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By: Kansas Department of Agriculture

Beefmaster breeders from across the globe visited NextGen Cattle Co. and ReproLogix in Kansas on their way to the Beefmaster Breeders United convention. The team included (from left) Suzanne Ryan-Numrich, Bob Weaber, Carlos Gregorio Jiménez Toboada, Andrew Bird, Lauren Lyssy, Guillermo Jiménez, Oscar Cordon, Jon Garza, Solón Guerrero Palma, Elkin Acevedo, Pham Van Gioi, Mario Antonio Marcucci Santizo, Tang Tang Xuan Luu, Mario Francisco Marcucci Bruce, Guillermo Kong Lo, Joel Sanchez, Jachin Sanchez.

Together with the U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc. and the Beefmaster Breeders United, the Kansas Department of Agriculture hosted an inbound trade team in mid-October 2022, ahead of the annual Beefmaster Breeders United convention. Trade mission participants were Beefmaster breeders representing six countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua and Vietnam.

“The Beefmaster cattle were the first American composite breed (a combination of Brahman, Hereford and Shorthorn bloodlines). The breed was developed by selecting cattle with economically important traits such as resistance to heat, drought and insects,” said Suzanne Ryan-Numrich, KDA international trade director. “Especially in the hotter, more tropical climates, like those represented on this trade mission, those are very important traits for cattle to have.”

During their stop in Kansas, the cattlemen visited NextGen Cattle Co. in Paxico and ReproLogix in Fort Scott. While at NextGen Cattle Co., the inbound trade team heard from Bob Weaber of Kansas State University, regarding how to bridge the gap between international and U.S. breeds using the EPD (Expected Progeny Difference) system. Weaber also had a bred heifer quality grading activity for the team. During their visit to ReproLogix the team learned about advanced reproductive technologies and had a chance to demonstrate proper semen and embryo handling.

“Trade mission participants represented some of the top Beefmaster breeders from around the world—they have a progressive operation and are continually working to improve their breed through imported genetics. It was an honor for KDA to host them in Kansas,” said Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam.

The inbound trade mission was possible through KDA’s membership in U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc., with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Market Access Program. It is the mission of KDA to support all facets of agriculture, including lending support to those who wish to market and sell beef genetics domestically and internationally. For more information, including upcoming trade mission opportunities, contact Ryan-Numrich at Suzanne.Numrich@ks.gov or 785-564-6704.

BOERNE, Texas (Oct. 26, 2022) – Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) is proud to announce that Laurel Kelley of Yoakum, Texas was recently hired to serve as our Youth Programs Coordinator. Her duties include managing all programs and events related to the Junior Beefmaster Breeders Association (JBBA) program.

“I am passionate about the cattle industry, and I am excited to work with the outstanding junior members within the Beefmaster family,” said Kelley.

Kelley is originally from Yoakum, Texas, and grew up showing cattle. Kelley graduated from Blinn college with an Associate Degree in Animal Science. During her time at Blinn College she was a member of the livestock judging team. She went on to attend Texas A&M University (TAMU) and obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science, graduating in May 2022. While attending school at TAMU, Kelley was a member of the livestock judging team and a TALL program scholar. She also completed internships with the Texas Pork Producers and several livestock shows throughout the nation, including the San Antonio Livestock Show and Sioux Empire Livestock Show.

Before coming to BBU and JBBA, Kelley served as Programs Coordinator at the Texas Beef Council in Austin, Texas.

“Laurel has significant knowledge of the cattle industry, and she knows what it takes to be a manager of large events and programs,” says BBU Executive Vice President Joe W. Mask, PhD. “She will bring great energy to the youth program and serve as a great role model for our junior members. Laurel is dedicated to our Beefmaster breeders in every capacity. We are thrilled to have Laurel as part of the Beefmaster family.”

Kelley can be contacted at (210) 732-3132 or by email at lkelley@beefmasters.org.

For more information or to contact the BBU staff members call the office at 210-732-3132 or visit www.beefmasters.org. Stay connected to BBU through Facebook, follow us on Instagram, view our videos on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter. Receive our news updates through joining our mailing list.

Click here to download a photo of Laurel Kelley.

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Beefmaster Breeders United is a not-for-profit breed registration organization that provides programs and services for its members. Beefmaster, Beefmaster Advancer and E6 cattle are selected on the “Six Essentials” of disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production and hardiness.

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.

The BBU New Member of the Year award is awarded to a BBU member who has been involved in the breed for less than eight years, and to a member who has shown, dedication, progressivism, and growth within their program and the breed. This member must also be a part of at least one BBU satellite or marketing group. The 2022 new member of the year was awarded to Bill and Sheila Wilson of WW Beefmasters in Edinburg, Texas. They have been BBU members since 2015.

The BBU Member of the Year award recognizes a member that makes significant efforts to promote Beefmaster cattle and Beefmaster Breeders United. Melvin and Marilyn Scherer of V7 Beefmasters in Fannin, Texas were announced as the 2022 member of the year. The Scherers have been BBU members since 1976 and they have served each of those years in numerous leadership roles within BBU and the Live Oak Beefmaster Breeders Association. For decades this family has been dedicated to the promotion, marketing, and improvement of the Beefmaster breed.

The BBU Performance Breeder of the Year award was created to recognize members who are whole herd reporting (WHR) breeders, collect performance and ultrasound data, as well as have superb management practices within their breeding program. Lorenzo Lasater of L Bar Beefmasters in San Angelo, Texas was announced as the 2022 performance breeder of the year. Lasater has been a BBU member since 1995 and is the grandson of the founder of the Beefmaster breed, and a fifth-generation rancher, so he has spent his entire life around Beefmasters. He is the President of Isa Beefmasters, LLC and the company holds a 140 head bull sale each October, sells 50 private treaty bulls each spring, offers females for sale private treaty, and sells semen and embryos both domestically and internationally.

The BBU Environmental Conservation Award was created to recognize Beefmaster breeders who are stewards of the land and provides an opportunity for the Beefmaster breed to showcase the stewardship, conservation and business practices that work together on farms and ranches. The 2022 environmental award was awarded to Tim Chapman of H.T. Chapman Beefmasters in Rockport, Texas. His current method to improve grazing and grazing management includes having 610 acres as part of a 10,000-acre cattle operation that is divided into two parts, which they currently rotate for maximum grazing management.

The BBU Breeder of the Year award was created to recognize the efforts and contributions made by members to promote BBU and Beefmaster cattle, while also evaluating the type, size, and management practices of the member’s breeding program. The 2022 breeder of the year was awarded to Lyssy Beefmasters of Stockdale, Texas. The Lyssy family has been involved in Beefmaster cattle since 1972, when they first became BBU members. Lyssy Beefmasters has always operated under the belief that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”. By selectively breeding for animals that maintain their phenotypical integrity while also enhancing their carcass performance, Lyssy Beefmasters has been able to get their herd to the point they are at today.

Beefmaster Breeders Cattlewoman (BBC) of the year was awarded to Marilyn Scherer of Fannin, Texas. Scherer has been an active and integral part of the cattlewomen group for many years and a BBU member since 1976. She works tirelessly to coordinate events and to raise money to support the JBBA scholarship fund. Not only is she dedicated to BBC, but she has served in various leadership roles and on numerous BBU committees.

Click here to download photos of the 2022 Award Winners.

For more information about Beefmaster Breeders United and its membership awards please contact the BBU office at 210-732-3132 or visit www.beefmasters.org. Stay connected to BBU through Facebook, follow us on Instagram, view our videos on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter. Receive our news updates through joining our mailing list.

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Beefmaster Breeders United (www.beefmasters.org), located in Boerne, Texas, is a not-for-profit breed registration organization that provides programs and services for its members. Beefmaster, Beefmaster Advancer and E6 cattle are selected on the “Six Essentials” of disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production and hardiness.

Laurie and Lorenzo Lasater with the buyer of the high-selling bull, Danny Major of Chino Valley, AZ.

Isa Beefmasters, LLC’s 61st Beefmaster bull sale was held October 1st in San Angelo, Texas. It was an excellent sale; with 33 buyers from 6 states and Mexico taking home 100 Beefmaster bulls at an average of $5840. Isa’s 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 hours, 45 minutes.

The high-selling bull, L Bar 0501, sold to Danny Major of Chino Valley, AZ for $18,000. This awesome young herd sire 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.

It is worth noting that both high sellers are sons and grandsons of the great L Bar En Fuego, who sold in this sale in 2011. He has sired many high sellers since, and now his descendants are doing it. A truly remarkable genetic line.

Volume buyers included: Rafter T Ranch, FL – 12, A. Duda and Sons, FL -10, Ray Corona, FL – 10 and LE Ranch, NM – 9.

Current Isa president, Lorenzo Lasater, represents the 4th generation of the family dedicated to breeding performance Beefmaster  genetics. The breed was founded by Lorenzo’s grandfather, Tom Lasater, in 1937. This year marks the 85th anniversary of the breed. It is also the 130th anniversary of the L Bar brand, first used by Ed Lasater in 1892 in South Texas. It has been used continuously since by four generations of the family in Texas and Mexico.

According to Lorenzo, “This set of bulls represents over 80 years of consistent, balanced selection for economically viable cattle. These bulls will produce excellent feeder calves and replacement heifers in any environment, but especially the tougher ones. With more pounds at weaning, lower input costs, more longevity and the best mother-cow on the planet, Beefmasters can’t be beat.”

The Lasater family would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to everyone in attendance, especially the many repeat customers, including several second-generation buyers. We are already working hard to bring you our 62nd set of Beefmaster bulls on October 7th, 2023.

Luling, TX – 10/1/2022

Congratulations to the 2022 SEBBA award winners

• 1st place Miss Beefmaster America: Jason Hearn and Clark Jones
• Reserve Miss Beefmaster: Ed Faye
• Breeder of the Year: Jason & Kim Hearn
• Performance Breeder of the Year: Jerry & Tammy Thomas
• New Member of the year: Anthony Grayson
• Member of the Year: Jared Stricklin & Josh Morrison

Starting January 2023, the Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) office will have a new home in College Station, Texas. Here’s the scoop on why the office is making to 188 mile move northeast to Brazos County.

BBU, along with other American breeds, was approached by Texas A&M University (TAMU) in the spring of 2021 and also during the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) meetings in early summer 2021. TAMU had a vision to move all of the American beef cattle breed association offices to College Station, Texas to help promote Bos indicus influenced breeds, knowing that their maternal traits are important to the beef industry. BBU President Larry Meacham presented the idea to the BBU Board of Directors not long after that BIF discussion. With TAMU being one of Beefmaster’s biggest allies and having one of the most prestigious agricultural programs in the United States, the BBU Board of Directors decided in February 2022 that BBU should make this happen. Clearly, there are many steps that must be taken to turn this opportunity into a reality.

With Board approval, BBU put the current office in Boerne, Texas up for sale in June 2022 and since then the office has sold with a lease-back contract agreement through the end of 2022. This gives BBU ample time to plan for the move. The plan is to lease space in College Station, Texas for the short term, and to build on the TAMU campus in the long term.

TAMU’s vision is to be an American breeds campus. TAMU is a leading agricultural university and having this relationship with academia will give the Beefmaster breed another opportunity to market Beefmaster cattle to a vast variety of people.

TAMU has offered BBU a long-term lease (35 to 40 years) on property they own that is adjacent to the Beef Center. The vision is to build an office with a conference and educational facility, along with a cattle barn to showcase our cattle during structured events, such as Beef Cattle Short Course and beef industry conferences that take place throughout the year. The conference facility could be used for BBU and Junior Beefmaster Breeders Association meetings.

TAMU wants to make this transition and move as seamless as possible. They have offered to help assist in acquiring office space or conference space during this transition. They think the move will also help them in growing their agriculture department in the future.

Realizing that change is always hard, but looking at the upside, it brings more potential to Beefmaster Breeders United than most of us can see.

“I truly feel that Beefmaster cows have the best maternal traits of any cow that’s out there. But if you don’t make yourself relevant, you end up losing all of that,” says Meacham.

With TAMU support, it is the long-term vision of the Beefmaster breed to become the premiere American breed and the number one source for proven high-quality beef cattle genetics.

“How do you keep from becoming complacent? You’ve got to always keep your finger at the forefront. We have to remember that we are seedstock producers breeding cattle for commercial cattlemen. Acceptance of our genetics by the commercial cattlemen is essential and I believe Texas A&M is one of our biggest allies in catapulting us forward,” expressed Meacham.

With our magnificent maternal traits, Meacham believes that the Beefmaster breed will have a strong foothold in the market into the future and having this connection with academia will help our breed become and stay a vital portion of the beef cattle industry.

Obviously, there are other components that also come into play when you make such a move. The biggest component of which is staff. As you all know, we have a great set of individuals who have done an incredible job managing our association.

“The biggest concern for our board has been regarding staff because they’ve been so loyal to us. We made sure they know they have a job with us through the end of 2022,” said Meacham.

Beefmaster Breeders United’s new Executive Vice President Dr. Joe Mask officially started his role on September 6, 2022. He has a tremendous skill set and should make the new path forward seamless for the Beefmaster family. He recently transitioned from his Executive Vice President position for the American Brahman Breeders Association. Dr. Mask lives in the College Station area and has been involved with Bos indicus influenced cattle for most of his life. He has worked in the world of academia and Texas AgriLife for many years and will bring a lot of valuable insight to our association.

We sincerely thank Collin Osbourn for his many years of dedicated service to BBU. Collin will transition out of his role as EVP throughout the remainder of 2022. Collin will work closely with Dr. Mask during this time to ensure a successful changeover of leadership.

“We’re visiting with other staff members about continuing with BBU, whether in the College Station office or remotely,” says Meacham.

During the transition time, Meacham envisions having two offices, one in Boerne and one in College Station until we complete the move at the end of 2022. Dr. Mask will spend several days a week in Boerne to help make the transition as seamless as possible.

We hope to minimize disruption with the rest of the staff by either facilitating their move to College Station, Texas if they so choose, or implementing work-from-home policies where appropriate. We are truly thankful for their dedicated service to BBU and hope to make this as seamless as possible for all.

There are a lot of moving parts and potential issues, but we’ll work through them and do what’s best for the association. None of us like a lot of change, but our breed is in a position to grow at a greater stride than how we’ve been because of how well our cattle are received in the industry. Meacham believes this move to College Station will help us continue to be relevant as a breed and ultimately prosper.

Change is always difficult, but to continue to be relevant as a breed, the BBU Board of Directors felt that our outstanding breed of cattle must look to the future and welcome changes that will ultimately help us grow.

BOERNE, Texas (Sep. 10, 2022) – We are pleased to announce that Joe W. Mask, Ph.D., joined Beefmaster Breeders United (BBU) as the new Executive Vice President on September 6, 2022. Mask leads one of the global beef industry’s purebred beef associations, represents progressive and committed Beefmaster breeders on a worldwide level, manages a professional team, represents the association at worldwide beef events, and guides the organization as demand for Beefmaster cattle genetics continue to rise. It is his goal to make Beefmaster a common name when talking about the beef industry.

Most recently Dr. Mask served as Executive Vice President for the American Brahman Breeders Association. Prior to his role with the Brahman association, he served as an Assistant Professor/Extension Specialist Youth Veterinary Science with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. In this role, Mask was instrumental in implementing the Veterinary Science Certificate Program in all 50 states and four countries. Before this, he served as an Agriculture Science Teacher or County Extension Agent for 16 years.

Dr. Mask received his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Science from Texas A&M University, Master of Science in Agriculture Education from Tarleton State University and Doctorate in Extension Education from Texas A&M University under the guidance of Dr. Chris Boleman.

Dr. Mask has judged cattle for the past 24 years at local, county, state, national and international shows. His greatest joy is watching his daughter Jennifer show and advocate for the beef cattle industry. Dr. Mask lives in Franklin, Texas with his wife Julie and daughter Jennifer, where they raise Brahman, Simbrah, and Simmental cattle.

Mask can be contacted at (979) 559-2000 or by email at jwmask@beefmasters.org.

For more information or to contact the BBU staff members call the office at 210-732-3132 or visit www.beefmasters.org. Stay connected to BBU through Facebook, follow us on Instagram, view our videos on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter. Receive our news updates through joining our mailing list.

Click here to download a photo of Joe W. Mask, PhD.

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Beefmaster Breeders United is a not-for-profit breed registration organization that provides programs and services for its members. Beefmaster, Beefmaster Advancer and E6 cattle are selected on the “Six Essentials” of disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production and hardiness.