They were derived from an amalgamation in the early 1900s of four breeds of triple purpose yellow cattle—Yellow Franconian, Limburg, Lahn and Glan-Donnersberg.
The breed has been developed as a triple purpose breed for milk, meat and work, with emphasis placed on beef characteristics and carcass quality. Intensive use of AI led to genetic improvement of both milk and beef traits.
Gelbvieh cattle today range from cream to a reddish yellow, with lighter rings around the muzzle and eyes. Gelbvieh carcass had the best retail yield percentage and one of the highest ratios of inches of rib eye area per hundred pounds of carcass weight.
German Gelbvieh milk cows average about 8,200 lbs in a 300-day lactation. Mature Gelbvieh bulls weigh about 2,700 lbs and mature cows approximately 1,650 lbs.
U.S. Meat Animal Research Center data shows Gelbvieh females have the smallest mature cow size of the four major Continental breeds.
Gelbvieh breeds
