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Crossbreeding
with Beefmasters
Lorenzo Lasator
Isa Cattle Co, Inc in San Angelo Texas
Science and experience have taught us that we can maximize
production efficiency through the use of crossbreeding.
Beefmasters are the ideal breed for beef cattle crossbreeding
programs for a wide range of reasons.
The most important of these, and one unique to Beefmasters,
is our founding philosophy, The Six Essentials (Disposition,
Fertility, Weight, Conformation, Milk Production, and
Hardiness). My Grandfather developed this philosophy
as he developed Beefmasters beginning in the 1930’s. He
did so in an effort to maximize production efficiency in a
challenging environment. Incredibly, the Lasater Philosophy
is as pertinent 80 years later as it was then. This concept is
especially relevant in a crossbreeding program which is
expressly used to produce more beef, more efficiently. This
is without regard to many of the non-economic selection
criteria often employed in a purebred model, such as color,
size, and pedigree.
Tom Lasater, founder of
Beefmaster Breed
Another trait in Beefmasters that makes them perfect
for crossbreeding is that they can easily adapt to nearly
any environment, and still yield the production efficiency
they are famous for. So whether you are in a very cold
environment as is the Foundation Herd on my grandfather’s
ranch in Eastern Colorado, or in the desert or in the tropics,
they will excel. This means that you can cross them on your
existing herd and not be concerned about the adaptability
of the offspring.
Lasater Ranch, Colorado
Something that is tremendously important in considering
Beefmasters in a crossbreeding program is heteroisis or
hybrid vigor. This is simply defined as an increase in the
performance of hybrids over that of purebreds. Because of
their genesis as a 3-breed composite (commonly expressed
as roughly 50% Brahman, 25% Hereford and 25% Shorthorn),
Beefmasters’ built in heteroisis much higher than a straightbred
or two-way cross.
Mating System
Straight breeding 0%
2-breed rotation (A,B) 67%
3-breed rotation (A,B,C) 86%
4-breed rotation (A,B,C,D) 93%
2-breed composite (5/8 A, 3/8 B) 47%
2-breed composite (.5 A, .5 B) 50%
3-breed composite (.5A, .25 B, .25C) 63%
4 breed composite (.25A,.25B,.25C,.25D) 75%
F1 bull rotation (3-breed: AB, AC) 67%
F1 bull rotation (4-breed: AB, CD) 83%
South Florida
% Retained
Heteroisis
As a three breed composite, Beefmasters would have a built
in heterosis of 62.5%. But I maintain it is actually higher than
that, because the “Brahman” in Beefmasters actually refers to
Bos Indicus blood, and that came into the Beefmaster breed
in the form of Nelore cattle from Brazil and Ghir and Guzerat
from India. That would actually put the retained heteroisis in
Beefmasters at somewhere closer to 75%.
What does this actually mean in financial terms? Let’s
say your crossbreeding scheme resulted in about 67%
of maximum heterosis. A 16% increase in the kilos of calf
weaned per cow exposed to breeding is expected above the
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Gir
Guzerat
Nelore
average of the parent breeds. So, if 227 kilos of calf weaned
per cow exposed is the expected average of 2 straightbred
breeds, then using those breeds together in a 2-breed
rotational crossbreeding system will result in 263 kilos of
calf weaned per cow exposed. This is a 36 kilo improvement
just by taking advantage of heterosis. In the U.S., we call this
a “free lunch”, because there is no additional cost to gaining
this advantage.
Beyond just weight, another financial manifestation of the
power of Beefmasters in cross-breeding can be found in the
length of the production cycle, especially in hot and tropical
environments. A great example I am personally familiar with
is in Brazil, were we worked extensively with a Beefmaster
breeder to establish the breed there. Their traditional
product is a 3-year old, grass-fat steer, sold directly off the
ranch. Correspondingly, their heifers calved at 3 years old. By
crossing Beefmasters on their native Nelore cows, they were
able to not only increase weights, but also decrease the time
to get to slaughter weight or to calving by 6 months! With
the second cross, this was further reduced to a full year. What
would eliminating one year’s worth of production expenses
be worth to your bottom line?
Prepotency is another important consideration in
crossbreeding with Beefmasters. This is defined as the ability
of one parent to transmit more characteristics to its offspring
than the other parent. While this is not scientific, I have seen
it many times in many different countries; when you breed
a Beefmaster to any other type of cow, the result looks like
a Beefmaster.
I’ll share with you and interesting story relating to this.
We have undertaken an extensive program in Thailand to
introduce Beefmasters over the past several years. When
the first F1 calves were born out of Beefmaster semen and
native commercial cows, they looked just like Beefmasters.
I circulated a picture to Beefmaster breeders in the U.S. and
one commented that that must be a purebred embryo calf. I
corrected him that it was only 50% Beefmaster, the result of
one-time use of L Bar genetics!
F1 Beefmaster calf, Thailand
Beefmaster x Brahman, Panama
The beautiful thing about using Beefmasters in a
crossbreeding program is you don’t have to do a bunch of
complicated rotational breeding. Just breed a Beefmaster
bull to the cow of your choice and the resulting calves
get a tremendous boost of heteroisis. But the real magic
happens when you breed that Beefmaster-cross heifer back
to Beefmaster. Instead of losing heteroisis, it is retained. And
you can keep coming back with Beefmaster without ever
losing efficiency. The system is beautiful in its simplicity and
awesome in its results.
Partly due to retained heteroisis and partly due to
prepotency, Beefmasters just have that little bit of magic
that makes them a first-cross a homerun. This is especially
true on plainer cattle, where you get a huge improvement
in the first cross, with the resulting animal looking like a
Beefmaster.
Beefmasters provide the perfect outcross with English
or Continental breeds, complementing them in traits like
fertility and carcass, and improving them in traits related to
productive efficiency. The same can be said of Bos Indicus
cattle, where Beefmaster can refine their conformation and
improve beef quality while complementing their strengths
such as heat tolerance and low cost of production.
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25

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Charolais Bull x E6 (commercial) Beefmaster cow
DO
OF
O
L Bar 5502 x Angus heifer
I would think there is a tremendous opportunity in South
Africa for crossing Beefmasters with commercial Bonsmara
cattle which, while developed with similar goals in mind,
are composed from different gene pool and have been
Meeting selected differently of since their creation. minds The result would be
a tremendous bang of heterosis.
minds
In summary, cross-breeding
the
is an ideal way to inexpensively
improve production efficiency in a Beef cattle operation. And
Beefmasters are the best choice to maximize this advantage
because they bring so many excellent traits to the table.
Lorenzo Lasater is President of Isa Cattle Co, Inc in San
Angelo Texas. He is the grandson of Beefmaster founder
Tom Lasater and Immediate Past President of Beefmaster
Breeders United. FALL 2001 He plans to be in South Africa in July for the
National Auction.
40th BEEFMASTER BU
N
HE
AT
RI-
AX
co.com
An interesting side note, many U.S. purebred Beefmaster
breeders came into the business through BBU’s upgrading
program. They initially used a Beefmaster bull on their
commercial cows of whatever type and loved the resulting
calves, so they stayed with it. In BBU, the third cross, or 7/8
Beefmaster, can be registered as a purebred. This allowed
PRSRT STD
many commercial cattlemen to transition into the registered
U.S. Postage Paid
San Angelo, TX
side using cattle they had already invested time and genetic
Permit No. 314
effort in. This helped fuel the tremendous growth of the
Beefmaster breed in the 1970’s and 80’s.
It is also important to note that the Beefmaster advantage
from cross-breeding works both ways, meaning that
you can use an outside bull on Beefmaster cows and also
yield tremendous results. I have run a large number of
E6 Beefmaster cows (certified by BBU as 50% or more
Beefmaster) and bred them to Charolais bulls I raised. The
results were fantastic! The Charolais brought the continental
look that US buyers like, but the cattle were easier keeping,
more maternal and, in general, better “ranch” cattle.
ster Bull Sale
Bull Sale
Tom Lasater and Jan Bonsma
Quality is genetics.
isa genetics
isa performance
Quality is performance.
Quality is PROVEN.
isa PROVEN
You are cordially invited to our 40th
Beefmaster Bull Sale. We have a terrific set
of bulls again this year and hope you’ll join us.
Everyone talks about the performance of
their bulls—Isa Cattle Co. has gone to great
lengths to prove it. The top herd sires in our
program have gone through the Progeny and
Carcass Test at Texas A&M. Below are the
results of over 100 calves.
TEXAS A&M PROGENY EVALUATION
L Bar 5502’s Results (compared to 11 Beefmaster bulls)
Carcass Trait # of Calves Adj. Avg. Rank Overall Avg. Ratio
Birthweight (lbs.)
Weaning Weight (lbs.)
Hot Carcass Weight (lbs.)
Ribeye Area (sq in.)
Yield Grade
Marbling Score
Percent Choice & Prime
Percent YG 1 & 2
14-Day Shear Force (lbs.)
18
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
75.32
528.48
689.64
12.21
2.93
Sm 50
85.71%
50.0%
6.35
2
1
1
2
4
3
4
6
5
80.76
482.41
637.90
11.51
3.21
(Choice) Sm 27
72.08
51.64
6.42
1.07
1.09
1.08
1.06
1.09
1.85
1.18
.97
1.01
H
S e e i n s i d e f o r S a l e D ay S p e
a
40th
10:0
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Teling vir optimale produksie –
Beefmaster die regte raskeuse
Frans Odendal
WO Beefmasters
Koeigetalle in Suid-Afrika het konstant gebly die afgelope
50 jaar. Die groot rede is dat grondoppervlak ‘n gegewe is en
dat produksie daarvolgens bepaal word. Die prys van grond
het egter die laaste dekade vervyfdubbel en boere kyk na
ander alternatiewe as beesboerdery. Dieselfde tendens
word wêreldwyd herhaal, met CattleFax wat beweer dat
beesproduksie met 6% wêreldwyd afgeneem het die laaste
dekade.
Aan die anderkant is die vraag na beesvleis wêreldwyd
en plaaslik aan die toeneem. Die wêreldbevolking is tans
7 biljoen mense waarvan byna 40% van China en Indië
afkomstig is. Huidiglik ondervind die twee lande die mees
positiefste ekonomiese groei in die wêreld en die verbruik
van rooivleis gaan al hoe meer toeneem soos hierdie lande
hulle dieët begin verander na meer protïene.
Ekonomiese waarde van Basterkrag
Eienskap Ekonomiese Gemiddelde Gemiddelde %
waarde % Oorerflikheid basterkrag
Reproduksie Hoog 5-10 10-15
Produksie Gemiddeld 20-35 5-10
Karkaseienskappe Laag 40-50 0-5
Indien ‘n kombinasie van die moeder se reproduksie en melk
tesame met die kalf se gewig en oorlewingseienskappe in ag
geneem word, is al bereken dat basterkrag 19% verbetering
aanbring per kalf blootgestel. Dit is 238kg per koei teenoor
200 kg per koei gespeen in die totale kudde.
Voordele van basterkrag is klaar in die Beefmasterras
vasgeteel. Die kommersiële boer kan net die bul koop en die
voordele van basterkrag benut, sonder om uniformheid in sy
eie kudde te verloor.
Reproduskie
Dit is alombekend dat die ekonomiese waarde van
reproduksie 5 keer meer is as die van groei. Daar is egter
verskeie maniere om reproduksie te verhoog.
Die eerste is om verse te dek op 12-14 maande. Dit verg egter
meer intensiewe bestuur, maar die opbrengs op kapitaal is
14% teenoor 10% in ‘n koei/kalf sisteem waar speenkalwers
verkoop word.
Om op 2 jarige ouderdom te kalf, is daar 2 punte van belang.
Genetiese seksueel aktiewe vermoë van die vers en die
vermoë om vroeg uit te groei. Verse bereik puberteit tussen
7 en 30 maande. Oorerflikheid van puberteit is 43%. Dit is
moeilik om puberteit te meet, maar ons het inligting van
vaars en moers om besluite te neem. Kyk na die bul of koei
wat jy koop se ma se TKP en OEK.
Die onderstaande tabel wys die gemiddelde gewigte van
verse wat gedek is in die WO kudde sedert 2005.
Gem Speengewig 12 maande gewig
Verse nie op 2 jarige ouderdom gekalf 221 298
Verse kalf op 2 jaar, maar nie op 3 jaar 241 321
Verse kalf op 2 jaar en op 3 jaar 238 320
As ‘n mens na hierdie inligting kyk is dit al hoe duideliker
dat meer beesvleis per hektaar geproduseer sal moet word.
Die groot vraag is hoe kry jy meer vleis per hektaar of hoe
verhoog ‘n mens wins met beesboerdery?
Die eertse punt van belang is basterkrag.
Basterkrag is die ekstra produksie wat verkry word deur die
kruising van rasse. Dit is gratis en baie doeltreffend en speel
‘n groot rol in winsgewendheid.
Dit is egter duidelik dat verse ten minste 65% van hulle
volwasse gewig moet bereik voor paring plaasvind. Dit
gaan gepaard met aanvullende voeding. Verse met ‘n lae
speengewig bly gewoonlik ook agter en sukkel om op te
vang.
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wat jy wil verkoop. Teen huidige pryse is dit R1200/kalf.
Koei /kalf verhouding
Groter koeie is nie meer winsgewend as kleiner koeie nie.
Hulle eet meer en daar kan eerder meer koeie per eenheid
gebruik word. Die volgende grafiek illustreer die verhouding
van koei/kalf gewig teenoor koei massa in die WO kudde.
Verse moet op 14 maande bul vat en moet vroeg kan uitgroei
Die onderstaande tabel wys die hoeveelheid aktiewe koeie
per geboortejaar in die WO kudde.
Die volgende toon werklike speengewig teenoor koeigewig
in die WO kudde. Die grafiek vertoon koeigewig teenoor
werklike speengewig. Gemmiddelde kalfouderdom is 6
maande op speen.
Aangesien ‘n groot deel van die vroulike diere in die WO
kudde KI kalwers is en alle koeie uitgeskot word wat nie kalf
op twee jarige ouderdom of ‘n jaar oorslaan, kan gesien word
dat die belangrikheid van vrugbaarheid oor die nageslag nie
onderskat moet word nie. Reproduserende koeie bring baie
meer geld in as vervangingsverse. Daar kan dus duidelik
gesien word dat die bulle wat in 2003 kalfseisoen gebruik is,
‘n meer vrugbare koeilyn teel.
Nog ‘n belangrike punt is kalfseisoen. Volgens Alan Nation is
die twee belangrikste dinge vir reproduksie, daglengtes en
kondisietelling. Seksuele aktiwiteit in koeie is op sy hoogste
aan die einde van die lente (einde November). Post partum
periode is die kortste wanneer dit die langste dag van die jaar
is. (31 dae vs 69 dae in die winter) 3 Keer meer energie word
benodig om ‘n kg vet aan te sit as ‘n kg vleis. Liggaamsvet is
die beskibare energiebron vir die koei en is noodsaaklik vir
reproduksie. Die enigste tyd wat dit goedkoop is om vet aan
te sit, is einde lente, begin somer. BG Ruffin beweer ‘n koei
benodig 2 .5 keer meer TVV om ‘n kg vleis aan te sit voor
speen as na speen. Om met ‘n kalf deur die winter te gaan
of wanneer die veld afgaan, word baie meer druk op die
vroulike dier geplaas. Volgens bostaande inligting moet met
die natuur gesinkroniseer word en maak dit sin om slegs
een somerdekseisoen te hê. Die gevaar van 2 dekseisoene
is dat dit oorslaankoeie weer ‘n kans gee en dat daar nie vir
reproduksie geselekteer word nie.
Indien koeie uitgeskot moet word of wanneer kontantnood
druk, verkoop altyd die koeie wat laaste gekalf het. Koeie wat
later kalf of nie beset raak aan die begin van die dekseisoen
nie, is geneig om daar te bly en nie sommer vroeër te
kalf nie. Die volgende jaar gaan sy weer later kalf en jy as
speenkalfprodusent gaan tot 60kg moet inboet op jou kalf
Volgens bostaande data is dit duidelik dat die gemiddelde
koei baie meer ekonomies funksioneer as die te groot koeie.
Dit lyk of die optimum koeigewig ongeveer 500 kg is in die
omstandighede by die WO kudde. Groter koeie kalf later
of speen kleiner kalwers. Maak gebruik van BLUB data om
bulle met hoë speenmassas en laer volwasse massas te
identifiseer en gebruik dit.
Die bostaande grafiek toon die geboortegewig teenoor
gekorroleerde speengewig aan. Dit is egter duidelik dat
daar ‘n groot korrelasie bestaan. Ligter kalfies gee ligter
speenkalwers. Moenie bang wees om ‘n 40 kg kalf by koeie
aan te kry nie. Hulle moet dit kan kalf. By verse is dit egter
‘n ander situasie. Die groot kalf gaan meer skade doen met
herbesetting. Verse moet bestuur word, veral die voeding
die laaste 2 maande voor kalftyd.
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