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 Cape.

- Guy Rensburg

Tom 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 grass veld 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.