Eddy Whitehurst, Greers Ferry, Arkansas, along with his wife, Jeanie, own and manage a 70-head commercial cow herd in northcentral Arkansas. The couple feed out their calves and sell beef directly to the consumer.

The Whitehursts had been buying Gelbvieh bulls and liked how they were working. This led them to decide to start a pure-bred, registered Gelbvieh herd to complement their commercial program.  Looking for the best females to start their registered herd they made the decision to buy Judd Ranch genetics.

"I bought some heifers about five years ago from a guy...

True or False: Gelbvieh influenced and/or Balancer influenced calves won't grade and won't work on the grid.

If you answered "False", you are correct.  

While inbreeding can reduce performance, linebreeding using carefully planned matings has been shown to elevate the influence of a genetic line or individual. Some extension beef specialists call line-breeding "the cornerstone of selective breeding."

Linebreeding is a ratchet mechanism for holding any gains already made by selection, while attempting to make further gains. It is a plan that breeds one sire line and preserves that exceptional ancestor's influence. 

Linebreeding of livestock traces to the 1930s when agriculture's success with hybrid corn caught the...

Judd Ranch is honored to be one of the American Gelbvieh Association's top three breeders and owners of Dams of Merit and Dams of Distinction for 2022.  Judd Ranch has held the number one spot for 21 of the past 25 years.
Dams of Merit and Dams of Distinction represent the very elite of the Gelbvieh breed. Of the 34,863 active cows in the breed, only 5.5 percent qualified as Dams of Merit, and 1.1 percent qualified as Dams of Distinction in 2022. Eighteen Judd Ranch bred females qualified as Dams of Distinction in 2022, and 79 qualified as Dams of Merit, totaling 97 Judd Ranch...