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Excellent Fleckvieh beef cow under harsh conditions, 15 years old, no problems
with fertility, front teeth completely rubbed of because of sandy soil.
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Peter Massmann – A life for the Fleckvieh breed
Dr. Thomas Grupp
Peter Massmann was born in 1940 in
Keetmanshoop, former South West
Africa. His grandfather emigrated to
this former German colony in 1900.
Peter went to school in Mariental,
Windhoek and later to Brits Aricultu-
ral Shool. Peter studied Animal
Science with distinctions in Gene-
tics, Veterinary Science and Anato-
my with such well known lecturers
like Prof. Jan Bonsma and Dr. Geoff
Harwin. After that he studied at the
University of Weihenstephan (Bava-
rian Institute of Animal Production)
where he met Prof. Horst Kräusslich,
the founder of the Progeny Testing
Programme. Practical training in dif-
ferent Fleckvieh breeding Associa-
tions in Germany and Austria follo-
wed under the supervision of the
well known Dr. Gerd Engelhard /
Breeding Director of the Fleckvieh
Association of Pfaffenhofen. Later
Peter was appointed to promote
Fleckvieh in the English speaking
countries like the UK, North Ameri-
ca, Australia and Southern Africa
and honestly spoken he was the cre-
ator of a tremendous export boom
beginning end of the 60-ties. Even
though South Africans did not get
visa for former Yugoslavia, Peter
Massmann was the founding person
of the World Simmental Fleckvieh
Federation in Zagreb 1974. Peter
From Days gone by – 1960-1975
(C. Peter Massmann, South Africa – Published in the 2008 Simmentaler Journal)
Outmoded and presently of no ge-
netic value. It gives one great plea-
sure, however, to look at the ances-
tors of the Fleckvieh beef industry –
lets never take the delight out of
breeding.
Before I became CEO of the Sim-
mental Association in South Africa
in 1976, I had, for a couple of years,
been responsible for the establish-
ment and advancement of the Ger-
man Fleckvieh in the so called beef
Simmental countries viz. Canada,
USA, Brazil, Argentine, Uruguay,
UK, Australia, New Zealand, Nami-
bia and South Africa. This was
something new: (i) except for Nami-
bia and South Africa, farming with
Seite 1
worked 22 years on the executive of
the WSFF and on various commit-
tees and subcommittees.
In 1976 Peter Massmann was
appointed as the first Breeding Di-
rector of the Simmentaler Cattle
Breeders Society of Southern Afri-
ca and right from the beginning it
was a story of success. In the same
year the first Simmentaler World
Congress was organized by Peter
and his dedicated staff. The world´s
largest cattle show with 500 Fleck-
vieh cattle judged during the Con-
gress was a tremendous milestone
for the whole breed. In 1996 and
2002 South Africa and Namibia were
the hosts for the World Congress
again. In 31 years of intensive work
as breeding director Peter Mass-
mann was one of the most success-
ful people in cattle business world-
wide. Many awards paved his path
through the years. By the way, Peter
was the first foreigner awarded the
prestigious Bavarian Lion which was
presented to him by the Minister of
Agriculture and Forestry, Josef Mil-
ler, at the AFO-Show in 2006 for his
exceptional contribution to the glo-
bal development of the Fleckvieh
breed. Dr. Johan Kluyts the president
of the Simmentaler Cattle Breeders
Society expressed his thanks: “To be
general manager of the Society was
Simmental was a first for all these
countries and (ii) in Europe all the
cows were milked and it was a true
dual-purpose breed with emphasis
on milk, but in the new beef coun-
tries the breed was kept only for beef
production and not one cow was
milked. We therefore had to identify
dual-purpose lines that excelled in
producing beef.
This was no easy task, because in
Europe milk enjoyed preference as
they had to compete against the
Holstein and all my clients were beef
boys! Another problem was that the
German selection law determined
that bulls that were low in milk had
to be slaughtered and more often
REVIEW 35
Honour to whom honour is due – Breed Association presidents, Peter
worked with f.l.t.r. Roe Wiid, Dr. Johan Kluyts, Peter, WSFF president
Franz Stürzer, Flaf Lauwrens and Llewellyn Angus (the others were
the late Willie Angus and Kwaab Johnstone).
not an occupation for Peter – much
rather by his unconditional commit-
ment, dedication and burning pas-
sion. It is therefore a privilege for us
to say thank you”. I would like to ex-
press my thanks in the words: “Dear
Peter, you taught me a lot, I was like
a school boy, listening and learning
things I could not study in Germany
at all, even I got degrees in Agricul-
ture and Veterinary Science. You cal-
led it – the visual appraisal of an ani-
mal – but it means in my eyes – un-
derstanding the interaction between
the environment, the animal and the
performance”.
than not those were the good beef
bulls. We could also not select pro-
mising beef bulls for export semen
production, because the same live-
stock law determined that AI sta-
tions could only sell semen of milk
performance tested bulls.
By means of this series of photos I
would like to portray AI bulls which
met my beef requirements for pro-
motion amongst the beef clients
from the mentioned countries and
from which semen and progeny had
been exported by Germany to many
beef countries. Apart from Baldo,
Haxl, Honig and Moses all these
sire lines have become extinct in Eu-
rope – a case of too much beef?
world-36-37.qxd 07.08.2008 7:33 Uhr Seite 2
36 BLOODLINES
Fleckvieh Bloodlines
1 HAXL born 1966 (sire Hax): Photo: Haxl
He doesn’t really belong in this specific discussion, but any
„Fleckvieh story“ must start with THE KING!
Without doubt the bull that had the greatest influence on the
central European Simmentals, but his colour made him unpopu-
lar with many overseas ‘beef-buyers’. He was the eleventh calf
of an exceptionally attractive and structurally correct, but snow-
white cow. In the seventies and eighties Haxl daughters totally
dominated the show ring – fantastic udders and lots of milk. An-
other trait, although not of much value for the Germans, was the
particular hair quality of his progeny. We in Africa, and other
Southern hemisphere countries like smooth coated animals. It is
a pity that we hadn’t used him on dark cows in those days.
2 BENZ born 1968 (sire Bernheim): Photo: Benz
Had the greatest influence of all Fleckvieh sire lines on Simmen-
tal breeding in Southern Africa. Many of the other ‘beef coun-
tries’ would not use him because he was not fat enough. Our SA
breeders, however, spotted the quality of this lean, but amply
muscled average sized bull – photo taken as an old bull. I recom-
mended Benz especially for his attractive mother, Nosta (a Bay-
er daughter). Here in South Africa Benz blood has been eternali-
zed, especially through his AI sons, Dan-Jaco Benz 314, BJ Benz
5 and Congosim Hamman and also by means of the mother line
through Jahdal Ingo and Jahdal Ibbie.
3 BAYER born 1955
(sire Buergel - grandsire van Bernheim): Photo: Bayer
He also doesn’t belong in this gallery, since we could not sell his
semen to breeders for the simple reason that he was too ugly, (be-
low 1000 kg in weight and withers only 146 cm). I include him,
however, for the thousands of outstanding daughters – quite a
number of whom were exported by us – that he bred. His influen-
ce via his daughters was enormous and his name is mentioned se-
veral times below.
4 BAUTZ born 1974 (sire Baum – a Bayer son): Photo: Bautz
He was slaughtered at an early age by the Germans because of
low milk production. International cattle judge Mr. Martin Seyf-
ferdt at that time singled him out as the best German beef bull. If
he lived today, he would, with his 200 day, 400 day, 600 day and
milk BREED-PLAN EBVs resort under the best 5 % of the breed.
5 BALDO born 1975 (sire Bali – a Bayer son): Photo: Baldo
A very attractive, well muscled and correct beef bull that I stron-
gly recommended. Beef countries took to him, but South Afri-
cans found him too yellow (colour obsession). He later became
renowned by some of the sons and grandsons of his son Ballist,
who had excellent beef traits but showed difficult calving.
6 BARETT born 1975 (sire Bali – Bayer son): Photo: Barett
Notwithstanding the fact that he had been linebred, (both he and
his mother had Bali as sire), some South Africans liked him (red
with glasses) and even today we herald him as a trait leader in
calving ease. Other beef countries regarded him as too small.
7 PEPPO born 1971 (sire Perutz): Photo: Mont Beau Hustler
British and Australian breeders did not rave about him (too
small), but South Africans liked him (red with goggles). I did not
recommend him strongly at that time, because his father had a
poor coat cover.
8 HAFKE born 1976 (sire Harz): Photo: Hafke
Ample beef, but he did not live long, because the milk was not
enough for the German milk parlour. He played a major role in
propagating the breed in the new countries towards an acknow-
ledged beef breed. His mark was left with us especially through
Kykso Hafet.
9 GRABER born 1976 (sire Grande): Photo: Graber
A reasonably unknown line and from a Haxl dam. In those days I
strongly recommended this bull everywhere due to his overall cor-
rectness, muscling, wonderful temperament and walking ability.
10 SALAMON born 1968 (father Salus): Photo: Salamon
In beef countries this Austrian dual-purpose bull was very popu-
lar. Up till today he still boasts a positive beef value. (Due to the
annual improvement in population it is increasingly difficult for
older bulls to maintain a positive beef or milk value – Haxl, the
best milk bull at that time, today has a negative milk rating).
MOSES born 1968 (sire Mut): Photo: Moses
11
The other Austrian beef bull that produced a large quantity of se-
men, since he was also a good milk bull. His best known daugh-
ter in South Africa is Odensim Martie, the triple champion, viz.
national grand champion, gold cup winner and interbreed super
cow. In Europe his blood still runs thick, especially through his
son, Maurer.
PICKEL born 1969
12
(sire Pirol – not the polled Pirol): Photo: Pickel
„Ugly, but an excellent breeder”. We could not sell a dose of his
semen to clients, but by virtue of his very attractive mother, Ul-
me, and progeny, I sold a number of doses to Dan-Jaco en Dirk
Uys where he did exceptionally well. His daughters, Dan-Jaco,
DJ Erma, DJ Erna, DJ Esna en DJ Eveline are our best known
cow line (refer to previous Journal for article on cow lines).
13 HONIG born 1964 (father Horex): Photo: Kykso Haped
He had twice been German national champion and is the only one
of all these bulls to, thanks to his sons, Holb, Horror, Horb, Hor-
wein, Horst and their sons, still be popular in Austria/Germany to-
day. England/Scotland especially was a good marketing area for
Honig progeny.
14 DIRIGENT born 1969 (sire Dior): Photo: Don Juan
His sire and fantastic mother line Prinzen-Putzi-Pusta had made
him, because he was not an attractive bull. His progeny was
good and we sold a few sons to AI stations. Of the best known
Dirigent sons locally were Jahdal Dirigent and Swaarbou John
Vorster. His son, DIRIN, sired numerous progeny in Southern
Africa. Dirin is presently trait leader as far as calving ease:
daughters is concerned and best known sons were AI bull Oden-
sim Danie Craven, Kykso Dimal en Dan Jaco Dirin 2.
15 HADRIAN born 1966 (father Hektus): Photo: Hadrian
In those days one of the heaviest Bulls in Germany and we had
no problem selling his semen to beef countries. His best known
South African son is Meerhof Hektor. Another Hektus son that
was not popular with beef countries, was Hellas from show win-
ner cow, Pusta. He became known locally through his national
champion son, Meerhof Hellas.
16 PORTIKUS born 1964 (father Pontius): Photo: Ponit
This was a gentleman that had been well cared for by his AI sta-
tion, because he had always been introduced to foreigners as
the ideal beef Fleckvieh. His best known son locally was impor-
ted KI bull, Porbar. Despite his age his local milk EBV ranks in the
top 3 % and 200 day EBV in the top 10 % - what an achievement.
HERODUS born 1965 (father Harnisch): Photo: Herodus
17
A beef bull par excellence that was very popular, especially with
the Scottish. At that stage one of the heaviest bulls in Germany.
His best known SA son is Kykso Herogez.
18 ZELOT born 1972 (father Zenit): Photo: Zeitlos
This line is still continuing today because they also did well in
milk. Zelot gained prominence in beef countries especially
through his sons Zeier (1980) and Zeus (1981) that had been
used by quite a number of South Africans. The Z-line is known
for calving ease.
FLECKVIEHWorld 2008
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FLECKVIEHWorld 2008