What Is the Origin of the Beefalo Breed?

The Beefalo is a bovine hybrid created by intentionally crossbreeding the American bison with domestic cattle. This animal was not an accident of nature but the product of deliberate development over many years. The effort sought to produce a more resilient and efficient source of meat uniquely suited to the North American landscape.

The Genetic Blueprint of Beefalo

The foundation of the Beefalo breed is the genetic combination of American bison (Bison bison) and domestic cattle (Bos taurus). The standard for a “fullblood” Beefalo is an animal with a precise genetic makeup of 3/8 bison and 5/8 domestic cattle. This ratio is considered the ideal balance for capturing desired traits while maintaining reproductive viability and a manageable temperament. Any cattle breed can be used for the bovine portion, allowing producers to select for specific qualities.

Achieving this 37.5% bison heritage is a multi-generational process that begins with a first-generation (F1) cross, which produces a 50% hybrid. Since early hybrid males were infertile, fertile F1 females were bred back to domestic cattle bulls. This backcrossing systematically dilutes the bison genetics, and through selective breeding over generations, breeders arrive at the stable 3/8 bison to 5/8 cattle ratio.

The development of fertile hybrid bulls was a breakthrough that allowed for the consistent production of animals meeting the breed standard. Today, breed associations maintain a herd book to track pedigrees and ensure animals registered as Fullblood Beefalo meet the 37.5% bison genetic requirement. Animals with different percentages of bison genetics are classified differently, such as “Bison Hybrids.”

Purpose Behind the Crossbreeding

The primary motivation for developing the Beefalo was to create a meat animal that combined the hardiness of bison with the domesticity of cattle. Breeders sought to harness the American bison’s natural resilience, including the ability to thrive in extreme weather, gain weight on native grasses and roughage, and resist common diseases and pests.

From the domestic cattle side, breeders wanted to retain a docile temperament for easier handling, faster growth rates compared to pure bison, and familiar carcass qualities. The goal was to produce an animal that could be managed within existing ranching systems without the difficulties of handling wild bison.

The crossbreeding also aimed for an animal that calved easily and had a long reproductive lifespan, traits from its bison ancestry. Simultaneously, it was meant to provide a meat product that was leaner and lower in cholesterol than traditional beef. The ultimate purpose was to produce a more sustainable and economically efficient bovine for meat production.

Pioneering the Beefalo Breed

While the modern Beefalo breed was formalized in the 1970s, the idea of crossing bison and cattle is much older. Accidental hybrids were noted as early as 1749, and intentional crossbreeding experiments began in the mid-19th century. Pioneers like Charles Goodnight in Texas and Charles “Buffalo” Jones in Kansas began creating hybrids in the 1880s, which they called “cattalo,” to create cattle that could survive harsh prairie winters.

These initial attempts encountered significant obstacles, most notably the infertility of hybrid males, which made establishing a consistent breed difficult. For decades, progress was slow, with the Canadian government running experiments with cattalo until the 1960s with limited success. The breakthrough came in 1965 when Montana rancher Jim Burnett produced a fertile hybrid bull, opening the door for a stable, self-reproducing hybrid population.

Building on this progress, California cattle rancher D.C. “Bud” Basolo is credited with developing the Beefalo breed in the early 1970s. He established a breeding program that produced animals with the now-standard 3/8 bison and 5/8 cattle genetics. To promote and regulate this new breed, the American Beefalo Association was formed in 1975, and the name “Beefalo” was adopted to distinguish these animals from the earlier cattalo experiments.