and longevity so we couldn’t pass up one of them from an elite cow. I have seen pics of daughters’ udders from other programs and I’m excited to start calving, they are perfect! You will see lots of Logo bred cattle over the next few years. Talk to us about semen on this bull we believe he is better than any bull found in the popular AI catalogs. We have put up sexed semen as well for all male heifer breeding projects or creating those elite females.
Long bodied, moderate and smooth made. Great momma cow behind him. Keep all the daughters. These Logo’s are perfect uddered and this is the cow family that created the great breeding bull Sandhills.
LOGO 3550L
Deep, thick, soft and easy fleshing, very sound…keep the daughters.
LOGO 3562L
Sandhills kind.
Herd Bull! The Sandhills Kind. Deep, soggy, thick and wide walking. Dennis Gustin allowed me to pick through all his open heifers at Diamond D Gelbvieh for a heifer for Alexx to show her last year. Ever hear of one too tame to break… well she was. But a great cow she will be. This mating was designed to make a outcross heifer bull and did it ever work. After the sale we will be collecting this bull to use AI in our program.
BALANCER BULLS
Heavy muscled big boned cow making kind. Keep all the daughters you can build a cowherd with this bull. Dam is one of the best ever at CTR.
Long, deep and very complete. You will like this one!
CTR JUSTIFIED 200J
SIRE OF LOTS 127-135
First calf crop here and rest assured in 2 years it will be a large sire group. CTR AI’ed over 50 cows and Johnson ‘s had the bull turned out. Sired by the great female maker and out of a great cow at CTR that always raises top 5 calves. Simply put this is a female maker deluxe with added performance and one incredible look. Feeder cattle out of 200J will be the kind to top feeder sales all across the country. Top calving ease sire and keep all the daughters.
BALANCER BULLS
JUSTIFIED 351L
MCJ JUSTIFIED 352L
EXPECTED PROGENY DIFFERENCES
Below is a list of the expected progeny differences (EPDs) and index values provided by the AGA along with a definition of each trait that is measured. Since AGA’s release of BOLT-powered EPDs on August 6, 2018, the majority of EPDs are BOLT EPDs, which means that Gelbvieh and Balancer® animals BOLT EPDs can be directly compared with other animals in the registries of other partner breed associations within the International Genetic Solutions group. Gelbvieh and Balancer EPDs that are excluded from BOLT include heifer pregnancy and 30-month pregnancy. The FPI™ index is unique to the AGA and are not comparable across breeds.
MATERNAL TRAITS
Calving Ease Direct (CED): Percent of unassisted births of a bull’s calves when he is used on heifers. A higher number is favorable, meaning better calving ease. This EPD can be vital to a rancher looking to decrease the amount of calves pulled in his herd.
Milk (MILK): The genetic ability of a sire’s daughters to produce milk expressed in pounds of weaning weight.
Calving Ease Maternal (CEM): Represented as percent of unassisted births in a sire’s first-calving daughters. A higher number represents more favorable calving ease. This EPD is important to a rancher’s bottom line because it predicts which animals produce daughters with a genetic predisposition to calve unassisted as heifers.
Heifer Pregnancy (HP): Predicts the probability that a bull’s daughters will become pregnant as first calf heifers in a regular breeding season, expressed as a percent. A higher value of this EPD is favorable, meaning that a higher percentage of a sire’s daughters get pregnant as first calf heifers compared to other sires in his contemporary group.
30-month Pregnancy (PG30): Predicts the probability that a bull’s daughters will become pregnant and calve at three years of age, given that they calved as first-calf heifers. This EPD is expressed as a percent, again, with a higher number being more favorable meaning a higher percentage of a sire’s daughters will calve at three years of age, given they calved as first calf heifers.
Stayability (STAY): Predicts the genetic difference, in terms of percent probability, that a bull’s daughters will stay productive within a herd to at least six years of age. The stayability EPD is one of the best measures currently available to compare a bull’s ability to produce females with reproductive longevity.
PERFORMANCE
TRAITS
Birth Weight (BW): Predicts the difference, in pounds, for birth weight of the calf.
Weaning Weight (WW): Predicts the difference, in pounds, for weaning weight (adjusted to age of dam and a standard 205 days of age). This is an indicator of growth from birth to weaning.
Yearling Weight (YW): Predicts the expected difference, in pounds, for yearling weight (adjusted to a standard 365 days of age). This is an indicator of growth from birth to yearling.
CARCASS TRAITS
Yield Grade (YG): Differences in yield grade score, which is a predictor of percent retail product. Smaller values suggest that progeny will have a better lean to fat ratio.
Carcass Weight (CW): Differences in pounds of hot carcass weight, adjusted to an industry standard age endpoint.
Ribeye Area (REA): Differences in ribeye area in inches between the 12th and 13th rib. Greater ribeye areas are preferable.
Marbling (MARB): Predicts the differences in the degree of marbling within the ribeye as expressed in marbling score units. Greater marbling numbers are preferable and are an indicator of higher carcass quality grades.
INDEXES
Total Maternal (TM): An index that combines growth and milk information as a prediction of the weaning weight performance of calves from a sire’s daughters. As an index, this value is not reported with an accompanying accuracy. A greater TM value means a mother returns comparatively higher weaning weights on her calves. TM Index = MK EPD + ½ WW EPD.
FPI™: An economic selection index, which stands for feeder profit index, is designed to aid producers in selecting sires whose progeny will perform in the feedlot and are sold on a grade and yield standpoint. Well ranking sires for FPI have higher marbling and carcass weight than their contemporaries. As a terminal index, little emphasis is put on maternal traits such as stayability and calving ease.
Lots 200-202
Herd Bull Alert! This Flush of brothers are outstanding. Coalition on our elite donor cow has produced a set of bulls that can do everything. Keep all the daughters! You will find them!
#Connealy Industry 5634 #Connealy Freightliner
+*CTR Treasure 3900 Et Eilera of Conanga 2583
Hills Treasure T309 #NAME?
Foresight
Miss Blackcap 27R Young Dale Xclusive 25X
Erelite 109Z U-2 Erelite 1X #Connealy Industry 5634 #Connealy Freightliner +*CTR Treasure 3900 Et Eilera of Conanga 2583 #+Woodhill Foresight River Hills Treasure T309 #NAME?
MYERS FAIR-N-SQUARE M39
SIRE OF LOTS 203-206
#*Woodhill Blueprint
*Myers Fair-N-Square M39
Myers Miss Beauty M136
#NAME?
SandPoint Evergreen 2533
He’s short a switch but has everything else. Deep and sound moving. Birth Date: 4/18/2023 Bull 21172984
#*Connealy Confidence Plus
*Woodhill Evergreen Z291-B233
#Connealy Thunder
#Myers Miss Beauty M476
#+O C C Emblazon 854E
#NAME?
#+*SQ Credence 67S
+*EXAR Evergreen 3410 +EXAR Miss Traveler 4811
CED
#*Woodhill Blueprint
*Myers Fair-N-Square M39
#*Connealy Confidence Plus
*Woodhill Evergreen Z291-B233
#Connealy Thunder Myers Miss Beauty M136 #Myers Miss Beauty M476 #Connealy Industry 5634 #Connealy Freightliner
and square
Hot Lotto 1401
Maddie 6751
Maddie 0904
CTR LOGO 3006
Tebow 11860
Shauna 3152
Cash
Princess EL Cap W2
Industry 5634
Deep centered soggy bull. Keep the females!
No Doubt
212
Deep, soggy and complete. Birth Date: 5/3/2023
CTR LOGO 3007
213
CTR LOGO 3010
8705
SuperMama 7172
Who’s That 7A
Emblynette 6717 SandPoint Emblynette 3062
217
CTR SHOWMAN 3014 [ DDP-M1P ]
+*Schiefelbein Attractive 4565 #*JMB Traction 292
+*Schiefelbein Showman 338 +*Frosty Answer 3979 #+*S A V Renown 3439
+*Frosty Elba 3745 Frosty Upward 1100
#HF Who’s That 7A
CTR Treasure 7725
Tiger 5T
Lucy 317Y
Industry 5634 +CTR Treasure 3914 Et River Hills Treasure T309
wide centered and square made…Top Bull
218
CTR
SHOWMAN
3023 [ DDP ]
+*Schiefelbein Attractive 4565 #*JMB Traction 292
+*Schiefelbein Showman 338
Answer 3979
A V Renown 3439
+*Frosty Elba 3745 Frosty Upward 1100
#*S A V Harvestor 0338 #*S A V Heritage 6295
+Lady Hans Harvestor 5001 +*S A V Emblynette 7749 Hoff Westwind S C 5136 1321
Hans Westwind 407
Moderate, thick and wide walking. Birth Date: 5/16/2023 Bull 21174353
Coulee Foundation H308
Lots 222-223 We found some of our best embryos ever and put them in. Flush brothers have topped this sale several times and customers are always tremendously pleased. These 2 would be flush brothers to the great 3900 and 2 other flush sisters will be entering the donor class this summer. If you want bulls that will change your herd to high quality females and market topping steers here they are. Great bulls with a proven track record…you can’t find that anywhere else. Birth Date: 4/5/2023
CTR INDUSTRY 3045 ET
#Connealy Freightliner #Bon View Bando 598
#Connealy Industry 5634 Joana Erica of Conanga #+*G A R Grid Maker
Eilera of Conanga 2583 Elilad of Conanga 365
#+Woodhill Foresight #Papa Forte 1921
River Hills Treasure T309 Bon View Gammer 85 ISU Imaging Q 8242
#NAME? +Alc Baldridge Treasure 26F
ANGUS BULLS
224
CTR INDUSTRY 3053 ET
Birth Date: 4/11/2023 Bull 21173942
#Connealy Freightliner #Bon View Bando 598
#Connealy Industry 5634 Joana Erica
ET son from a donor we purchased in Montana. Powerful cow behind this bull. Deep, smooth made and complete.
223 CTR INDUSTRY 3046 ET
#Connealy Freightliner #Bon View Bando 598
#Connealy Industry 5634 Joana Erica of Conanga #+*G A R Grid Maker
Eilera of Conanga 2583 Elilad of Conanga 365
#+Woodhill Foresight #Papa Forte 1921
River Hills Treasure T309 Bon View Gammer 85 ISU Imaging Q 8242 #NAME? +Alc Baldridge Treasure 26F
3051
made bulls…Top Bulls
Tahoe B767
Tahoe 0300
Hot Lotto 1401
Treasure 9700
Upward Y238
Mary Blackbird Y684
Cash
Princess EL Cap W2
Foresight
CTR TAHOE 3035
[ M1P-OHP ]
CTR SEEDSTOCK 3015
Crouthamel Tahoe 0300
Attractive, long smooth made bull. Birth Date: 6/1/2023 Bull 21173744
#+*Tehama Tahoe B767 *Tehama Upward Y238
Mary Blackbird Y684
A R Outside 5341
Crouthamel Countess 8211 CLC Pistol 650 #HF Who’s That 7A #HF Tiger 5T
Balnora 7719 HF Lucy 317Y
In Focus
Hills Balnora U578 Mill Brae 6I6 Balnorma 4077
CTR SEEDSTOCK 3017
CC&7 Henrietta Pride 1044
Weigh Up K360
Evergreen T136-Y121
Density 730
Jilt 539
MAKE YOUR CROSSBREEDING COUNT
“The maternal strengths of Gelbvieh are a great advantage in my cowherd. These females are good mothers, have quiet dispositions, claim their calves at birth and milk well.”
- MATT JARVIS, PHILLIPSBURG, KS
GELBVIEH & BALANCER ®
Make Crossbreeding Easy
PERFORMANCEPRODUCTIVITYPROFITABILITY
Gelbvieh maternal influence in a crossbreeding system offers added fertility, increased longevity, and more pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed.
The crossbred female is 30 percent more productive over her lifetime. Greater productivity equates to more money in the bank.
GELBVIEH.ORG
Using Gelbvieh and Balancer ® genetics can increase profitability through heavier weaning weights, improved feed efficiency as well as heavier, faster gaining feeder cattle.
Gain on Grass
We are the only operation that I know of in the seedstock industry identifying cattle that convert the one thing that every cow calf producer sells and that is grass! We have been taking individual weights going to and coming off of grass for 20 years. I have tried to get the academia experts to do this and establish a EPD but it has mostly fell on deaf ears as most seedstock producers and industry feeders don’t feel it is important or it impedes their marketing plans. Most all bulls are developed on a perfect managed feed and never challenged in life to identify those that know how to go get their own mouthful and convert it to pounds and thriftiness.
As I have always said “corn helps those that can’t help themselves”. It is impossible to measure intake while out on grass and that makes it hard to quantify, but we have over time identified cattle that can do just that. EPDs are mostly developed off of a starch diet and don’t analyze a true forage diet. But EPDs can be helpful but not totally used to get your needed goal. EPDs are a tool for use in the big picture and only one tool in the whole toolbox. For example, a lower growth EPD will help identify an animal that also has a much lower maintenance requirement. That is important info because if you run a low input operation those lower maintenance cattle will actually gain more. Reason being all cattle have a net energy maintenance and a net energy gain requirements, they have to meet maintenance before they can express gain. We have seen first-hand cattle with low EPDs actually weigh more in a low input environment because they met their needs at a lower requirement and then could express gain. Along with that we have seen high growth EPD cattle weigh much less and just look depleted and not thrifty. Conversely if your operation has more feed you can utilize the higher growth cattle and get more output with more input. We all want to walk the fine line as to getting as much growth as our environment will sustain because most of our calf crops will eventually be put on a high energy diet and we still want them to gain good as it just puts more money in the pocket of the feeder. We have done the much more structured tests in the past of feed efficiency testing the bulls on a feed test that weighs every mouthful. I believe it is very important information as we are always searching for the cattle that can do both and do both more efficiently. When we did test our cattle they did extremely well. Steve Scholz that performed the test said our cattle outperformed almost all cattle from top to bottom on test. He believed our grass tests identified better cattle over time from top to bottom and aggressive eaters and converters. We will be testing bulls again this year at Lincoln County Feed Yard feed test station. And we will then perform the grass test next summer as usual. I firmly believe our grass test is more important to your bottom line as the producer, you are selling grass. After you wean many will be selling feed but those that make yearlings the grass test is huge. It is also huge to the females you keep for replacements as for their lifetime they will by converting forage from your program.
We are now unveiling a 1 through 5 star system for now on how the individual bull gained as compared to the rest of the group of bulls. For this initial year we are identifying the top 30% of the bulls for gain. A 5* would be the top 10%, 4* top 20% and 3*top 30%. I’m hoping over the next couple years I can identify a number system from all of the pedigree to identify the genetics through parentage that have excelled. Like for example our Sandhills line of cattle have been at the very top every year and if you look through the pedigrees he is in most of the bulls.
To test our work we run a commercial yearling operation. We AI our commercial cows and then track the AI sired calves. We individually track the AI sired and also track the clean up as a group) The calves are weighed at weaning, yearling and coming off grass at approximately 16-18 months of age. The standard assumption for yearlings gaining on grass is 1.8/lb/d from yearling weigh to off grass weight. We have had many gain over 3/lbs/d and have the entire groups( AI sired and clean up bulls) gaining at 2.6/lbs/d. That is .8/lbs/d better than average and that is a lot of dollars in your pocket. Figure a 4 month turn out of 120 days. 120 times .8 increase is 96 more pounds! Cattle Fax today showed a 750 pound feeder worth $2.68/lb. That equates $257.28 more value per calf assuming the now 846 pound steer is at the same price as the 750 steer.
You can trust our bulls to sire cattle that will be more aggressive to go out and forage grass and be able to convert it to pounds. Our cattle will get to the back side of a pasture and graze, not lay around the well. Cattle that get to the back side will always have healthier thrifty cattle that just perform well in any environment they are managed. We have also noticed our cattle handle different grasses especially well. Fescue would be an example we have sent several hundred cows to fescue and they just got fat and raised big fat calves. Short grass and mountain grass we see phenomenal gains and obviously Sandhill grass we do very well on. I had a prominent Angus breeder tell me once if you can get cattle to do well on Sandhill native grasses they will do very well in any other environment. I believe this is because they have to consume so much more volume of grass to meet their needs that when put on higher nutrition grasses they excel.
This is a large test, a continual work in progress, and has taken many years to identify lines and propagate them into all of our cows. Behavioral differences play a large factor like the cows that are aggressive to graze further out and teach their calves to do the same. I believe that is why it took time in the beginning to find the lines that were solid and several progeny to prove them. One reason we waited this long to start to release results we wanted every bull we offered to have these genetics bred into them. We are identifying the top 30% but we also feel every bull in the sale has many of these inherent genetics bred into them better than you can find anywhere else in the industry. We are constantly searching for new lines of cattle that will not obviously have the testing done but we also need to identify outside genetics to outcross to your program for heterosis and thus increased profitability. The line breeding is our responsibility to your profitability. Your success is our number one goal and it is something we take very seriously.
Eldon & Kathy Starr