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Demand strong for Gelbvieh femalesThe 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 eager to add those females to their cow herds," said John Bartee Sr., one of the sale 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 Gelbvieh Association Area Coordinator who assisted with coordinating the sale. "This year we nearly doubled the number of consignments, tripled the number of consignors 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. "The lots on this sale averaged significantly higher than other commercial replacement female sales held in the area," noted Bartee who is also a University of Tennessee Extension County Director. "Gelbvieh influenced females are really popular in this area, and that popularity is 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.
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