Farmer’s Weekly – 09 August 2019

PROMOTIONAL SUPPLEMENT

CROSSBREEDING

“Somethingthatis tremendously

important,when considering

Beefmastersina crossbreeding

programme,is heterosis or

hybridvigour,”he says. (Hybrid

vigouris simplyan increase

intheperformance of hybrids

overthatofpurebreds.)

“Becauseoftheir origin

asa three-breedcomposite

(commonlyexpressed as roughly

50%Brahman,25% Hereford and

25%Shorthorn),Beefmasters’

built-inheterosis is much higher

thanthatofa purebred or two-

waycross.Thisis an amazing

qualitythatyoudon’t have

T

heBeefmaster,whether

purebredorcrossbred,

giveseverycattleproducer

theopportunitytomakemore

moneyperhectare.Thisis the

viewofFransOdendaal,owner

ofWOBeefmastersinVrede.

Hisfamilyhasbredcattle

forfivedecades,andhesays

thattheBeefmaster,when

managedaccordingtothe

Lasaterphilosophy,offersthe

opportunitytomakegoodprofits.

Helistsvariousreasonsforthis.

WIDEGENEPOOL

“Youcanneverdevelopgenesfor

certaintraitsina breedorherd

if theydon’texistinyourown

herd,”stressesOdendaal.“You

havetobringthosegenesinto

yourherdfromanotherbreedto

optimisegeneticcomposition.”

TheBeefmaster,heexplains,is

a combinationofthebestcattle

breedsfromacrosstheworld.

“Youcanstarta Beefmasterherd

fromanadaptedcowbaseanduse

bullswithtraitsthatyoudesire.

TheBeefmasterisn’ta newbreed,

andbullswithgoodprepotency

areavailable.Theoptionsto

introducenew,effectivegenesto

yourherdarenever-endingand

theoptiontodevelopthebest

animalis inyourhands,”hesays.

ABOVE:

Beefmastercattle

areusuallyred,

butcancome

in othercolours

too.Accordingto

FransOdendaal,

ownerofWO

Beefmasters,this

is nota negative,

andtoomany

farmersslaughter

theiranimals

becausetheyare

the‘wrong’colour.

Farmersshould

notselectfor

non-profitabletraits

suchascolour.

PHOTOS:SUPPLIED

FransOdendaal, ownerof WOBeefmastersin Vredein theFreeState,saystheBeefmaster

is theidealcattlebreedto improvecrossbreedingprogrammesandboosthybridvigour and

reproductionratesin a herd.It alsoperformsexceptionallywellin feedlots.

How the Beefmaster can

make money for you

68 farmer’sweekly 9 AUGUST 2019