The first organizational meeting was held in Gallagher Rule s milk barn near Newkirk, Okla., in 1971. The people at the meeting came from several states but they all shared one belief Gelbvieh had a future in the U.S. beef industry. With that belief, the Gelbvieh breed s pioneers set out to tell U.S. beef producers the Gelbvieh message. The true growth of the breed occurred at the grassroots level and that spirit still drives today s association. Whenever you try to tell the history of an organization there is no way to tell the entire story from every angle.
People move on and bits of history slip through the cracks.
This article in no way represents the complete history of the Gelbvieh breed, but it does show the spirit of those involved with this breed. The origin of the Gelbvieh breed, as in the case of many, is not known. Gelbvieh or German Yellow cattle have existed in the Franconian area of northern Bavaria for many centuries, but their true ancestry is lost to modern day German producers. The Gelbvieh breed was known to be large, long bodied, well muscle and fast gaining cattle that excelled in comprehensive carcass shows in Germany. The German herdbook developed a comprehensive artificial insemination program to develop the breed.