Dale Lasater and the Closed Beefmaster Herd on the Colorado Prairie

Who Was Dale Lasater?

Dale Lasater was a Colorado cattle rancher and conservationist who carried on the family's Beefmaster breeding work. The Drovers report describes him as raised on the Lasater Ranch in Falfurrias, Texas, and in Matheson, Colorado. He was the son of Tom Lasater, who developed the Beefmaster in the 1930s.

His death came after a horse accident on his ranch near Matheson. The sources differ on the year, with a 2016 eulogy and a news page that gives 2020, so this entry gives no year.

Education and Early Career

He graduated from Princeton University, spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Buenos Aires and then two years with a Peace Corps cattle improvement program in Colombia.

He then worked as general manager of International Cattle Systems, a Kansas-based diversified livestock company, and began in the cattle feeding sector before returning to the family ranch.

Taking Over the Lasater Ranch in 1986

Dale took over the family ranch in 1986, continuing four generations of cattle breeding and ranch management. A eulogy by Duke Phillips III in the Ranchlands journal says he wanted to return to the ranch to live, work and preserve the land.

In 1989 he invited Phillips to work at the Lasater Ranch, where Phillips's family spent about ten years before starting a ranching business of its own.

The Foundation Herd and Its Five Standards

The Foundation herd was kept closed. The eulogy says culling and selection followed five standards: fertility, conformation, disposition, weight and hardiness. Longevity was treated as a key benchmark for herd economics on open range.

He invited respected cattlemen, including Watt Casey, Guillermo Osuna, Bill Finan and Gale Evans, to evaluate herd sire prospects.

Conservation and Honors

Dale received the Slow Food Award for Biodiversity in 2002 and the Palmer Land Trust's Stuart P. Dodge award in 2012, according to the BBU article. He prioritized the health of open rangeland, especially the high prairie of eastern Colorado.

He was inducted into the Beefmaster Breeders United Hall of Fame in 2017, honored posthumously at the Galveston convention. The BBU Hall of Fame list spells his name Laster, which appears to be a typo.

A Different Path From His Brother

Dale's brother Laurie moved the same breed into seedstock sales and exports, while Dale kept the Colorado herd closed and local. Both are in the BBU Hall of Fame.

The brothers show two ways to use one breeder's foundation work: sell genetics widely or hold them at home as a conservation tool.

Both brothers were honored by the same association that their father's breed built.