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Beefmaster
Beefmaster
cattle have been developed by the Lasater Ranch then headquartered in Texas.
The breeding program leading to their establishment was started by Ed C.
Lasater in 1908, when he purchased Brahman
bulls to use on his commercial herd of Hereford
and Shorthorn cattle.
The first of these bulls that he used were principally of Gir
breeding, although some of the Nelore
breed were also used. In 1925 he introduced Guzerat blood into the herd.
Mr. Lasater also developed a registered Hereford
herd in which the cattle had red circles around each eye. In both his Brahman
and Hereford breeding,
milk production was stressed. Following his death in 1930, the breeding
operations came under the direction of his son, Tom Lasater, who began
to combine the breeding of the Brahman
and Hereford cattle
and also used some registered Shorthor
bulls. After making crosses of Brahman Hereford
and Brahman, Shorthorn,
he felt a superior animal had been produced and called the cattle "Beefmaster."
The exact pedigree of the foundation cattle was not known. The breeding
operations were carried on in multiple-sire herds and rigid culling was
practiced. The Lasater Ranch estimates that modern Beefmaster have slightly
less than one-half Brahman
blood and slightly more than one-fourth of Hereford
and Shorthorn breeding.
The cattle were handled under range conditions that were often adverse,
and a culling program was started based on disposition, fertility, weight,
conformation, hardiness and milk production. Stress was placed on the production
of beef. No selection has been made to characteristics that do not affect
the carcass, such as horns, hide or color.
The Lasater Ranch breeding program provided an interesting example
of the use of mass selection in reaching a goal. Critics should recall
that other breeds have been established in a similar way - a blending of
breeding followed by selection for economically important points Uniformity
in many breeds has been achieved only after many generations of selection.
The original concepts of Tom Lasater in developing Beefmaster cattle
have continued. Selection continues for those points which were originally
used by Mr. Lasater and are now known as the Six Essentials - Weight, Conformation,
Milking Ability, Fertility, Hardiness and Disposition. Considerable progress
has been made in selecting cattle that give very satisfactory levels of
production under the practical and often severe range conditions. Satisfaction
by ranchers and creditable performance in feedlots indicate the value of
stressing the important utilitarian points in developing breeding herds.
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