Bl/Pg 21

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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