The Rural Voice, 1978-11, Page 13breeders including the Lostells have travelled to Western
Canada to learn more about the cattle firsthand.
The Lostells are members of the Ontario Beefalo Association.
and the organization had a booth publicizing the new hybrid
strain of cattle at the recent International Plowing Match held in
Wingham.
Mr. Lostell, a director of the provincial association, said the
president of theCanadianBeefalo Association said recently there
is more interest in the animal being shown in Ontario than the
West, even though beefalo were originally introduced mainly in
Western Canada.
Beefalo semen, which had to be shipped in from either the
United States or Western Canada until recently. is now available
in Ontario. For example, semen from Joe's Pride, the Basolo
bull, can now be purchased from a number of Al breeding
stations for approximately $16. a vial.
Joe's Pride, one of Basolo's prize bulls, was sold to a Western
Canadian breeding firm known as Algar Holdings of Calgary for
$21/2 million when the 29 month old bull weighed 2,400 pounds.
One of the main investors in Algar Holdings was Frank Jensen, a
Calgary businessman and entrepreneur who is one of the
beefalo's chief boosters in Canada.
Unfortunately the investment in Joe's Pride proved
disappointing. The bull didn't adapt to life in Alberta, became
impotent and had to be shipped back to the Basolo ranch in
California. However, he's now producing again and a number of
the 250 beefalo producers in Canada have started their herds
Ntiith semen from Joe's Pride.
Mr. Jensen himself has continued raising the hybrid cattle and
now has a herd of 2300 head of beefalo, and he can't keep up
with the demand for meat from the herd.
The Lostells. like many other beefalo breeders are gradually
building up their herd, and it will be at least eight years before
they produce a purebred beefalo which matches Basolo's
formula.
However. their halfblood calves weigh from 45 to 72 pounds
at birth and sonic of the better calves have gait ed up to 130
pounds in 29 days.
In the meantime, the Lostells aren't selling many of their
calves since this could slow the breeding process down. With
beefalo, the mating game is something the breeder must be
prepared to handle patiently. since it takes time to produce a
registered herd of the hybrid cattle.
Finally, the other selling point for beefalo is that they dress out
at between 68-74 per cent. When the Lostells had one of their
halfbloods slaughtered recently, they immediately noticed a
difference between their beefalo meat and ordinary beef.
Lostell said the meat cooks faster, there is hardly any fat,
particularly in the hamburg, and the meat has a finer grade.
This reporter, given some beefalo meat to cook, can vouch
there was virtually no fat when the hamburg was cooked and the
meat tasted very much like ground beef.
Frank Jensen, the Calgary entrepreneur is using beefalo meat
in the sausages he produces, and has already won awards with
his beefaio sausages at the San Francisco Fall Fair.
Mr. Jensen sells his beefalo meat for 10 cents a pound more
than the current selling price of beef.
1 tie facts that beefalo can thrive on roughage, gain weight
rapidly and have docile dispositions count heavily in their favor.
However the next 10 or 15 years will tell how widely beefalo
are accepted by cattlemen across Canada and the United States
and how widely the public accepts beefalo meat.
In the meantime, the Lostells and other breeders are
enthusiastic spokesmen for the new hybrids. If the breeders
meet with success, someday we may see another breed of cattle
winning prizes at fall fairs across the province.
But just in case the beefalo don't become as popular as the
Lostells hope they will, Lloyd Lostell is keeping his eye on
another American experiment producing a hybrid strain by
crossing Brahma bulls with domestic cattle.
W.D.HOPPER & SONS
Water Well Drilling
R.R.2 SEAFORTH
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THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1978 PG. 1