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One of the most valuable genetic tools available to ranchers is artificial insemination, or A.I. In fact, there are so many benefits, using A.I. is a natural choice, even in a commercial operation. For example, A.I. allows the use of the very top genetics, it groups the calves closer in age and front-loads the calving period, and it means fewer bulls have to be turned out.

In addition to these advantages, A.I. enables an operator to multiply the influence of a top sire—beyond what that bull could contribute naturally, and maybe best of all, operators gain more predicable genetic movement using higher-accuracy EPDs.

At Isa Beefmasters, we have been incorporating A.I. into our herd planning for decades. Dad first learned the technique in 1964 at the Graham School in Garnett, Kansas. He began using A.I. in our registered herd in Mexico in 1965. This year marks 57 years of continuous use of this incredible technology!

To quantify our R.O.I. on A.I., I did a little analysis on two groups of cattle, recently sold, in which Isa Beefmasters was involved.

The first sale occurred at the Red River Performance Group Heifer Sale held May 21, 2022. We were pleased to consign three L Bar heifers to the sale, which featured 76 excellent quality, performance-tested open heifers. The sale averaged $3567, a tremendous price for that number of open heifers. The high seller brought only $7300, making this an honest average.

In a previous article published in the Fall 2020 Isa Informer, I estimated that it costs around $82 to A.I. a registered cow, including semen. In this case, that was $82 well spent, yielding a net gain of $116 on the heifers on the sale. L Bar-sired heifers fared even better, netting an additional $494 over the sale average after the cost of the A.I.

I want to congratulate the Red River Group on their “Genetic Partnership,” in which they have partnered with breeders who have semen sires they believe will help the program and have made the semen available at a discounted price to their members. Isa Beefmasters is proud to have L Bar En Fuego and L Bar Momentum included in the partnership. Red River encourages their members to A.I., which in turn improves the quality and consistency of the bulls and heifers sold. That value extends to their own replacement heifers, with the accuracy and quality of their herd EPDs increasing rapidly. To learn more about the program, visit: www.redriverbeefmastersale.com

We experience a similar financial boost in our own annual bull sale. At Isa Beefmasters, all our cattle are generically named L Bar plus a 4-digit number (e.g., L Bar 2104). We only name the semen sires, so they are easily identifiable. Though most of the bulls we sell each fall go into commercial operations, the buyers recognize the additional value and predictability of those A.I.-sired bulls and will pay more for them.

The chart at right details our 2021 bull sale results. You can see a $484-per-head advantage for the A.I.-sired calves, which is a welcome boost to the bottom line.

In both studies, we will provide full details in our upcoming Spring Isa Informer newsletter. But we wanted to give a sneak peek at this tremendous news.The first involves a collaboration with Beefmaster Breeders United and the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, OK. They used two leading Beefmaster bulls (L Bar En Fuego, C988569, raised by Isa Beefmasters and owned by Gene Haymon; and CF Nueces, C1059662, raised by Collier Farms and owned by Jim Colvin). The sires were A.I. bred to their commercial Angus herd. Noble’s initial intent was to develop and study the replacement females, and that is still ongoing. But BBU was able to buy, feed and harvest the steers, with some truly fantastic results.

The Executive Summary: The steers gained 4.47 pounds per day, finished in 160 days (40 days faster than projected), had 0% death loss, yielded 62.6% and graded 94% choice (industry average 75%). Additionally, Warner Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) tests were conducted by West Texas A&M University, and the steers averaged 3.86kg. (Anything under 4.6kg is considered tender.) This phenomenal performance shows what can be achieved utilizing performance Beefmaster genetics in your crossbreeding program.

Isa President Lorenzo Lasater commented, “The cattle industry often loses sight of the fact that profitability at the cow-calf level is predicated on low-input cattle that can handle their environment, reproduce efficiently, and wean heavy calves. No female is better at this than a Beefmaster.”

We look forward to sharing the full results in our Spring Isa Informer. We are proud of how well Isa Beefmasters genetics performed in both progeny tests. While they encompass very different aspects of Beef Cattle production, they examine several fundamental concepts in successful operations: reproductive efficiency, adaptability, growth, health, and carcass quality.

Congratulations to Isa Beefmasters President, Lorenzo Lasater, on being named BBU’s Performance Breeder of the Year! The award, announced at the recent BBU convention in Oklahoma City, OK, recognizes a breeder who employs “superb management practices.”

Lorenzo is the second Isa Beefmasters leader to be recognized by BBU: Isa Beefmasters founder Laurie Lasater was chosen as BBU’s 2000 Breeder of the Year.

From the Beefmaster Breeders United press release:

BOERNE, Texas (Oct. 24, 2022) – The 61st Annual Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) Convention was hosted in Oklahoma City, Okla., at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel on October 21 and 22, 2022. During the convention several member awards were presented to outstanding Beefmaster breeders who have excelled over the past year and decades before.
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It’s hard to fathom, but our family’s use of the L Bar brand dates back almost to the Civil War, with it first appearing in the 1870s. Since then, four generations of Lasaters have branded tens of thousands of cattle with the iconic mark, both in Texas and in Mexico.

Starting in South Texas

In 1892, my grandfather Ed C. Lasater first registered the L Bar brand in Falfurrias, located in South Texas’ rugged cattle country. Ed founded the town of Falfurrias, as well as Brooks County, which he named for his friend Judge John Brooks. He was determined to build his empire there and began amassing land and cattle.

At its height, Ed’s La Mota ranch measured 380,000 acres, making it one of the largest in Texas. Ed became well known for his large herds of high-quality Hereford and Shorthorn cattle, and he imported the first Brahman cattle into South Texas. In addition, he owned the largest Jersey herd in the world and founded Falfurrias Creamery Company, and the name Falfurrias became synonymous with its sweet, creamy butter.

Surviving the unthinkable

Ed died in 1930 and much of the ranch and cattle were swallowed up by the Great Depression. His youngest son—and my father—Tom Lasater left Princeton University in his sophomore year to return home and salvage what he could of the family business. It was during this period of economic catastrophe that Beefmasters were born: Tom experimented with crossing various of his father’s remaining cattle. He quickly discovered the Shorthorn/Hereford/ Brahman three-way cross was far superior to other crosses he tried. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and Beefmasters were tested and honed during this most dire economic period of the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1937, Tom closed his herd to outside genetics, and in 1948, he relocated his Beefmasters to Matheson, Colorado, to escape the ongoing frustration of Hoof and Mouth disease coming across the Mexican border. He purchased the former Matheson Ranch on the eastern plains near Colorado Springs and continued his development of Beefmasters. The USDA formally recognized Beefmasters in 1954, making it one of the first American composite breeds.

Heading south of the border

Ten years later, I picked up the mantle of the brand, taking L Bar, my new bride and 35 Beefmaster cows to Mexico. In 1964, I registered the brand in the northern state of Coahuila.

I sold my first L Bar Beefmaster bull calves to three ranchers for $5,000 pesos ($400) each. The neighborhood could not believe the high price paid by prominent ranchers! Each year I bought 50 weaned bull c­alves from The Lasater Ranch and sold them to Mexican ranchers in several areas.

In 1966, with backing from investors in Midland, Texas, I bought the 31,500-acre Rancho Santa Cruz near Múzquiz, Coahuila, and we expanded our herd to 400 cows. When we decided to return home after 10 years, I sold the cattle to Guillermo Osuna and the ranch to Vidal Gonzalez, both neighboring ranchers.

Returning home to Texas

When we relocated back to Texas in the 1970s, I registered the brand in Irion County in West Texas.

Today, our children, Lorenzo and Isabel, are the fourth generation of Lasaters to raise cattle under our beloved brand. They have reg­­istered the L Bar brand in the nine counties in which they operate, ranging from Sutton County, south toward Mexico, to Titus County, northeast of Dallas.

I am proud of the fact that I was able to use the L Bar brand for 50 years in Mexico and Texas and be part of its storied, 130-year history.

Isa Beefmasters LLC’s 61st Beefmaster Bull Sale was held on Oct. 1, 2022, in San Angelo, Texas. It was an excellent sale, with 33 buyers from six states and Mexico taking home 100 Beefmaster bulls at an average of $5840. Isa President Lorenzo Lasater stated the sale was their highest average to date, with excellent demand for good Beefmaster genetics. Auctioneer Joe Goggins of Billings, MT, sold the 100 bulls in the blistering time of 1 hour, 45 minutes.

The high-selling bull, L Bar 0501, sold to Danny Major of Chino Valley, AZ, for $18,000. This awesome, young herdsire prospect is the son of Schneider 0481 and L Bar 8440 and was one of the overall top performers in the offering.

The second high-selling bull, L Bar 0548, sold to San Pedro Ranch of Carrizo Springs, TX, for $16,000. This excellent bull was another top performer and sired by L Bar 6105.

As breeding season approaches for many U.S. ranches, I often hear conversations about how much we should pay for a bull, and the budget range that folks feel comfortable spending varies quite a bit. Obviously, open cows are highly detrimental to the bottom line, but beyond just freshening cows, a quality bull also delivers a great deal of hidden value to the operation.

The old rule of thumb is that a bull is worth four or five times the value of a weaned calf. Let’s look at that math based on the market today:
600-pound feeder calves at Producers Auction in San Angelo on 3/9/2022 averaged $1.81 a pound, or $1086. If we factor a bull’s value at four steers, we could pay $4344. If we choose to view him as being worth five steers, we could pay $5430. This method appears to reasonably approximate a bull’s value. Each ranch must examine their own budget and genetic needs and find a value that feels comfortable.
We can conservatively project a bull to produce 125 calves in his lifetime, breeding 25 females a year over five years. Obviously, this can be leveraged higher with multiple breeding seasons and greater breeding ratios. But you can see very quickly that if he improves key traits in your herd, he will add significant value through these changes.

The chart at right shows how long a bull’s contribution carries on after purchase. It is amazing that the bull you buy this year will still be having a genetic impact on your herd through his daughters 16 years later!

Often breeding establishments don’t emphasize the early fertility trait. Many outfits choose to breed heifers at a later age. There are several reasons to do this out of expedience, but is it the right decision genetically? Isa Beefmasters breeds at 14 months to calve at 24 months in a 60-day breeding season. This program can be costly in terms of losses due to open females, but with each generation we are moving the needle forward for early maturity and fertility, keeping only the best genetics in our herd.

At Isa Beefmasters, we view females in the herd a little differently: Rather than being a collection of fancy individuals, they are integral parts of the larger factory. This well-oiled machine is comprised of high-performance cows, and we measure the overall performance of the factory by the strength of its calf crop.

We call this concept population genetics. Laurie Lasater best illustrates this concept in The Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Raising: “This program is called ‘population genetics’ and involves mass selection for clearly defined principles combined with rapid turnover in both males and females.” (p. 62)

So how do we implement population genetics into our breeding strategy? First and most importantly, we breed in a short season to calve at 24 months and raise a calf every year from then on. No exceptions. Magically, it turns out that cattle born out of this program are efficient, fertile, growthy and productive. This simple and free tool can be applied to any cow herd, anywhere, to make huge genetic improvement. The ad (pictured at right) from July 1955’s The Cattleman magazine shows how long these principles have been at work improving our gene pool.

The use of multiple-sire breeding differentiates Isa Beefmasters from our competitors’ programs. This pressure is one of population genetics’ secret weapons. Our commercial customers breed in large, multi-sire herds where bulls must fight for order and compete to breed. We believe that the extended use of single-sire breeding by the seedstock industry has decreased the libido in the bulls of many breeds. Our bulls compete to breed, ensuring high libido is built into the gene pool. Also, while we carefully choose our herd sires, nature chooses the individual matings. We trust the factory and the system to produce the best product.

L Bar 9496 is another hidden success story. I really hadn’t given her much thought until weaning this past spring, when I took the picture above. That calf at side is her 10th in a row, starting at two years old. Look at her perfect udder! And she just had her 11th calf last month. All three daughters she raised are still in the herd, with the oldest being nine years old. This level of fertility and longevity perfectly illustrates what I mean by being a productive member of the larger factory.In summary, many of the policies of traditional registered herds run counter to the function and productivity of the cow herd. The emphasis on the individual loses sight of the power of the team. Using single-sire breeding removes critical breeding instincts and libido in bulls over time. Selecting individuals to artificially replicate based on pedigree or phenotype loses sight of their most important job—productivity in the herd.

Congratulations to Isa Beefmasters founder, Laurie Lasater, on his induction into the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor! The award recognizes Texans who have made a significant contribution to the state’s agricultural heritage. Laurie’s nomination cited his efforts establishing the first Beefmaster herd in Mexico and promoting the breed in that country, as well as his travels around the word to expand Beefmasters into new countries. Laurie’s father, Tom Lasater, who developed the Beefmaster breed, was also inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2004.

From the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor press release:

DALLAS–September 9, 2021–With agriculture at the foundation of our organization, the State Fair of Texas is proud to announce its two newest inductees to the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor. The program was established in 1992 as a biennial program to recognize men and women who have made significant contributions to the agricultural heritage of Texas. They have made their marks as farmers, ranchers, drovers, inventors, innovators, educators, authors, legislators and preservationists. Their achievements span 170 years, reaching back to the birth of the Texas Republic and extending out into a limitless future.

Beginning in 2019, the induction of nominees both living and deceased are considered annually. This year, two deserving individuals join more than 70 men and women previously inducted into the Texas Heritage Hall of Honor. Today, we celebrate Laurence M. Lasater and Frances Richmond Cooper for their achievements and contributions that helped establish Texas as a premier agricultural leader of the nation.

Laurence M. Lasater of San Angelo was born to Tom and Mary Lasater, the founders of the Beefmaster breed. In 1964 he and his wife, Annette, moved to Coahuila, Mexico, where their cattle became the foundation herd of the breed in Mexico. In 1974 they moved their family to San Angelo, where they established another Beefmaster herd and founded Isa Cattle Co.

He is the author of The Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Raising, which was first published by the University of Texas at El Paso in 1971 and now is in its 16th edition in multiple languages. He was elected President of the Foundation Beefmaster Association and Director of Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers. In 2019, he was inducted into the Beefmaster Hall of Fame. Laurence and Annette’s children, Lorenzo and Isabel, have since taken the reins of the family business and continue the Lasater legacy.
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The State Fair of Texas is a celebration of all things Texan, and there is no better way to learn about agriculture and Texas heritage than by taking a walk through the livestock barns of the Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center during the State Fair. Be sure to stop by the Heritage Hall of Honor inside the Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center or visit https://bigtex.com/supporting-texans/agriculture/hall-of-honor to check out all of the inductees and learn more about the program.

As I write this article, the temperature outside hovers around 16 degrees. We are undergoing a historic winter storm that has turned the entire state of Texas completely on its ear.

Amid all this unpleasant weather, something really jumped out at me: Cattle are incredibly tough! Our Beefmasters remained outside in overnight temperatures around zero, with brutal wind chills and snow. These incredible cows managed to give birth and come in with a live calf through it all. Prolonged exposure to these temperatures would kill humans. But aside from being hungry and thirsty each day (we have to break ice for them to drink when it gets this cold), they endured the record storm just fine.

Although Beefmasters are typically thought of as warm-weather cattle, they actually do very well in all but the most extreme northern climates. My grandfather, Tom Lasater, founded the Beefmaster breed in South Texas. He later relocated his herd to Colorado in the 1940s. The Foundation Herd has thrived in two very different, very intense climates. In addition, you’ll find Beefmaster herds in other colder U.S. states, such as Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Wisconsin.

Our L Bar herd lives on the other end of the extreme weather continuum: West Texas gets exceptionally hot in the summer, as you can see in this graphic of a typical summer forecast. Even in these tough temps, Beefmasters go about their business of grazing and producing and raising calves without complaint.

Isa Beefmasters also partners in a small Beefmaster herd in Costa Rica, a country that presents a different set of extremes from West Texas. Yes, it is also hot, but high humidity and high annual rainfall intensify the challenges. Although the grass is abundant and can be green year-round, it’s very poor quality, creating serious nutritional stress. And don’t forget the insects! But the L Bar Beefmasters have adapted with amazing ease. In just over two years, the cattle have mastered these challenges: a new climate with extreme heat, humidity and almost daily rainfall; new grasses that tax the entire digestive system; and new parasites and ticks that don’t exist in Texas. These incredible cattle have not only endured these changes, they have flourished—raising healthy Beefmaster calves and even producing embryos.

In addition to these extreme climate swings, I often think about the amazing pain tolerance cattle have. When we brand, we apply four numbers plus the L Bar. If I had to endure just one of those brands, I would be screaming bloody murder, then crying in the fetal position for days. Yet cattle handle it without a great deal of reaction and seem to recover almost immediately as they exit the chute. This tolerance extends to all manner of routine management procedures that we would find unbearable, such as dehorning, castration, pregnancy testing, etc.

And what about Covid-19? The entire world seems to have ground to a halt in trying to deal with the historic pandemic, but cattle remain healthy and unaffected. The herd certainly isn’t fretting about masks and social distancing like their goofy human counterparts.

So, “cheers” to the incredible cow! These remarkable beasts convert the sun’s energy—in the form of forages unusable to humans—into tasty and nutritious beef. It is truly miraculous. And they do it without complaint 24/7/365.

By what metric do we measure the impact of a herdsire? Obviously, we start with progeny, which is his legacy. En Fuego has 196 progeny registered in BBU, but he has sired many more calves both internationally and commercially. Plus a great many more in the pipeline will be counted as his influence grows.

His daughters are fantastic as well—thick, feminine and highly productive. En Fuego sired one of our top donor cows, L Bar 3404. She is a three-quarter sibling to semen sire L Bar 4519. That kind of tightly knit productivity is exactly what makes line-breeding such a powerful tool.

This spring I attended the Bar T Bar Gelbvieh bull sale in Arizona. They produce Balancer cattle (Gelbvieh hybrids), including what they call a Southern Balancer, made using Beefmaster genetics. Pictured is an L Bar En Fuego grandson along with the catalog listing. Beefmaster aficionados know you will gain efficiency, explosive growth and hardiness just by using a Beefmaster, without having to sacrifice the yield grade, health and longevity of English genetics.

In Oklahoma, the Noble Research Institute is currently running an experiment on their commercial cows for their “Integrity Beef Alliance” program. They used two Beefmaster sires last year, including En Fuego, and they were so pleased with the results that they doubled the number of Beefmaster straws they put in this spring. Even the Beefmaster sceptics on staff couldn’t believe how good the calves were. You can see the quality in the photo—making those Angus cows look good!

L Bar En Fuego boasts tremendous EPDs, with eight of 12  in the top 20% of the breed and three in the top 1%, including the all-important marbling score. And you can take that number to the bank as literally hundreds of his progeny have been scanned with high marbling scores. If you are looking to improve carcass traits in your herd, En Fuego will definitely move the needle.

L Bar En Fuego is still in production at the age of nearly 12 on Gene Harmon’s Pine Tree Acres in Arkansas—a fitting way to round out a great career, though we will feel the ripples of his impact long after he is gone. A tip of the hat to this game-changing herdsire.

Mechanically, we use 4” L&H Electric Irons. I have experimented with every alternative, such as 3” brands, freeze brands, no brands, etc. My dad always let me experiment, and I always had to come back and say the way we had done it my whole life was the best.

The key to effective branding lies in the numbering system. Using this photo as an example, the top number is the year of birth (2020). The second and third numbers indicate this is a male calf out of a mature fall-calving cow. I can tell sex, calving season and whether it is out of a first-calf heifer or a cow on every animal, even on paper.

One of the great things about A.I. is it allows you to multiply the influence of great bulls way beyond what they could contribute naturally. We are fortunate to sell the semen out of the sires we use, so we are often able to use the same bull on different herds simultaneously.

The synchronization protocols have improved dramatically in recent times, allowing for simplified logistics and improved conception rates. We find that the use of synchronization in heifers has several key benefits:

• Roughly half of the calves are born the first couple weeks of the calving season.

• The second heat, though not A.I., results in a good number more pregnancies.• We achieve higher overall conception than we experience with natural breeding only.

• Assuming a 50% pregnancy rate, you need half as many natural-service bulls.

Pro Tip! If you breed your heifers to calve at two years, they still fit the carcass sonogram scanning window when you run them for A.I.

These benefits alone point to the fact that every cattleman should carefully consider the use of A.I., but the real value lies in the genetic punch. You can use the very best bulls in the breed, likely ones that you could not (or would not) afford to own. You can also fine-tune your genetic selection for traits such as calving ease and carcass quality. And unlike virgin bulls, whose EPDs can move significantly as they produce offspring, the EPDs of widely used semen sires are highly accurate and predictable.

The most fundamental standard we should demand of our cattle is fertility. For example, the absolute best a cow can achieve from a productivity standpoint is having one calf per year. This rigorous plan assumes 283 days’ gestation and roughly 45 days for involution, which totals 328 days. This leaves only 37 days to rebreed, which means we really need to hustle (as do our cows). On the flip side, in a breeding season of longer than 90 days, the whole herd cannot possibly rebreed annually.

At Isa Beefmasters, we have used a 60-day breeding season for as long as I can remember. This schedule has a nice rhythm: All the cows have a chance to rebreed annually, the calves are tightly grouped and the cows should have three chances to cycle and conceive.

Another important component of accountability is nutritional efficiency. We strive to optimize nutrition while minimizing costs and still achieving reasonable reproductive rates. It is easy to claim 95% pregnancy rates if the cows are in a pen eating free-choice, high-energy ration. But what if they are surviving on rough native country through the winter with minimal protein supplement? It seems to me that those cows are truly accountable and paying their own way. It also more closely mirrors the production system of most commercial operations.
To gauge production efficiency, we can measure pounds per calf weaned. But does that really tell the whole story? What about the costs to achieve those pounds? It drives me crazy to hear seedstock producers claim enormous weaning weights, when those weights were actually achieved on creep feed, wheat pasture or another intensive supplement.

The real question is: what did those pounds cost? I would rather have honest, low-cost weaning weights and then be able to identify the outliers for growth within that peer group. If a group of calves averages 600 pounds at weaning, you will find some 750 pounders and some 450 pounders. The accountability for each calf and their mother quickly becomes obvious.

As we have discussed, a cow under natural production can, at best, reproduce herself once annually. Even if she lasts many years—as Beefmasters do—and has a calf every year, her impact is limited to 10 to 12 calves at the most. Bulls on the other hand can breed 25 to 40 females per season and be used in multiple seasons annually. This larger scale means accountability for his genetic impact becomes paramount. If we are serious about genetic change, we can’t just pick for a fancy pedigree or a pretty smile; we must hold them accountable for many critical phases, including growth, calving ease, carcass quality, fertility, confirmation, pedigree, disposition and EPDs.

We are not just talking about how long cattle can live, but how long they can successfully do their job. In the case of a beef cow, that means weaning a merchantable calf each year for as long as possible. Studies have shown that it takes about five calves to cover a cow’s development cost. A cow needs to have calved at two years old, calved every year and reach six years of age to break even. What percentage of your herd attains or exceeds this mark? These demands are compounded by the difficulty in getting them bred the first time and, especially, re-bred for their second calf.

Beyond age, another factor in a cow staying in the herd is her ability to stay healthy. She must be resistant to threats such as structural soundness, insects, disease, eye problems, bad udders and temperature extremes. Beefmasters are legendary for their hardiness and withstanding these types of threats.

Another benefit of increased longevity means culling fewer cows for age, which allows us to cull deeper for other traits such as poor productivity (raising a light or sorry calf) or defects such as bad udders, unsound feet and legs, poor disposition, muscling, etc.

We can apply the same longevity logic to bulls. We all know bull replacement costs are significant. If we can stretch their productive lives an extra year or two, we will dramatically impact the bottom line.The photo to the right shows Isa Beefmasters bulls just out of heavy service in south Florida. The yellow bull to the left is 12 years old. The manager of the ranch said they were getting 30–40% more useful life out of their Isa Beefmasters bulls than other breeds.

On a recent circle through Nevada, I came across this great old Beefmaster cow, pictured at right. The ranch had switched to black bulls a number of years back. I asked the rancher about the cow, and he told me she was 16 years old. He said before the change they routinely had Beefmaster-cross cows lasting 12 or more years. Now, with a mostly Angus-influenced herd, he said they were lucky to get six or seven years out of them. Needless to say, they are switching back to Beefmasters!

The L Bar pair, pictured at the top, is the oldest cow in our fall-calving herd. She is 16 years old, and that heifer is her 15th calf. I doubt she will be able to sustain that level of production, but she’s already done her job and then some. That cow is truly a Moneymaker!

If you are looking for genetics that will improve the productive efficiency of your herd, we invite you to try Isa Beefmasters. We have been working for more than 80 years to develop efficient, profitable cattle, and now you can reap the rewards of our efforts.

The fertility built into a herd is of paramount importance in selecting the genetics to improve your herd. Does your provider employ a defined breeding season of 90 days or less? At Isa Beefmasters, we use a 60-day breeding season on both our fall- and spring-calving herds. We breed the heifers at 14 months old to calve on their second birthday, and then we require them to breed and wean a calf every year throughout their lifetime. Any cow that fails to do so is culled. Another area we emphasize in herdsire selection is the age of the dam: Bulls out of first-calf heifers or an older cow that has never missed pack a significant genetic punch. If your current provider is cutting corners—calving year-round, letting cows miss or holding heifers to breed later—think carefully about their commitment to herd fertility.

Though Beefmasters are thought of as heat-tolerant cattle—and they truly excel in harsh, hot conditions—they are actually very adaptable cattle. Our home base, San Angelo, Texas, is characterized by a dry climate, with extremely hot summers and fairly cold winters. Cows must be able to tolerate 110-degree summer days but also the occasional snow or ice storm with wind chills in the single digits Fahrenheit. We have a lot of success selling genetics throughout the tropical regions of the world because our cattle adapt so easily, but the nice little surprise is how well they also do in cold climates, such as our northern states.

The bulls we sell undergo a unique, yearlong performance test. Our test is comprised of two gain test phases: one on grass and one on feed. These phases mimic the production cycle of a feeder calf and demonstrates a bull’s genetics for growth in each phase. Many competing breeds are put on feed at weaning until they are sold. This “help” does a disservice both to the bull and to the buyer, masking the bull’s true capabilities.

Another facet of performance evaluation is DNA technology, which we have used for many years for sire identification, allowing us to breed in multiple-sire herds and still maintain accurate pedigrees. This multi-sire approach ensures accuracy when selecting for bull libido and their ability to breed in competition with other bulls, which is pretty unique among registered programs. DNA technology today has advanced to the point that we now have Genomic Enhanced EPDs. This new specificity layers DNA markers for various traits over the traditional phenotypic measurements, giving us greatly increased EPD accuracies in young cattle with no progeny. Genomic Enhanced EPDs ensure much greater predictability when selecting bulls to improve your herd genetically. In addition, the current DNA allows us to parent-verify both sire and dam, giving you total confidence in the pedigrees you are selecting.