By Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President

By the time you read this, everyone will have learned that President Trump has closed a trade deal with China that will re-open their market to U.S. beef. The U.S. has been blocked out of the Chinese market since the infamous. “cow that stole Christmas” in 2003. The positive repercussions of the Chinese market opening is great for all U.S. cattlemen.

Over the past several months the U.S. market has been steadily building again. All classes of cattle, especially replacement females, have been increasing in value. Some of this is because of herd rebuilding in the southern plains and Midwest. What I think we will be seeing over the next few months is a robU.S.t market for feeder cattle, finished cattle and replacement females. This is because once we begin shipping product to China demand will increase across all classes of cattle.

Since news of this trade [...]

By Lance Bauer, Field Representative

The past couple of weeks have been full of travel. I have gone from Athens, Ga. for the Beef Improvement Federation conference and to David, Chiriqui, Panamá for Feria De La Carne Bovina (Cattlemen’s Convention). In Athens, there were academics, as well as producers, represented and many informative presentations were presented about the future of the cattle industry in the United States. It was very evident from these presentations that we need to produce more efficient and maternal cattle. There was also a big push to use crossbreeding and take advantage of hybrid vigor. I believe that all three of these topics are strengths of the Beefmaster and make us a viable option for producers.

In Panamá, I visited the government operated experiment station called Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá (IDIAP) and learned about their crossbreeding projects. They have recently incorporated Beefmasters into this project and [...]

By Bill Pendergrass, Beefmaster Breeders United Executive Vice President

Spring has sprung and with it, a remarkable demand for Beefmaster cattle. As I write this column we are over halfway through the spring marketing season and despite a large number of sales with increased consignments, prices for quality Beefmaster lots are impressive.

Demand is a fickle beast, it is hard to understand and even harder to explain. However, deciphering what is creating demand is essential to future planning. The demand for Beefmaster cattle is driven by herd rebuilding predominantly in Texas and Oklahoma, with some action from Missouri thrown in for good measure. The complexion of the cow herds in these areas is very different, ranging from F1 tiger stripes on the coastal bend to straight bred Angus in the fescue country of Missouri. The common thread across these varied environments is that these ranchers are searching for superior maternal genetics.

For the [...]

Beefmasters were recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a pure breed in 1954

Beefmaster Breeders United was founded in 1961

Developed on the Six Essentials – Weight, Conformation, Milk Production, Fertility, Hardiness and Disposition

In 2016, Beefmaster Breeders United registered 16,900 animals

As of June 2017, there are 3,074 Beefmaster Breeders United members

Beefmaster is ranked 9th among beef cattle breed registrations (source: National Pedigreed Livestock Council)

The association is made up of nine satellite organizations

Arkansas BBA, Central Texas BBA, Central States BBA, Live Oak BBA, Lone Star BBA, Louisiana BBA, Southeastern BBA, South Texas BBA and Western States BBA

The association has six marketing groups that assist in marketing Beefmaster cattle

Beefmaster Promotion Group, East Texas / Louisiana, Mid-Atlantic, Ozark and Heart of America, Southern Alliance and Texoma Beefmaster

In 2009 the Beefmaster Educational Endowment Foundation (B.E.E.F.) was founded and is dedicated to scientific research, scholarships and public education

Junior Beefmaster Breeders Association (JBBA) was founded in [...]

Beefmaster Educational Endowment Foundation (B.E.E.F) is hard at work laying the groundwork to prove the maternal excellence of Beefmasters in today’s rapidly changing, technology driven beef industry. Educating the beef industry about the cow efficiency advantages of Beefmaster cattle is a key responsibility for B.E.E.F. Beefmaster Breeders United’s (BBU) Sire Evaluation Program is the first step in collecting valuable genomic and feed efficiency data that will be used to position Beefmasters as the maternal breed of choice. Here are some key points to the Sire Evaluation Program.

300 commercial cows in three separate test herds

The University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, AR
Flying B Ranches, La Pryor, TX
McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA

All cows A.I. bred to Beefmaster sires from programs with the largest genetic footprint in BBU
All progeny will be genotyped to increase the validity and accuracy all data points collected
All progeny to be developed on Growsafe Systems LLC technology to [...]

After a long day of meetings let’s unwind with great food, good friends and whole lot of fun! At the conclusion of the committee meetings on June 29th, BBU will be hosting a dinner and social at San Antonio’s Topgolf.

The dinner and social is open to all BBU members. Call 210-732-3132 or email Sarah at sdavis@beefmasters.org to reserve your Topgolf social spot. The deadline to reserve a spot is Monday, June 19th.

For just $30 per person, you will enjoy a delicious dinner and three hours of unlimited golf playtime: 7 – 10 pm. Payment can be made by credit card on file, credit card over the phone or by mailing in payment.