Black Polled Beefmaster Bulls For Sale? The 73 Top Answers

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This article was co-authored by Karin Lindquist. Karin Lindquist earned a BSc in Agriculture with a concentration in Animal Sciences from the University of Alberta, Canada. She has over 20 years of experience working with cattle and crops. She has worked for a mixed practice veterinarian, as a sales representative in an agricultural products store, and as a research assistant in rangeland, soil and crop research. She currently works as a Forage and Beef Farming Advisory Specialist, advising farmers on a variety of issues related to their cattle and the forage they grow and harvest. This article has been viewed 63,119 times.

Grazing cattle must tolerate different climatic conditions in order to be economically viable. That’s one of the reasons why the Beefmaster cow came into existence. The breed scores full marks on the six essential traits desirable in these animals: disposition, hardiness, conformation, weight, milk production and fertility. This makes them a good all-round choice for the novice farmer or rancher.

The Beefmaster is one of the newcomers on the block compared to other established breeds of cattle. However, its popularity has grown in part because this beast is so easy to handle on several fronts.

Fast facts on the Beefmaster cattle breed

Breed Name: Beefmaster Place of Origin: South Texas Use: Meat and by-products Bull (male) Size: 2,645 lbs Cow (female) Size: 1,760 lbs Color: Light to dark red Lifespan: Up to 11 years Climate Tolerance: Tolerates extreme temperatures well Care Level: Light ; good for the novice grower Production: Mature at 9 months to 4 years Temperament: Docile

Origin of the Beefmaster breed of cattle

Ed Lasater started what would eventually become the South Texas Beefmaster cow in 1908. His son Tom perfected the breed which was a mix of 50% Brahman (Bos inidus), 25% Milking Shorthorn and 25% Hereford (Bos taurus). The original intent was to selectively breed an animal that could cope with the harsh Texas climate.

Lasater was admirably successful, with the Beefmaster earning USDA recognition in 1954. The cattle are hardy animals that pose few calving or health problems. The breed’s adherence to the six essential traits is unique among these animals. These guidelines were the brainchild of Lasater, who recognized the importance of these heritable traits.

Characteristics of the Beefmaster breed of cattle

The Beefmaster is a gentle animal, both cows and bulls. His disposition is one of his defining characteristics. You can call it loose because it’s less likely to cause problems. Its sturdiness also makes it an economical choice. It is a fertile animal that calves once a year. The cows make excellent mothers. These cattle are also insect resistant and healthy, causing few problems.

Beefmaster breed of cattle used

While its primary purpose is meat, the Beefmaster also produces a decent amount of excellent milk for dairy and high quality leather for other uses. The breed has a lot to offer in every respect. They are fast-growing for beef cattle, with excellent meat quality and marbling. The cows are easy to care for and have a long lifespan.

It’s worth noting that the Beefmaster is also a profitable choice for ranchers interested in crossbreeding their herd. They can take advantage of maternal heterosis to produce more viable calves. It can significantly improve average daily gain, survival and calving rate. Today’s population reflects the characteristics of the Foundation herd with their outstanding qualities.

Appearance and varieties of the Beefmaster breed of cattle

The Beefmaster is a medium-sized animal with thick legs and a well-proportioned body. The breed standard provides for a male appearance for bulls and a female appearance for cows. The beef should have a muscular back and neck with a clean dewlap. His disposition plays a prominent role in the Standard, with discrimination against nervous or aggressive traits.

The breed standard does not specify a color. However, Beefmaster cattle tend to come in different shades of red. The animal has no horns.

Population, distribution and habitat

The Beefmaster is a hardy animal that can live in most climates. That makes it a popular choice for range managers. Its population is mainly in the United States. However, you can also find the breed in Mexico and South Africa for the same reasons it is bred in that country. This explains why Beefmaster Breeders United sits in the top ten cattle registrations.

Is the Beefmaster breed of cattle well suited to small-scale farming?

The Beefmaster is a well-adapted animal that can be an excellent economical choice for small animal husbandry. Her tolerance and robust health are desirable traits that can help novice growers get a profitable start in this industry. Perhaps its best qualities are its docile temperament and versatile use. Whether you raise beef or dairy cattle, the Beefmaster belongs on your shortlist.

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Selected image source: Pixabay

By Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President of Beefmaster Breeders United

When Tom Lasater developed the Beefmaster breed, the beef industry of the 1930s to 1950s was very different than it is today. There were no modern selection tools such as EPDs (Expected Progeny Differences), ultrasound to evaluate live animal carcasses, or genomics (DNA) to identify superior animals. Making genetic advances was difficult, but over time it helped the development of the Beefmaster breed. By following a well thought out breeding program using a cross between Hereford, Shorthorn and Bos Indicus genes, then selecting the most adaptable, performance oriented animals and breeding only the best, the Beefmaster breed then became in the harsh southern bush country born Texas.

While much has been written about the Lasater Ranch and the development of the Beefmaster breed, a simple, effective philosophy rooted in profitable beef production has emerged. Known as the six essential traits: fertility, disposition, weight, conformation, robustness and milk production are the core traits for which the entire Beefmaster breed has been selected and developed. These six essentials make the Beefmaster breed such a powerful crossbreeding tool for today’s US beef industry.

The genetic combination of approximately 25% Hereford, 25% Shorthorn and 50% Bos Indicus (particularly Gir, Guzerat and Nelore) proved very fertile. The resulting composites were selected using the Six Essentials and proved very predictable over time. Beefmaster’s unique genetic makeup yields 63% retained heterosis, an important statistic for commercial rancher profitability. USDA recognized Beefmaster as a breed in 1954.

Why is crossing important?

As of 2015, the US has the smallest herd of cattle we’ve seen as a nation since the 1950s. While our herd of cows has shrunk, our human population continues to grow at a rapid pace. Demand for protein in higher quality diets around the world has increased demand for beef. It takes a long time to increase a herd of cows. That is why it is so important to create as much efficiency as possible in the beef supply chain. Planned crosses with Beefmasters are the quickest way to create efficiencies and profits in the cattle business.

The US cow herd is dominated by black cloaked British breed influenced genetics. These females excel at raising calves that produce high quality carcasses for the consumer and this is very important. Over time, in order to earn premiums for their calves, many producers have started breeding their commercial cows directly. True, these black-clad British calves deserve a premium in the sales barn, but at what cost to the producer?

Crossing with Beefmasters is a proven method of increasing maternal efficiency and calf performance, resulting in further cost savings and profits for the beef producer. How do we know hybrids work? There have been countless scientific research projects on the effects of heterosis (the scientific name for the result of hybrid vigor that occurs in crossbreeding) in livestock husbandry. Crossbreeding has consistently proven to be the most effective way to increase productivity in commercial cow herds.

Heterosis or hybrid vigor is the result of crossing. Heterosis leads to performance advantages in crossbreeds over the average of their purebred parents. When used properly, such as in a well-planned crossbreeding program, heterosis can result in large gains in yield and efficiency. This in turn leads to more profit for the beef producer.

There are three types of heterosis and how well a breeder utilizes these types will determine how much impact the vigor of the hybrids will have on his calf crop.

Individual heterosis directly affects several traits that are economically important. These improvements actually begin before the crossbred calf is born as the fetus is more viable and resilient. After birth, crossbred calves are stronger, resulting in livelier and healthier calves. Higher growth, heavier calves at almost every point are the result of the cross. True, crossbred calves can also have higher birth weights, but the improved calf survivability of crossbred calves overshadows these concerns. Who can say no to more live born calves, more calves surviving to weaning and the bonus of calves weighing more?

Maternal heterosis is the effect of using crossbred cows. These implications are very profound for maternal traits. It all starts with fertility, which is not easily inherited. Crossbreeds lead to great improvements in low heritable traits such as fertility, resulting in more calves being born in less time. Calves from crossbreed mothers are stronger, grow faster and weigh more. As long as we sell cattle by the pound, these improvements are vital. While this is impressive, the major impact of crossbred cows comes from longer productive lifespans and the production of more calves. Given the cost of replacement heifers in today’s market, a cow that will produce (at least) three more years is a huge advantage. Beefmasters are characterized by maternal qualities. Females sired by Beefmaster add even more punch to your crossbreeding program.

The chart showing the effects of individual and maternal heterosis on production is really revealing. As you can see, the crossing pays off. Old ranchers used to say that “hybrid power is the only free lunch in the cow shop”.

Keeping a cross breeding program simple is the key to success. It is important to emphasize the genetic differences between breeds used in crossbreeding. The more independent the races used; the more impact heterosis will have. Crossing British breeds like Angus x Hereford works very well, but there are genetically similar ones. Crossing British breeds with continental breeds like Angus x Charolais gives better performance results as these two breeds are less related than Angus x Hereford. Crossing British breeds with an American breed like Angus x Beefmaster results in even greater benefits due to the influence of Bos Indicus in Beefmaster. The approximately 50% bos indicus content in Beefmaster is unrelated to the British genetics of this cross; resulting in even higher heterosis effects for all traits. The icing on the cake for this particular cross is outstanding maternal heterosis, resulting in superior females that are more fertile, wean more and larger calves, and live longer, more productive lives.

To maximize heterosis potential and keep a crossbreeding program simple, many ranchers use a terminal crossbreeding program. A great example is Angus x Beefmaster to produce a female cross designed to maximize maternal heterosis. Then these crossed Angus x Beefmaster bitches would be paired with Continental bulls like Charolais to maximize the production potential of their calves. This mating system takes advantage of the genetic diversity of British, Continental and American breeds, resulting in higher performance at all levels, and exploits the breed complementarity needed to maximize production and profit.

In today’s beef industry that demands efficiency, Beefmasters answer the challenge by being exceptional feed processors. In several sire development facilities for all breeds that measure feed efficiency and leftover feed intake, Beefmasters consistently rank as the most efficient converters compared to other breeds in the same facilities. On commercial fattening farms, dry matter conversions in the five pound range are typical for Beefmaster steers. Ask any livestock feeder and they will tell you the importance of feed conversion and performance. While maternal heterosis is the main calling card for Beefmasters, it should be noted that carcass merit is not overlooked in this versatile breed. Given the importance of black commercial cows in today’s industry, it is interesting to look at a Beefmaster progeny test conducted by Texas A&M University (TAMU) from 1998-2001.

Commercial Angus cows from the TAMU McGregor Experiment Station were mated to five Beefmaster bulls. TAMU staff collected the full performance information from the calves, all of which were born, raised and finished at the McGregor station. Additionally, TAMU scientists and USDA graders collected the carcass data, including Warner-Bratzler shear tests, after the cattle were harvested at Sam Kane Beef Processors in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The results of the 258 Beefmaster x Angus offspring were impressive. 72 percent of the cattle received a Quality Score of Choice or Prime, while the average yield score was 3.28. In today’s sophisticated grid marketing systems, these cattle would have earned solid premiums. Since undertaking this project, Beefmaster breeders have worked very hard to achieve even more carcass benefits by using ultrasound carcass data and now genomic testing to improve the quality of their end product. Beefmasters have consistently proven to be excellent crossbreeding partners with blackskin and continental cattle both in the yard and on the railing.

No breed of cattle is perfect. Beefmaster breeders know this. This is why the proposed cross is so important to the future of the beef industry. Beefmasters are the most versatile crossbreeding tool available. Beefmaster’s maintained heterosis of 63% means superior hens, more fertility, heavier weaners, longer lifespans, significantly more lifetime production and the list goes on. If you’re looking to add productivity and efficiency to your herd, add Beefmasters to your crossbreeding program.

Years ago I found a book called The Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Breeding by Laurence Lasater. It was a real eye opener for us and the guidelines from this book have been the backbone of our cattle breeding program for the last several decades. Tom Lasater, founder of Beefmasters, believed you could take the guesswork out of raising cattle by requiring your breeding herd to meet some simple but difficult goals. In short, each cow is required to raise an acceptable calf in a set breeding season each year and breed again, grazing the grasses that grow naturally on your ranch with little or no outside supplements. No exceptions. Doesn’t produce a year out of ten, she’s out and about in town. Simple plan but very difficult to follow. Although Lasater developed and bred Beefmaster cattle, the philosophy can be applied to any breed.

We have been using Beefmaster bulls from the Lasater Foundation herd for years and while we like the cattle there were still some changes we wanted in the herd that would take either years or maybe a lifetime. One was a hornless animal.

Lasater rightly said that it was so difficult to breed animals that met the simple but rigorous parameters he used to select replacement cows that one should not add additional traits such as color and polledness to the selection process. However, we do not like horns or dehorning and wanted to bring the polled trait into the cow herd by using polled bulls. We had attempted to develop Red Angus bulls to create a cross that would give us the polled trait but found that both the bulls and the crossed calves did not fit into our grazing system. We move cows every day and many of our paddocks do not have shade. We also have several grazing paddocks that have a large amount of endophyte-infected fescue, adding about 10 degrees to a hot day for endophyte-infested cattle. Although there are many good Angus breeders, even the best will usually tell you that if you breed in the fescue belt in July/August their bulls are unlikely to work. They just get too hot. We put bulls out on the 4th of July for a 45-60 day breeding season and have not yet had an Angus bull go through the entire season without failing.

Another trait we looked for was moderate cow size. While many of our Beefmaster crossbreed cows are in the 1100-1250lb range, we’ve always had a few top the scales at 14-1500lbs. As we don’t complement our cattle, size has never been more important to us, but we do envision a larger commercial market for grass-fed beef one day and wanted to have cows raising calves that could go either traditional feedlot or to the grass finisher . It has been difficult to find a breed that adds these traits but allows us to retain the heat tolerance, early maturity and adaptability of the Beefmaster cows. Then one day about six years ago my wife Judy read an advertisement for South Poll bulls for sale.

There are many composites in the bovine world, but most seem to be trying to do the same thing. Combine English mother breeds with continental terminal breeds to produce a cow that combines both traits and allows the use of a bull to produce replacement females and fast growing steers for the feedlot. While the merits of these compositions can be debated, I believe that once you get past the vigor of the hybrids and start reproducing the crosses to shape the breed, you always have to make compromises.

These trade-offs are generally:

Faster growth = less fertility, late maturity

Too much milk = less fertility, more difficult husbandry.

A friend of mine who breeds some of the best maternal Red Angus in the business said he always breeds for average. If you go above average in any direction, you give up something in another direction. The hard part is marketing average.

The South Polls, on the other hand, are not attempting to compete with terminal/maternal composites for growth, but rather to compete with Angus in the hot, humid regions where maternal, non-bos indicus cattle often do not reproduce at an economical rate. South Polls are a fairly new breed developed by Teddy Gentry, combining Barzona/Herefords with Senepol/Red Angus genetics to produce a heat tolerant, medium-sized, polled Bos Tauras suckler cow for the South. They won’t grow faster than a Charolais or a Gelbvieh. But they will breed in a hot, humid climate while raising a good calf on nothing but grass.

And the other strength of this composite is its ability to fatten in the grass pole market. At the last South Poll Grass Cattle Field Day, I was surprised by the number of breeders selling a large proportion of their cattle direct to consumers as grass-fed beef.

Although the numbers are still small, the breed is growing fairly quickly. While the breed hails from Alabama, Missouri seems to be a hot bed for South Polls as they suit our climate and are able to tolerate fescue infected with endophytes well. They were also bred with the grass finisher in mind, and the growing popularity of grass finish beef has helped spur demand for South Poll calves.

After Judy and I saw the South Polls ad we looked at the bulls for sale and had the pleasure of seeing one of the finest herds of cattle around. What surprised us was the consistency of the cows. Being mixed breeds we expected a lot of variance and were very pleased to see an almost ‘peas in a pod’ herd. We bought three bulls and added South Polls to our Beefmaster bull battery to eliminate the horns but maintain our cattle’s heat tolerance, mothering ability and grazing ability. One trait that we have emphasized alongside fertility is disposition and this is one trait where the South Polls really shine. Whilst we ship cattle for ill temper and have a gentle herd we were greatly pleased and surprised by the gentleness of the South Polls. And while Beefmaster doesn’t sire big calves, we’ve found that breeding our heifers with South Poll sires eliminates the need to control two-year-olds during calving. This year we calved fifty 22-24 month old heifers and had to raise one. His head was turned back and he was a little tall. The calves are extremely fast on their feet and on the teat.

Cattle breeding is always associated with some daydreaming and imagination. We envision a herd of peas in the pod, red, polled, heat-tolerant, medium-sized cows that will withstand the sub-zero temperatures of winter and yet be able to reproduce in the heat and humidity of our Missouri summers, while providing us with a good marketable calf. And all this with little or no external inputs. Not only do we envision this herd, we know it is and will be necessary to generate profits for years to come.

Beefmaster succeeds with Heterosis Advantage

by Jeralyn Novak | Published on July 1, 2014

By: Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President

As beef producers, we all know our market is at all-time highs. This is caused by good old fashioned supply and demand. We have the smallest herd of cows our nation has seen since the mid-1940’s, and now we must support a rapidly growing human population. The result is that all proteins, especially beef, are really scarce. While we as producers are enjoying the high markets, there is an underlying issue that we should address. This creates maximum efficiencies in our beef supply chain to keep beef competitive in the market.

The most proven way to increase efficiency in beef production is to use heterosis. It is obvious that as Beefmaster breeders we need to develop a history of using Beefmaster genetics in commercial herds that will contribute significantly to the bottom line. You may not be familiar with the term heterosis, but simply put it means hybrid power. When we cross; For example, the calf that results from mating an Angus with a Beefmaster has several advantages over a purebred calf of either parent breed. These advantages are heterosis or hybrid vitality.

Crossbreeding improves almost every trait. Newborn calves are stronger at birth, resulting in more live calves. Weaning weights in F1 crossbred calves are on average 6% heavier than pure breeds. Six percent higher weaning weights in a herd of 100 cows that typically wean 600-pound calves is an additional 36 pounds per calf. Adding to the 100 calves is an additional 3,600 pounds of calf weight that can be sold in today’s market, which adds an additional $7,200 if the calves are sold at weaning. This example only covers direct calf heterosis, it doesn’t add the HUGE benefits of maternal heterosis or using crossbred cows.

Maternal heterosis contributes more to the bottom line than any other single management practice that a commercial rancher can undertake. Crossbreed females resulting from a planned mating system where heterosis is optimized add great impact. Calf survivability is higher, newborns are stronger, have stronger immune systems and also take advantage of growth advantages. Obviously, more and heavier calves being sold increases profits.

Crossbreed females produce more calves over their lifetime and are in production for much longer as they have an average lifespan of 1.5 years. Studies by the USDA Meat Animal Research Center show that planned mating of crossbred cows leads to a 25% increase in performance over their productive lifetime compared to purebred cows. That’s impressive, but that 1.5 year longevity figure was due to British genetics. Consider the longevity of the Beefmaster genetics and I would suggest these cows would be productive for even more years and this would increase efficiency even further.

Simply put, Beefmaster genetics bring the perfect amount of hybrid vigor to the black herd that has produced our land. True, there are bonuses for black hidden cattle. However, the impact of hybrid power will far outweigh the black hidden rewards. I have been advocating the use of Beefmaster bulls on Angus cows for some time, but lately I have seen several large progressive commercial herds using Beefmaster bulls on Brangus cows to great effect. Now is the time to refine our message, get organized and present a unified message to commercial ranchers everywhere. Beefmaster SIRED females are the most productive and profitable commercial cows in the industry.

Now that we have the product – Beefmaster bulls – and the message – maternal heterosis – we need to market our bulls effectively. We as a race must be UNITED in this effort. BBU is a large organization with different philosophies, but we all have one thing in common: we produce Beefmaster cattle.

Even though we compete with each other for market share, it’s important to remember that we also compete with other races. If you cannot supply enough sires to fill an order, send that sire buyer to another Beefmaster breeder. You may think you are losing a customer, but in fact you are providing important customer service that your buyer will appreciate and chances are it will make them even more loyal to your program as a result.

Over the years I’ve seen very successful programs that customers were happy to send to other herds if they didn’t have the cattle their buyer wanted. Almost invariably, this act of “keeping the buyer in the family” resulted in a strengthening of the relationship and in many cases created strong ties between the two purebred breeders. Our commercial customers need to understand that the entire BBU membership wants them to be successful. Our competition understands this and we need to adapt that customer service philosophy as well.

The remaining summer months are packed with great Beefmaster activities. The International Committee hosts the BIG (Beefmaster International Group) event in Ft. August 18-21, 2014. Cattle breeders from eight different Central and South American countries will attend the Beefmaster workshop. The training program will focus on using Beefmaster genetics to increase the performance and productivity of cowherds in these emerging markets. This issue of the Beefmaster Cowman includes an informational article about the BIG event. All BBU members can participate and I encourage you to take this opportunity to network with international customers and other BBU members.

The 2014 JBBA National Convention and Show will be held July 28-August 3, 2014 in Shawnee, OK. This is the main event of the year for outstanding JBBA members who have worked hard to prepare for this annual event. Make plans to be with us in Shawnee to meet and support these outstanding JBBA members. Many breeders do not know that this event is not just a cow show. The educational competitions these members enter give them the life skills to step out into the real world and be prepared to contribute and be great ambassadors for the Beefmaster breed and farming in general.

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Keeping the Beefmaster herd black has become an adventurous and challenging task for Charles and Evelyn Rieder. The Rieders have had many breeds of cattle in their lives, but in recent years they have found joy in the Beefmaster black cattle. “We currently have a black Beefmaster quota of around 90 percent of our herd,” explains Charles.

The black color in the breed was harder to come by than one might think. The Rieders relocated to the Ozarks from a farm in Fairland, Oklahoma in recent years and purchased approximately 77 acres near Spokane, Mo. Charles purchased their first Beefmaster cattle in 1987 when they sold their Simbrah herd. He was interested in maintaining a Brahmanic influence in his cattle. “The Brahman influence in cattle is good for this area. They tolerate the heat very well and their disposition is good,” added Evelyn. Due to the genetics of the breed consisting of 1⁄2 5f Brahman, 1⁄4 5f Hereford, 1⁄4 5f Shorthorn, the black color is a bit more difficult to come by.

With the emphasis on black, Charles went all the way to California in 1999 to buy Beefmaster cattle. He started the backbone of his current operation with one donor cow, Black Pearl, a herd sire, and about five other Beefmaster black donor cows. He bought “Black Pearl” for around $12,000 at the time.

“From the entire Beefmaster auction there were only six or seven black cattle. That shows how much I wanted black.” In the last few months, the Rieders were happy to discover that one of their three-month-old bull calves was pure black. Charles leans toward black as a personal preference and as a selling point. “We’re sticking with black because they seem to be selling better. When I first bought black Beefmaster in 1999, that wasn’t the case,” Charles recalls. Almost all Reider cattle are A.I. and a black purge bull is used when the A.I. process fails. “I’m trying to get it (calving) done by June and starting again in September,” Charles said.

The Rieders sell most of their cattle at the Beefmaster sales in the Ozarks. “We usually sell at the Heart of America auction in Springfield or at the Arkansas and Branson auctions,” Charles said. “I try to keep really good show bulls. You have to be very selective now because there are so many bulls in the breed,” Charles said. The Rieders have also purchased cattle in joint holdings with Fiddler’s Ranch, owned by Shoji Tabuchi.

Charles also prides himself on the Beefmaster breed’s showmanship. “In 1994, at the main event in Jackson, Miss., we had the grand champion bull, ‘Cherokee Pride III.’ didn’t let me sell it at the time,” Charles said with a smile.

Keeping a well-fed cow is important to the Rieders, so they pay particular attention to what they feed their cattle. “We feed a Vita Ferm molasses tub all year round. There is a different type of tub for every season. I’ve been using the product for four years and it’s very good,” Charles said. Charles also uses pasture land, hay, and blocks of salt as a food source.

Feeding and animal husbandry does not take care of itself. One of the most important aspects of the farm are the grandchildren of Rieder, Dakota, Chasey and Dalton. All three live on the same farm as the Rieders and are very helpful. “I don’t know what I would do without her. You help me a lot,” Charles said with a smile. It’s obvious that Beefmaster black cattle keep the Rieder farm running, but it’s the grandchildren that make them smile.

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Photo courtesy of CBS Ranch www.cbsranch.com

Characteristics

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Photo courtesy of Diamond J Farm Beefmasters www.diamondjfarms.com

fertility

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Beefmaster cattle are the first American composite breed (combination of three or more breeds). These cattle were developed by the Lasater Ranch, then headquartered in Texas. The breeding program that led to their establishment was started in 1908 by Ed C. Lasater when he purchased Brahman bulls to use in his commercial herd of Hereford and Shorthorn cattle (Beefmaster cattle are 50% Brahman , 25% Hereford and 25% Milking Shorthorn). The first of these bulls he used were mainly of the Gir breed, although some of the Nelore breed were also used. In 1925 he introduced Guzerat blood to the herd. Lasater also developed a registered Hereford herd in which the cattle had red rings around each eye. Milk production was emphasized in both his Brahman and Hereford breeds. After his death in 1930 the breeding operations were managed by his son Tom Lasater who began to combine breeding Brahman and Hereford cattle and also used some registered Shorthorn bulls. After making crosses of Brahman-Hereford and Brahman-Shorthorn, he felt that a superior animal had been produced and named the cattle Beefmaster. The exact pedigree of the founding cattle was not known. The breeding farms were operated in multi-bull herds and strict culling was practiced. Lasater Ranch estimates that modern Beefmasters are a little under half Brahman blood and a little over a quarter Hereford and Shorthorn bred, fertility, weight, conformation, hardiness and milk production. The emphasis was on the production of beef. No selection was made for characteristics that do not affect the carcass, such as horns, skin or colour. The Lasater Ranch breeding program provided an interesting example of using mass selection to achieve a goal. Critics should remember that other breeds were established in a similar way – a commingling of breeding and subsequent selection on economically important points, uniformity in many breeds was only achieved after many generations of selection. Tom Lasater’s original concepts in developing Beefmaster cattle have continued. Selection continues for the items originally used by Mr. Lasater, now known as the six essential traits – weight, conformation, milking ability, fertility, hardiness and disposition. Considerable progress has been made in the selection of cattle which give very satisfactory production levels under the practical and often severe grazing conditions. Breeder satisfaction and creditable performance in the feedlots demonstrate the importance of emphasizing key useful points in breeding herd development. The Beefmaster is now the fourth largest breed of beef in the United States and was recognized as a pure breed by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1954 for its carcass capabilities. The cattle are heat, drought and insect resistant. They are medium sized and although there is no set color pattern in the breed they are generally light red to dark red and some have white speckles on their faces. The females are excellent mothers, raising a heavy calf every year, and the bulls are aggressive breeders. Beefmasters are intelligent, gentle cattle who are a real pleasure to work with. What probably most differentiates Beefmaster cattle from other breeds are the six essential traits that were the basic selection principles on which the breed was founded: disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, hardiness and milk production. Lasater’s concept was that you select cattle based only on these six economically relevant traits, excluding many traits that other breeds have expended genetic energy on, such as color pattern, horns, size, etc. This unique approach is why Beefmasters are known by the slogan “The Profit Breed”. While the breed was created to withstand the heat and disease of the Gulf Coast, Tom Lasater moved the founding herd to Matheson, Colorado in the 1950s where winters can be severe. Beefmasters can tolerate both heat and cold. Additionally, their heat tolerance leads many cattle breeders to remark that Beefmasters graze while their other cattle stand in ponds or lie under shady trees. Beefmaster bulls have few equals when asked to tend cows grazing with endophyte-infected fescue in hot weather. Likewise, their heat tolerance means that Beefmaster cows are more likely to settle down in extremely hot weather, especially when fescue are grazing. In addition, pinkeye is extremely rare in Beefmaster cattle. No breed offers greater resilience, fertility and milking under a wider range of conditions. Although relatively new compared to many other breeds, this breed is popular in the US and can be found in South Africa and Brazil (the information above has been cited). from the following pages)

Beefmaster cattle are the first American composite breed (combination of three or more breeds). They were developed by Tom Lasater in South Texas starting in 1931. The Beefmaster breed was recognized by the USDA in 1954, and today, Beefmaster Breeders United is the fifth largest breed registry in the United States.

Beefmasters are a composite breed that is roughly half Bos Taurus (Hereford and Shorthorn) and half Bos Indicus (Nelore from Brazil, Gir & Guzerat from India). Tom Lasater closed his herd in 1937 and no foreign genetics have been introduced into the Foundation herd since. Intensive selection for economically important traits over the past 80 years has resulted in a homozygous breed of cattle that incorporates the explosive growth potential of a hybrid.

To learn more about Tom Lasater, click here.

Beefmaster cattle

Beef production in South Africa

©Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa The Beefmaster owes its name to its excellent beef production qualities.

Ranching in South Texas and Colorado in the US, Tom Lasater developed the Beefmaster in 1948 by strategically crossing Brahman, Hereford and Shorthorn. According to The Dale Lasater Ranch, Tom did not plan to create a new breed, but aimed to create profitable, functional cattle that could thrive in harsh production conditions with minimal effort.

The Beefmaster Foundation’s herd has been closed since 1937, which means that no new genetic material such as cows, bulls, semen or embryos has been introduced into the herd since then. The general expectation was that this would lead to inbreeding problems after some time, but instead it resulted in a superior breed that would produce consistently high quality offspring and beef.

Interestingly, Dr. Jan Bonsma, the Bonsmara pioneer in South Africa, became friends with Tom Lasater, so Bonsmara and Beefmaster developed relatively simultaneously with various similarities, according to Beefmaster South Africa. For one, both breeds are 25% Hereford and 25% Shorthorn, but the Bonsmara is 50% African while the Beefmaster is 50% Brahman.

The Beefmaster got his name because he was considered the superior or “master of all meat breeds”. It was recognized as a new breed by the US Department of Agriculture in 1954.

Production in South Africa

©Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa The Beefmaster is a medium-sized animal.

Beefmaster cattle are a large breed of cattle known for their beef production in South Africa. According to Beefmaster SA, Tony Brink is credited with pioneering the breed in the country. In 1970 he imported the first Beefmaster semen via Botswana to his farm Nietverdiend in the north-west of the Transvaal, now the North West Province. The male offspring were only classified as phase 1 animals, but still made a great contribution to the country’s herds due to the lack of quality bulls at the time.

When importing genetic material became illegal, quite a few well-known cattle breeders also “smuggled” seeds into the country. Demand for the genetic material soared, leading to the first Beefmaster Club being held in November 1985 at Pieter Bosch’s farm Mansole near Bela Bela in the Limpopo.

Pieter Bosch and Tony Brink held the first auction shortly thereafter and the Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa was founded in 1986 with Pieter Bosch as its first President. The breed was accepted by the SA Studbook in 1987, which allowed genetic material to be legally imported from the United States.

attributes

©Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa Beefmaster cows make excellent mothers that produce above average milk.

The Beefmaster is a medium-sized breed with cows capable of producing their first calves from as young as 14 months of age and an average calving interval of 397 days. The cows make excellent mothers with above average milk. Calves are small at birth, resulting in almost no birth complications, but they grow quickly and actually reach some of the best weaning weights of any breed.

Beefmaster SA strives to use scientific tools as much as possible to improve the breed. In fact, all breeding stock must be approved by the stud book’s rating system before they can be used as breeding stock. Registered animals are required to meet high standards, with bulls marked with a “B” on the right flank to indicate they meet those standards. The Beefmaster was one of the fastest growing and second largest breeds in the SA Studbook at the time of writing.

The color of the Beefmaster has never really been a breeding priority, but the cattle generally have red coats.

production regions

©Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa The cattle are well adapted and produced throughout South Africa.

Beefmaster cattle have a great temperament, making them easy to handle. They are also highly adaptable and as such are produced throughout South Africa, from the Sneeberge Mountains in the Eastern Cape to the Sandveld of the Kalahari.

Use

©Beefmaster Cattle Breeders Society of South Africa Registered Beefmaster bulls are capable of significantly increasing the weaning weight of commercial herds.

Beefmaster cattle can be used alone in closed herds or in crossbreeding programs to create hybrid vitality and improve beef quality, maternal traits and hardiness of other breeds. Registered Beefmaster bulls, for example, can easily add twenty to thirty kilograms to the weaning weight of commercial herds, resulting in farmers earning more per calf than some of the native breeds.

Feedlots are willing to pay a premium for Beefmaster calves due to their adaptability, the rapid weight gain of the calves and the high meat content of the cattle.

meat quality

The quality of Beefmaster beef is excellent, resulting in high demand from consumers and slaughterhouses.

By Glenneis Kriel

For bulk or Beefmaster Beef export inquiries please use the inquiry link below.

David Murray

[email protected]

Dave Hinman knew almost from the moment the Black Angus calf hit the ground that bull 5405 was going to be something special. How special was not clear until the auction hammer hit last Tuesday.

On April 5th, bull 5405, now known as HA Cowboy Up 5405, sold for $350,000 at the annual bull sale at Hinman Angus Ranch, east of Malta. It is the highest price ever paid for a bull in Montana history and a testament to the success of a 43 year family business.

“We’re a complete family outfit,” Hinman said. “One of our daughters and my son-in-law are full partners here with us. I have a grandson who is with us now and I’m telling you – it’s quite an exciting time for the whole family.”

To put the record price in perspective, good quality bulls typically sell for between $5,000 and $8,000 on the open market. The bid for Cowboy Up started at $25,000 and quickly rose above the $100,000 mark.

Hinman said he and his family were fairly confident Cowboy Up would pull bids in the $200,000 range, but didn’t expect Cowboy Up to fetch more than a third of a million dollars in final sale price.

The previous high selling price for a Hinman Angus bull was $100,000.

“We’ve sold some for $80,000, $70,000 and $50,000 but it’s incredible to sell a bull for that much money,” said Dave Hinman. “For us, it was completely unexpected that he would continue and do what he did. We had absolutely no idea he would do that.”

Holy cow, cow, cow. Rare triplets born on ranch in Montana

Bids for Cowboy Up soared past the $300,000 mark in front of a crowd of about 300 at Hinman Ranch’s auction barn. When the bidding finally stopped, Cowboy Up went for a record $350,000. It was sold to a joint offering between Wilks Ranch of Texas (owners of N-Bar Ranch in central Montana) and Express Ranch of Oklahoma.

What made Cowboy Up so valuable were some unprecedented performance records.

“When he came to the point of weaning, he was the heaviest calf we had (952 pounds) and had an exceptionally deep, thick body,” Hinman said. “Back then we knew we had a very special calf, but there are so many tires that they have to go through in the performance tests that you’re never very excited until you get a little bit further with him.”

“In December we took a control weight on him and the bull was gaining over five pounds a day,” he added. “We started to see right there that we had a special bull.”

Montana twin calves have different fathers

At one year old, Cowboy Up weighed an impressive 1,609 pounds and had gained an average of about 4.25 pounds in weight each day for his first year of life. According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, a good quality bull can be expected to gain 3.5 pounds per day over the same period.

“He was a unique bull in the sense that he was an extremely high performing, heavyweight, high gain bull who excelled in his group with a moderate frame that will sire moderate frame cows that will endure here in the big country said Hinman. “It just made him a special bull because we had so many different traits in a bull that we never had before.”

Cowboy Up has already been shipped to cattle genetics manufacturing company ORIgen east of Billings. ORIgen will soon begin harvesting Cowboy Up’s semen, which could sell for more than $1 million during the bull’s productive lifespan.

“Typically a bull like this sells semen between $30 and $50 per straw,” said Jared Murnin, general manager of ORIgen.

A “straw” is the amount of bull semen needed to impregnate a single cow.

“Some of them can produce 20,000 straws a year,” Murnin said of high-quality production bulls. “Some of them can produce 50,000 a year. If you sell all of that for $50 a straw and 50,000 units, that could be a lot of money.”

Hinman Ranch has retained a one-third revenue share in Cowboy Up, which will allow the ranch to incorporate the record-breaking sire’s genetics into its breeding program for generations to come. Notoriety for selling Montana’s most valuable sire will likely put their family business in the national spotlight.

“In that sense, we’re really very humble people,” Hinman said.

Owning a bull seems like a requirement to be in the cow and calf business, doesn’t it?

Maybe not. You have the opportunity to breed cows through artificial insemination. It’s not perfect, and you might only get 60% to 70% conception with AI. And you still need a purge bull to catch some late breeders.

But even natural mating isn’t perfect, says Willie Altenberg of Genex Co-op, an A.I. Bull stud farm that sells both milk and bovine semen. At this week’s Cattle Convention, he tells producers that year-old bull prices for commercial cattle herds are keeping pace with the recent surge in the overall cattle market. In some bull sales, average year-old beef bulls slated for commercial operation sell for $4,000 to $5,000 per head. At that price, if the bull sires 25 live calves over two breeding seasons, your basic bull price (excluding feed and maintenance) is $100 per calf.

Altenberg compares this to a synchronized A.I. Program where the cows are heat synchronized and A.I.ed. The cost of the semen is typically $16 per straw. The cost of the synchronization protocol drugs is approximately $14 per cow. That’s $30 total. At 60% conception, it’s $50 per pregnant cow, half the price per calf of owning the $5,000 bull.

Except A.I. Mating requires more management and time, and you’ll likely still need to own a cheaper cleaning bull. But counter that with the fact that synchronized A.I. could give you a better sire in at least 60% of your calves and you will focus your breeding and calving periods in a narrow window. What is that worth to you?

Bottom line, Altenberg says, the choice of approach for beef cows (A.I. versus natural mating) is ambiguous. Business may favor AI, and it’s more about your personal preferences and commitment than the money.

delivered

Ranchers are holding live auctions via WhatsApp under lockdown rules.

The process works like a group chat on WhatsApp, only with money and livestock.

A Nguni bull was sold via the app for R310,000, a new world record.

Visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za for more articles.

Ranchers are getting creative in lockdown and holding live livestock auctions over WhatsApp. And the youngest set a world record for a single Nguni bull.

While it is an essential service, parts of farming – like livestock auctions – have been shut down due to the large numbers of people congregating in one location.

A lack of auctions is not entirely unheard of; Auctions were last suspended in November last year after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

But with humans, rather than animals, carrying the disease of current concern, livestock auctions have now gone online

And at the recent KZN Elite Nguni auction, a Nguni bull fetched a world record price of R310,000.

This broke the previous record of R197,000 set in 2005.

Gert Coetzee from NetAuctions in Bloemfontein hosted the auction and says the process works pretty much like a normal WhatsApp group conversation. After registering for the auction, Coetzee adds potential buyers to a specially created WhatsApp group.

According to him, 168 buyers have registered as part of the group. A total of 134 cattle were auctioned, including 10 bulls.

Instead of personally inspecting a herd of animals, an auction catalog is uploaded to a website for buyers to take a look. Buyers are free to travel to the farm where the animal is being raised, Coetzee says.

The auction runs for a fixed period of time.

“You can see exactly who is bidding for what and how much,” says Coetzee.

He says he has been conducting online auctions for about 15 years and has hosted a number of WhatsApp auctions. This was the first Nguni auction using the app.

(Compiled by Edward-John Bottomley)

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Also from Business Insider South Africa:

The Interactive Sales Reports site publishes cattle sales and production sales reports from across the US. Sales reports can be searched by state and then by cattle breeds such as Angus, Braford, Brangus, Brahman, Brown Swiss, Beefmaster, Charolais, Chianina, Yellow Swiss, Hereford, Limousin, Longhorn, Maine-Anjou, Red Angus, Red Brangus, Santa Gertrudis, Shorthorn , Simbrah, Simmental and other popular meat breeds.

You are encouraged to submit your own cattle production and cattle production sales reports. Simply go to Southernlivestock.com, click the Register Today link to create a username and password, and then submit your own livestock sales report. The admin will then approve your report, usually within 1 business day.