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Miller
Gelbvieh is a family enterprise which started late in 1990 with the purchase
of 4 bred purebreds from Sandy Knoll Farm. Around the same time 3
percentage bred heifers were purchased from J & L Farms. From the beginning
the emphasis was on fertile, high volume, good-uddered and good-dispositioned
females who raised a stout calf every year, bred back promptly, and looked
good doing it.
Several years ago, Miller Gelbvieh held a dispersal sale. Cattle sold to
breeders from Alaska to South Carolina. Miller Gelbvieh doesn’t show or
advertise heavily but the cattle only needed a discrimin ating
audience to sell themselves. LGWR Martha Jane 79D 791G ET and her progeny
made quite an impression at the sale, one open heifer calf daughter selling
for 10,250.
In the
meantime we have reloaded. We retained a number of Martha Jane embryos–she
was an unusually prolific producer-and purchased outstanding genetics from
leading programs around the country. We had 46 calves born this season.
Well over half are ET calves. MLLR 12M, the top selling bred female at our
dispersal is back on the farm in an embryo transfer program and doing a
tremendous job. In four flushes she has produced 65 good embryos and only
had a single unfertilized egg in the 4 flushes. I have never AI’d her the
second time. She epitomizes the breed’s superior fertility, a trait we
cannot afford to lose . She is the ideal type and kind with a beautiful
udder and a moderate frame. She is homozygous polled.
The
last several years Miller Gelbvieh has gone strictly AI and ET. Among the
purebred sires being used are Carolina Fortune, Carolina Hero, Extra
Exposure, Extra 2106K, Northern Wind, Rupple Gunnison, Freedom, Free Agent,
and Bennett G196.
Since
our dispersal we have placed added emphasis on Balancers. Balancers are 1/4
to 3/4 Gelbvieh with the balance Angus/Red Angus of known parentage.
Combining the fertility, maternal superiority, red meat yield, performance,
and efficiency of Gelbvieh with the calving ease and superior marbling of
Angus produces an optimal beef animal. Using Balancers simplifies
crossbreeding by using bulls with the desired percentages to maintain the
preferred percentages within the herd. Cherokee Canyon, arguably the best
muscle bull of any Angus of any color, has been the Red Angus sire of choice
for red Balancers. He has done a fantastic job for us. Black Angus sires
used are Morgan’s Direction, an ABS son of Future Direction, who is the gold
standard carcass bull in the Angus breed, and Foresight, a son of Papa Forte
and Bon View Gammer 85, the dam of New Design 878. Morgan’s Direction is a
calving ease sire with exceptionally short gestation. He is the breed’s
leading bull for Rib Eye Area and ranks 4th in the breed for
tenderness based on shear force testing of progeny. Foresight is a high
performing, big scrotal bull with excellent carcass merit. He is the #1
bull in the breed for tenderness based on shear force testing of progeny.
Both Foresight and Morgan’s Direction have 7 of the 8 known favorable
genetic markers for tenderness.
Visitors are always welcome. Give us a call or drop us a
line. We love to talk Gelbvieh. |
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MLLR
115H
An example of our Balancer program |

MLLR 122M
ET Freedom/Martha Jane
Last year's Landmark bull calf topped the KGA
bull sale in Salina
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MLLR
26G
Colorado Cool/31X
2004 Bull Calf was Denver Class Winner
Her Influence Remains in Our Herd |