American Breed

What do American Breed cattle look like?

The American is a hybrid first and foremost: mostly cattle, with a small dash of bison worked into the bloodline. Its foundations were Hereford, Shorthorn and Charolais stock, to which Brahman and the American bison were later added in volume. Because the line is defined by its breeding rather than by a set look, horns are the one outward point worth noting: some animals carry them, others do not. What unites every animal is the blood, since each shows the genetic marker, a tell-tale stretch of DNA, that proves bison ancestry somewhere up the line. It is a rare strain, kept for a single job: making beef on the dry rangeland for which it was put together.

Where does the American Breed come from?

In the 1950s, a New Mexico rancher named Art Jones set about making a beef animal for the tough grazing of the American Southwest, where feed runs thin. He started by crossing three established breeds, Hereford, Shorthorn and Charolais, and then brought Brahman and bison into the programme on a large scale. The bison share stayed small, but it proved lasting: animals of the line still show the marker of that ancestry today. Because cattle with bison blood are unusual, only a handful of such strains exist, and the Beefalo is the one most often named beside it. A breed society followed in 1976 to look after the new line.

What the American Breed is known for

Staying power was the quality Jones chased. He wanted beef cattle that would get by on scant grazing in a dry climate, the kind of country spread across the Southwestern United States, and Brahman and bison bloodlines were folded in to build that toughness. The bison inheritance is not a matter of guesswork either: each animal carries the genetic marker for it, so the ancestry shows up in a laboratory as well as on paper. Very few cattle strains anywhere can point to bison blood of this kind; apart from this one, the Beefalo is the case most often cited.

How the American Breed is bred and kept

Putting the breed together took several stages. Jones began with crossings among Hereford, Shorthorn and Charolais, and only later did the two ingredients that set the line apart arrive. Brahman and bison were then brought in and used extensively, giving the animals their mixed ancestry. The bison contribution stayed small but checkable: every individual shows the genetic marker that points to bison ancestry, so a laboratory test, not a paper trail, confirms what each animal is. A breed society, the body that keeps a breed's records and registers its stock, was set up in 1976. By 2016 it had gone inactive, leaving the line without an active registry behind it.

What the American Breed is kept for

Beef is the only purpose the breed serves. Jones was hunting for meat animals when he made his first matings, and the recorded use remains beef today. His parent choices were made with that end in view, and the Brahman and bison blood went in to help the offspring endure thin range grazing while still finishing as meat animals. Within the wider cattle world the breed is classed as a bovid hybrid, a term that simply flags the bison in its family tree. With so few animals and no working breed society, the line functions today as a rarity rather than a mainstream beef strain.

The land and climate of the American Breed

The American belongs to the dry uplands and plains of the Southwestern United States, New Mexico above all. Country of that kind is classed as arid: rain is scarce, the grazing sparse, and animals must work for every mouthful. That challenge set the brief for the whole breeding programme, and Brahman and bison blood was brought in to supply the toughness the land demands. A breed shaped for such range would be expected to thrive on modest feed rather than rich pasture, which is exactly the quality its creator sought.

Related breeds and crosses

The Beefalo is the breed's nearest cousin, being the other cattle line with bison ancestry that gets named. The two are easily confused, since both are American hybrids raised for meat. The American's recipe separates it: Hereford, Shorthorn and Charolais came first, and Brahman and bison were crossed in afterwards. Its other relations are its parent breeds themselves, which supplied every ingredient of the mix.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

Rare is the word that attaches to this breed. When the FAO, the United Nations agency for food and farming, drew up its 2007 listing, it could set down only 'no data' against the breed, leaving its degree of risk unclassified. A breed society had been formed in 1976 to keep the line's records; by 2016 that body had gone inactive, so the breed was left without a central organisation. One safeguard does persist in the genetics: every animal carries the bison marker, which keeps the ancestry open to proof regardless of paperwork.

Questions people ask about American Breed

Good reading and sources

• American Breed on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data