An Interview with James Burnett
By Jo Kelly

    The Beefalo breed started from one 3/4 Bison bull owned by James Burnett of Luther, Montana. Mr. Burnett continues to raise Beefalo and hybrid Bison cross animals on his 4000 plus acre ranch, nestled in the shadows of the Beartooth mountains. In a telephone interview, Mr. Burnett shared with me his part in the history of the Beefalo breed, some of the problems he has experienced, and his ideas about the future of the breed.
    At age 75, Burnett continues to be an active cattle rancher. He states, "I'm not ready to quit. I like what I'm doing and I can still pass the physical for a pilot's license. You can't buy health, so I guess I'm fortunate."
     In addition to ranching, Burnett is also serving his first term as a state senator. Prior to election to the senate, Burnett served twelve years in the Montana House of Representatives. Burnett and his wife, Betty, have two daughters. One lives in California and the other in Washington.
     Burnett became interested in hybrid Bison cross animals through one of his neighbors. Burnett explained, "Back in the 50's, I had a neighbor who had a few Bison. He ran them with his heifers and he got a hybrid cross. That was something unique at the time. He had lost the heifers but saved the calves. I figured I could do better than that."
     "Of course, to start with, I didn't do any better than that. In fact, I did a little worse. I went from about 1958 until 1962 before I got a live progeny. I had a lot of dead cows and dead calves. Somebody asked me why I continued. Well I told him, "I suppose it's through stupidity more than anything else, figuring that anybody that had lost a few should quit. But I didn't. I kept on going."
     "In 1962, I got five live progeny, one of which happened to be the mother of 903. 903 is the bull that Basolo took to California that started the Beefalo."
    Burnett discussed the reasons for his initial problem in crossing Bison with domestic cattle. In his first crosses, he used "plains" type Bison rather than ‘mountain’ type Bison. He was also using Bison bulls on older cows. All of these cows developed a hydramnios condition that resulted in the loss of both the cows and their calves.
     Describing these problems, Burnett states, "Well, the problem you get is the rejection. When the cow conceives and she's not compatible to the Bison, she builds up amniotic fluid. Normally in the first trimester you have no problems. If a problem's going to develop, it shows up somewhere midway in the second trimester. If the cow's not going to be able to carry the calf, she builds up an awful lot of amniotic fluid. Then she gets tremendous size. Normally what this does then, is that it starves the cow because it crowds out the stomach to where she can't get the nourishment she needs."
    "If a person is really quick in detecting it, and does something right away, you might save her. You limit the amount of water intake, eliminate the consumption of salt, and either give her diuretics, which can eliminate some of it, or normally you try tapping the uterus and drain off the fluid. Lots of times that doesn't help because she just builds more. You've got to get the right chemical balance in order to do reasonably well."
    "Sometimes, if you start getting a rapid fluid buildup late in term, a Cesarean is the only thing that will save the calf. Possibly save the cow too. You've got to have good cooperation from your veterinarian, because you most likely will need him."
    "Now some Bison bulls cause more of a rejection than others. There are some Bison bulls where there is no rejection and a cow will go right through to term without any trouble. In the beginning I had Bison bulls that were from more east (plain type) and I had no luck. Then I bought some Bison from the Indians up at Browning (mountain type) and I quit using old cows. I'd been using old cows and old cows don't respond as readily to treatment. I bought some young registered Herefords. Then I began to get some desirable results."
    In 1962, Burnett finally achieved success. He produced five hybrid Bison crosses. Three were females and two were bulls. Both bulls later proved to be infertile and were sold to the Rocky Mountain Packing Company at Casper, Wyoming. In 1963 Burnett produced three additional hybrids. In 1964 Burnett's two year old hybrid Bison cross heifers which had been bred to domestic Bovine bulls, gave birth to their first calves.
    Then, in 1965, one of these original hybrid Bison cross cows produced a calf from a Bison bull. This bull calf, later to be known as Burnett #903, went on to become the herd sire for the Beefalo breed.
    Burnett talked about the 903 bull and his relationship with Bud Basolo of California, stating "903 was 1/4 Hereford and 3/4 Bison. This bull developed well. He had good feet and legs, masculinity, and good muscling. He was also the best Bison cross bull produced up to that time regarding fertility. By 1968 he was producing live sperm cells and able to settle cows."
     "Bud Basolo, from California, got interested in hybrid Bison crosses. I think it was a novelty for him and something that a lot of people had tried to do over the years and he was determined that he was going to try and do it too, and succeed. I think he also realized the market potential for the meat."
    "How he (Basolo) got wind that I had a possibly fertile hybrid bull was that he worked with Rudy and his brother in Rocky Mountain Packing Company in Casper. They (Rudy and his brother) had come up and I had sold them several hybrid containing Bison to their slaughter house. That's how he got wind of me."
    "When he (Basolo) learned that I had a fertile bull, he called me and wanted to have my bull's semen checked, which I did. My veterinarians test indicated more than a four billion sperm count with progressive motility that could make more than a hundred ampules that should settle cows. Then to be certain, Basolo and technician flew up here and we sampled the bull, again finding him fertile."
    "He was all excited. He was going to just buy that bull from me. I told him I didn't think he had enough money to buy that bull, that I'd come this far and I was going to continue."
     "I was elected to my first term in the state legislature in '68 and that was the year that Bud was up here. He talked me into letting him take the bull to California to draw semen and we'd do it together. So I made an agreement with Mr. Basolo and let the bull be transported to Escalon, California. The bull was held at the bull bank and was collected for about ten months. He also did natural servicing on some Charolais cross cows."
    "What happened then is after we'd been associated for some time. We’d been houseguests of Bud several times in California. I think that was in 1969, 1970, and 1971."
    "The early progeny were bought back from me by Basolo from a herd that we put 903 semen on. He had at least a dozen that I knew were out of my 903 bull. When he'd bought back the yearlings and found that they were fertile, that's when he fell out of bed and I haven't seen or talked to him since.
    "After ten months we did get 903 back here at the ranch. But he had the semen and first progeny. These animals showed up in Basolo's Beefalo Bull Book.".
    "ABWR says that 37.5% or 3/8 Bison is a fullblood Beefalo. The only reason the original associations arrived at that percentage was that Basolo, when he coined the word Beefalo, he had used my 3/4 Bison, 903 bull, on Charolais cows. So what he arrived at was 3/8 Bison, 1/2 Charolais, and 1/8 Hereford. Since 3/8 Bison breeding was the most that could be produced from offspring of my 903 bull, 3/8 was the most Bison blood ‘Beefalo’ could have. That’s what Basolo called a fullblood Beefalo. Of course then he always added that it wasn’t a Beefalo unless it was from his herd."
    When asked about the controversy concerning the Bison content of Basolo’s bulls, Burnett responded, "There’s no doubt in my mind that the early progeny did (have Bison). He had at least a dozen that I know were out of my 903 bull. But I think, in general, in the later years, after he got progeny from those early animals, he had some 3/16 animals (1/2 blood Beefalo)."
    "He never did blood type any of them, so there’s no way of really knowing. He could have traced the parentage to 903 if he would have had them blood typed."
    "When he took 903 out, he still had 903 semen left. He did have some F1 crosses (1/2 Bison, 1/2 Bovine), but they were all from Holsteins. I don’t think his Beefalo show any Holstein in them."
    "Then too, Bud wasn’t altogether open in his explanations. People asked him how he did it (developed fertile Bison and Bovine crosses) and he always said that it was a secret and he wasn’t telling anybody."
    In talking further about blood typing and checking for Bison markers, Burnett asserted, "Well, I’ve had a 1/32 Bison hybrid show a Bison marker. I sent a great number of samples in (to be blood typed and checked for Bison markers) in the early days, in the 70’s, but I came to the conclusion that it costs you over $40 per animal to have them blood typed and so forth and I feel that’s cutting in on the bottom line to where it’s marginal whether you make money or don’t make money on them."
    "I think that, in general, not that I want to discredit blood typing, I don’t, I think it’s a desirable situation. One of the things that blood typing does is to establish parentage. However, they can say that an animal is a parent but they can’t say that one isn’t (if it has the same blood groups)."
    "I know Clyde Stormont. I went out and spent some time with him. They showed me the techniques and the antibody method of determining parentage and Bison markers. The results of these tests all depend on the skill of the technician and the time involved-if it goes too long, whether they were reading it properly or not. It takes a real expert to make that determination on whether they have the Bison markers or not."
    I do believe that the answer to it is to add a little more desirability to the expense of it. Unless you’re going to draw semen on an outstanding bull, or get paid a premium for your animal, it’s not a desirable situation."
    "You’ve got to cut the expenses down if you’re going to show a profit. If you can save over $40 an animal, that’s worth something. I think, in general, if you have a person that has credibility and if he has indexed and kept records, that a review committee could certainly check over the analysis of his records and make a determination. This certainly should be acceptable in establishing what the percentage of Bison is in his animals."
    "I’m a life member of ABWR. I started with HBIA. Then I belonged to the American Beefalo Association, the group that broke away from Basolo. When all the associations merged, I became a life member of the newly formed association, ABWR."
    "I’ve got some of my best animals registered with them (ABWR). If somebody wants to buy one that isn’t registered, then I’ll index it, blood type it, and register it. But I won’t for my own use, because I know what I’ve got."
    Burnett’s herd contains many fullblood Beefalo as well as other hybrid Bison crosses of higher percentages. He also has a considerable amount of semen available.
    In talking about some of his promising high percentage Bison hybrids, Burnett said, "I have a 3/4 Bison bull. It’s a young bull. He’s a three-year-old now and I hope to pull semen on him next year. I’ve also got a white-faced 3/4 bull that I will probably try to pull semen on next year too. I’m sure there will be a market for the semen from these bulls. They both look very promising."
    I’ve got 10,000 ampules of semen. Most of it’s 3/8 but now everybody’s got 3/8. If I had 10,000 of 3/4 semen, it would be a new ball game. Back in the early days, I charged $20 an ampule for 3/4 or other high percentage semen and I had people who’d try to buy it all and I told them no. You can buy 20 ampules and it’ll cost you 20 bucks an ampule."
    "I could have made a real chunk of money back in the 70’s if I’d have wanted to turn it over to some individual to exploit it. But I didn’t do it."
    "In the 10,000 ampules, I’ve got 1/4, 3/8, 7/16, 5/8, and other percentage Bison semen. I’ve forgotten all of it. I’d have to look back on the charts. Some of this semen is from registered bulls and some of it isn’t."
    "I’m no longer going back to the Bison and Bovine, 50-50 crosses. I’m going just through the hybrid bulls and cows. You take a hybrid bull, even a higher percentage, you get just about any percentage. I think I’ve got about 10 or 12 generations on some of them."
    "I run a 3/4 Bison, hybrid bull with my herd. I’ve also run 5/8 Bison with my Bison herd. Right now I’m getting some white-faced calves out of my Bison cows. However, I still have a number of percentage animals, 1/4, 5/16, 7/16, 9/16, 5/8 Bison bulls, that run with my herd. Practically everything I’ve got has some percentage of Bison in it."
    Burnett had much to say about his preference for Beefalo cattle and what he thinks are the advantages of the Beefalo breed. He explained, "Many claims about Beefalo, though true, can also be made by many other Bovine cross breed animals. Calving ease, good weight gain, better feed conversion, and hybrid vigor is true of Beefalo, but is also true of some other Bovine crosses. But there are several characteristics of Beefalo that aren’t true of any other breed."
    "For one thing, they (Beefalo) are nonselective foragers. See a Bison is not a selective forager. I think Beefalo, down to about a quarter, aren’t as particular about the forage that they pasture on. You take a regular Bovine cow, they’ll start with the ‘ice cream’ and go down to the ‘spinach.’ Bison and Beefalo eat it all, showing no preference."
    "Also, I know that here in Montana, when the weather’s bad and so forth, Bovine animals, when the wind comes up and there’s a storm, they move down into the brush. Bison don’t do that. They’ll stand up on a hill or lay out facing the wind. They just tolerate weather extremes better and 3/8 Bison hybrids, Beefalo, will do more or less the same thing."
    "Another thing different about hybrid Bison crosses is the naturally lean meat. I’ve had people that couldn’t tolerate red meat but they could tolerate wild meat and they were able to tolerate Beefalo."
    "Now most domestic cattle breeders are trying to make leaner cattle. They’re not putting them on hot feed and it’s been some competition, but still I think you’ve got a much better piece of meat in Beefalo than any regular Bovine animal, no matter what anybody wants to put forth."
    Burnett was very firm about the need to use only quality animals in any breeding program. He asserted, "To often, it’s like Charolais when they first came over here. Anything that turned white they kept. Too often, that’s been the same way with the Beefalo. They had something that they knew were Beefalo, but they weren’t always quality. That hurts the breed and it will take a while to work out of that way of thinking."
    "You need to use quality Bison too. Bison, you know, is like any other animal. You can get a poor animal or line. You can run them down physically until their conformation’s not as desirable. In most of mine, I’ve been trying to keep the bulls that begin to show a little bit of double muscling."
     Burnett admitted that each person’s criteria for a quality animal will be different. He went on to describe what he looks for in his animals.
    "You know the best looking animal is a calf still on the mother. But you take it off the mother and he starts losing baby fat and for the next 12 months or so, he just isn’t going to look so good. Then he starts picking up again as a two-year-old and then you can make a determination of the quality you’ve got. They’ve all got to go through that transition phase."
    "I usually try to keep animals that are quartered out properly. I disregard whether they’re going to show Bison phenotype or Bovine phenotype. That’s immaterial to me. I really prefer animals that show a little bit of Bison in a larger hump, as a distinction more than anything else."
    "A lot of folks say, like Basolo used to say, ‘knock down the hump and raise the rump.’ My point has always been, ‘Keep the hump and if you’ve got good quality animals, you’ll have a good rump on them."
    "I look for something that is pleasing to the eye when viewing it. If they’re quartered out properly and especially if they show double muscling, I definitely like the hindquarters to show double muscling. There are really many things I use to make a determination of a quality animal."
    "The American Bison Association has criteria for judging of Bison. I try to use that same criteria for judging all animals. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference which Bovine breeds you use as crosses if you get the kind of qualities that you’re looking for."
    "You’ve got to have smooth lines. I like to have them squared off at the rump. I like a smooth slick animal, but again that’s just me. You know I’m the buck Indian. I’m glad everybody doesn’t think alike of they’d all want my squaw."
    In addition to the need to breed selectively to develop higher quality Beefalo animals, Burnett also expressed definite opinions regarding other problems facing the Beefalo breed. He stated "From the very beginning the other registered breeds have been bucking it (the introduction of Beefalo) all along. They don’t want to pollute their breed with anything else in it. It takes time for a new breed or even a cross to be accepted."
    "You know back in the early days when I used to run registered Herefords, there were very few Angus in this part of the country. When an Angus bull got in your herd, you were pretty hot about it because the buyers, whenever you had a black, white-faced calf, they would always dock you on it. The saying was, ‘Your black bull was in my herd, so you can come get your steer anytime.’ Now if you’ve got black baldy cattle, they bring top money."
    "Our biggest problem is that they’re not readily available. There’s just not enough animals out there of quality to be available to increase the demand. You know it’s just like anything else, unless you’ve got an available supply, increased demand just isn’t going to be there. Most of these people (commercial cattlemen) are satisfied with straight Bovine. Until the public starts demanding a better, healthier, red meat, the commercial men are going to take what’s most available."
    "Part of it is that they’re just not getting the message. That’s what it amounts to. You know, you’ve got to develop the right attitude or people in general won’t listen."
    Increased promotion, including the showing of Beefalo in local, state, and regional fairs, is seen by Burnett as a solution to these problems. He maintains, "It’s like any other exotic breed. I think it’s just going to have to be publicized more. Like here in Montana, the Northwest Beefalo Association does reasonably well. But the publicity’s not wide spread. I think you could go to most any fair and you’d never see a Beefalo. Yet you see most other breeds. This is something that’s got to be done.
    "We need to start showing our Beefalo cattle more, and showing high quality cattle. I’ve gone to some sales that they’ve had for Beefalo and I don’t classify enough of them as quality animals. You’ve got to produce quality along with numbers."
    "I do show my cattle. I’ve had them at the fair. Of course, in our fair, they’re a class by themselves. Nobody else’s got one, so no matter what I’m the winner. I think, over in Washington, they’re doing reasonably well in shows. Western Montana, Idaho and Washington all do reasonably well."
    "Now I’ve got a clientele that doesn’t care how well an animal shows. They want my animals and they’re happy with the animals they get. There are a lot of folks who are introducing Beefalo into their herds, but they aren’t interested in joining the association and they don’t register their animals. There definitely is more Beefalo out there than what we realize. There’s no doubt of that."
    Burnett went on to explain that he thinks ABWR needs to work harder to develop and promote the financial advantages of joining the association and blood typing and registering animals. Burnett strongly believes that the bottom line is profit, most people don’t do it. If you can’t make a profit, you’re not going to stay in business. We all have to make determinations. If you make the right decisions, you stay in business. If you make the wrong decisions, you’re out of business."
    "They’re (ABWR) going to have to start showing where there’s a premium for doing it (joining the association and registering their cattle). And so far, they haven’t done it. I think this is one of the biggest things they need to work on."-J.K.