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Veterinarians and Animal Scientists

Jan Bonsma: The Pretoria Professor Who Bred the Bonsmara

A University of Pretoria animal scientist crossed Afrikaner cattle with British breeds and produced South Africa's most numerous beef breed.

Who was Jan Cornelis Bonsma?

Jan Cornelis Bonsma was a professor of animal science at the University of Pretoria, credited as the father of the Bonsmara breed by Bonsmara Namibia. The breed's name joins his surname with Mara, the research station where the first crossbred calves were born.

He was born on March 22, 1909, in Heidelberg, then in the Transvaal. In 1989 the University of Pretoria marked his 80th birthday by publishing nine of his research papers in a volume held in its institutional repository.

Early life and education

A series in Farmers Weekly traces his path. He finished secondary school at Heidelberg Normaalkollege, earned a bachelor of science in animal science from the University of Pretoria in 1931, and took a senior teacher's diploma from Heidelberg Teachers' College in 1932, according to Farmers Weekly.

He taught at a Pretoria secondary school from 1933 until mid-1935, received the George Farrar fellowship in 1935 and a government fellowship in 1936, and completed a master's degree in animal science that year. He then studied animal breeding at Iowa State University under the geneticist Jay Lush.

The problem he set out to solve

South African ranchers needed cattle that could produce beef cheaply on extensive grazing in a subtropical climate. According to The Cattle Site, Bonsma tested crossbreeds at the Messina Livestock Research Station in 1937. British breeds lacked heat tolerance, and the Afrikaner had weaker calving regularity.

His answer was a crossbreed. British bulls were mated to Afrikaner cows, and the Hereford and Shorthorn crosses performed best.

Mara, Messina and the 1937 to 1963 program

The breeding took place at the Mara and Messina research stations from 1937 to 1963 under Bonsma's supervision. He also ran crossbreeding experiments in about 20 commercial herds across South Africa to identify the best-performing crossbred type.

Early results were encouraging. Crossbred cows weaned calves about 20 percent heavier than the parent breeds, with higher calving rates and lower calf mortality. The final breed is 5/8 Afrikaner and 3/8 Hereford or Shorthorn.

The Key to Bonsma's Success

The record shows a researcher who tested animals under working conditions and measured the results, rather than relying on the show ring alone. His work ran for more than a quarter century, which is long enough to fix a breed.

The sources reviewed are mostly breed-society and trade accounts, so they describe the breed's strengths rather than disputes about it.

  • He started from a measured problem: heat tolerance in British breeds and calving regularity in Afrikaners.
  • He ran trials on about 20 commercial herds, not only at the research stations.
  • He kept scale photographs, giving the breed a pictorial genealogy from the start, according to The Cattle Site.
  • Strict selection for fertility, milk production, growth and adaptability; animals are performance tested and inspected before approval.
  • Approved bulls carry a B brand on the right shoulder, which made the breed's standards visible in the field.

The cattle: what is a Bonsmara?

The Bonsmara has a red coat and mixes Bos indicus and Bos taurus characteristics. The Cattle Site lists heat adaptation, fertility, easy calving, good meat quality, calm temperament and suitability for crossbreeding, and notes that horned animals must be dehorned to meet breed standards.

The first bulls reached commercial breeders in the 1950s and the breed spread widely across South Africa. It became South Africa's most numerous beef breed in under 25 years. About 60,000 registered females are under performance recording, within a national population of around 4 million head, and the breed has recently been exported to North America and Australia.

Research and legacy

Bonsma's published work reflects a long interest in how climate shapes cattle. The University of Pretoria record mentions a 1940 article in Farming in South Africa on climate and cattle fertility and hardiness, and a 1949 article in the Cambridge Journal of Agricultural Science on breeding cattle for adaptability to tropical and subtropical environments.

The breed also reached neighboring countries: Peter Becker brought the first Bonsmara cattle to Namibia in 1970, and the South West Africa Bonsmara Club was founded on 25 November 1976. For more on beef breeds, see farm.FM ranching and a farm.FM story about South African beef cattle.

Timeline

  1. 1909Born March 22 in Heidelberg, Transvaal
  2. 1931B.S. in animal science, University of Pretoria
  3. 1936Master's degree; studies breeding at Iowa State under Jay Lush
  4. 1937Crossbreeding program begins at Mara and Messina
  5. 1950sFirst Bonsmara bulls reach commercial breeders
  6. 1963Mara and Messina program ends
  7. 1970First Bonsmara cattle brought to Namibia
  8. 1989University of Pretoria publishes a volume of his papers for his 80th birthday

Frequently asked questions

Who was Jan Bonsma?

Jan Cornelis Bonsma, born in 1909, was a University of Pretoria professor of animal science who supervised the crossbreeding program that produced the Bonsmara beef breed.

How was the Bonsmara bred?

From 1937 to 1963 at the Mara and Messina research stations, Afrikaner cows were crossed with British bulls. Hereford and Shorthorn crosses performed best, giving a breed that is 5/8 Afrikaner and 3/8 exotic.

Where does the name Bonsmara come from?

It combines Bonsma, the developer's surname, with Mara, the research farm where the first crossbred calves were born.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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