Beefmaster: great genetics and an even greater future

The ongoing and productive interaction between Beefmaster breeders helps ensure adherence to the breed’s outstanding traits, and is the best guarantee of Beefmaster’s sustainability. So says Guy Rensburg, the owner of Rensgrow Beefmasters in the Eastern C

om Lasater, founder of the Beefmaster breed in the US during the 1930s, had a no-nonsense approach to breeding based on a functional, efficient cow yielding a good calf each year.

Guy Rensburg, the owner of Rensgrow Beefmasters on the farm Koksley in the Komga district in the Eastern Cape, sees the value of Lasater’s approach daily in his own herd.

“The breed definitely lives up to this attribute,” says Rensburg.

adaptable

He adds that his animals are well adapted to his farm’s tough and varied environment.

“The topography ranges from open grassveld to rugged slopes of rough and extreme gradients and valley bushveld, with a wide selection of edible bush and shrubs, such as sweet thorn [ Vachellia karroo] and wild olive [ Olea europaea spp cuspidata].

“I move my replacement weaners to some of these rough areas, where they have to adapt to the tougher conditions and live on a varied diet of grass and bush.”

The farm is in a summer rainfall area and experiences relatively mild winters.

The cattle receive a phosphate lick year round. Rensburg also provides them with cotton oilcake at the end of winter and in early spring, when they are under greater stress.

“The process of moving weaners to rugged areas prepares the heifers and young bulls for adulthood and for the challenges of South Africa’s varied veld types,” he explains. “These animals can walk, graze, browse and sustain themselves.

“We have our fair share of ticks causing heartwater, gall sickness, and African and Asiatic redwater disease. I believe in a natural approach to looking after cattle: I blood my young stock every year, which has helped build up the animals’ natural immunity.”

As a stud breeder, he continues to strive for improved genetics.

“My goal is to sell a worthy animal, approved by strict selection and reliable recordkeeping, enabling the buyer to make an informed, calculated choice and establishing a winwin situation,” he says.

“Stud breeding is about enhancing a would-be buyer’s choice of animals for herd improvement and ultimate monetary gain.”

sharing insights

Rensburg says the Beefmaster Cattle Breeders’ Society of South Africa encourages members and fellow breeders to interact and engage with one other, in this way sharing information and insights.

He adds that this is important for ensuring that each Beefmaster animal fully conforms to Lasater’s six essentials: disposition, fertility, weight, conformation, milk production and hardiness.

“This in turns helps ensure that the breed remains an outstanding provider of beef and offers sound genetics.”

Crossbreeding Beefmasters with basic cow stock enables the six essentials to be fused into the progeny through scientific trait selection over many years, explains Rensburg. The traits of uniformity and temperament also come to the fore.

“A docile animal is more likely to produce tender beef, which is sought after by consumers.