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What is a Beefmaster?

A Beefmaster is truly an American breed created of necessity during the Great Depression. In the early 1900s, Falfurrias, Texas cattleman Ed Lasater introduced Brahman blood into his top Hereford cattle to increase disease and heat resistance. Tom Lasater, Ed's son, expanded the crossbreeding program when Ed died on the brink of the Great Depression. Faced with heavy debt on the few cattle the family retained from creditors, Tom proved himself radically different from any other cattlemen of his era. He crossed Herefords with Brahmans, as Ed had done, then crossed Shorthorns with Brahmans, then crossed the offspring of those crosses.

Tom was so thrilled with his three-way cross that eventually he closed the herd and mated them only to one another, resulting in the Beefmaster breed. In 1954, the breed was officially recognized and Tom Lasater credited for inventing it. He was unique in insisting that every female breed to calve as a two-year-old or be culled. He was also one of the first cattlemen to weigh all his calves and cull both cows and calves based on performance. In setting the standards for Beefmasters, he insisted that color played no role and that the show ring encouraged breeding of cattle for the wrong reasons.

What is the Lasater Philosophy?

The Beefmaster breed and the Lasater Philosophy are inseparable. The Lasater Philosophy is expressed completely in the Six Essentials established by Tom Lasater: Weight, Milk, Disposition, Fertility, Hardiness and Conformation. It is important to note that by "confirmation," Tom Lasater was referring to cattle that were functionally sound for traveling ranges and also produced the most profitable type of carcass.

What Can You Expect from a Beefmaster?

You can expect minimal calving problems, heavy weaning weights, exceptionally few health problems, and high fertility from females and bulls. While the breed was created to withstand the Gulf Coast heat and diseases, Tom Lasater moved the foundation herd to Matheson, Colorado in the 1950s, where the winters can be severe. Beefmasters can take heat and cold. Furthermore, their heat tolerance causes many cattlemen to comment that while their other cattle are standing in ponds or lying under shade trees, Beefmasters will be grazing. Beefmaster bulls have few equals when asked to service cows grazing endophyte-infected fescue in hot weather. Likewise, their heat tolerance makes Beefmaster cows more likely to settle in extremely hot weather, especially when grazing fescue. In addition, pinkeye is extremely rare for Beefmaster cattle. No breed offers greater hardiness, fertility, and milk under a wider range of conditions.