Shawcroft Simmental and Gelbvieh

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More. Maternal. Muscle.

After finishing up his Associates Degree in Beef Management in 1984, my dad bought his first Simmental cows and started AI’ing for the first time to Simmental bulls on our predominantly Hereford-based cow herd. He added a few Angus bulls from local ranchers throughout the years as well as through top AI sires from ABS. However, the Angus influence increased the risk of brisket (High Altitude Disease) and often caused problems until a greater emphasis in PAP testing came about in the 90’s. Simmental settled in at the forefront as the predominant breed for the ranch with their high altitude adaptability, excellent females, and heavy weaning weights. He tried a few other breeds (Gelbvieh, Tarentaise, Limousin, and Red Angus) in an attempt to get a better crossbred calf that would wean heavy and survive our high altitude cold desert climate. In the end, Red Angus and Angus offered the best cross with the Simmental at a time when most markets considered the cross to be very unpopular because of their calving ease and color (gray rat-tail calves from original Simmentals when crossed with Angus). Dad, however, was dead set on sticking with Simmental and never looked to another breed for the herd.

In 2013 upon graduating from college myself, I researched our best bet to get a third breed to make a terminal cross with the SimAngus herd. The maternal power of Gelbvieh cattle really caught my eye as I walked through the herd of a good friends commercial herd and I knew I was hooked. With just a little persuasion, the first Gelbviehs in over 25 years were introduced into the herd and we can’t be happier with the results.

Our emphasis is on females. We want cows that can stay fat on minimal inputs and flat raise calves. Commercial cattlemen get paid for weight, consistency, and uniformity and need fertile, easy-keeping females to keep them profitable. Our goal is to raise cattle that provide for the needs of even the stingiest of cattlemen. We don’t want to sell cattle, we want them to sell themselves.

“More. Maternal. Muscle.” This is our operation in a nutshell.

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