Summary

On Cattleman’s Corner, Brian Hale interviews Joe Klun of Klun Cattle Company in Pueblo, Colorado, about the advantages of Gelbvieh cattle. Klun says he values the breed for its calving ease, growth, maternal efficiency, and ability to maintain condition in tough environments. He explains that his cows, weighing around 1,400 to 1,500 pounds, are versatile and perform well on a variety of rough grazing conditions. Klun also describes the harsh southern Colorado terrain, including poor grass, sagebrush, cactus, and abandoned river-bottom farmland, where the cattle have continued to thrive.

Transcript

Today we have Joe Klun from Klun Cattle Company, Pueblo, Colorado.

Tell me what you like about the Gelbvieh again.

"There's just a lot. Good calving ease and the growth, and you get big, mature cows. I mean, the cows that I got, you know, they're probably weighing 1,400, 1,500 pounds, and they're easy fleshing. You can put them pretty much anywhere, and they'll work anywhere you take them. I haven't really had any trouble anywhere that they've been, really, which is a good thing, because I've been just chasing grass and getting pasture wherever I can, when I can. So the versatility of them is one thing that I've found."

Tell us about that tough country that you're in, actually. People might want to know what your conditions are like there in southern Colorado.

"A lot of river bottom area. I mean, there's not good grass. It's been a lot of, like, Kochia Weed and just nothing good. Nothing that you really want to have cattle on, but it's something that, you know, all the good stuff is taken. You know, being a younger guy, if you weren't already in it, there's just not a lot of options. So I've had to take them to some pretty rough places, you know, lots of Sagebrush, lots of Cactus, or like I said, the river bottom where it used to be farm ground, and then they quit farming it, so now all that grows out there is Kochia Weed and Pigweed, but they handled that just fine."

Joe Klun from Klun Cattle Company.