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 Shorthorn 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 nd 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.
References:
Briggs, H.M. & D.M. Briggs. Modern
Breeds of Livestock. Fourth Edition. Macmillan Publishing Co. 1980
Promotional materials. Beefmaster Breeders
United, San Antonio, Texas
Photographs:
Beefmaster
Breeders United, San Antonio, Texas
Ernie Gill
