Journal Entry,

                    The Isa Blacks . . .

10/03   Natl. Convention Sale - LA – As the black cattle continued to bring astonishing prices, Lorenzo Lasater, sitting next to us, jokingly commented , “we use to cull most of the blacks”. We began to wonder about the black cattle that earned their place in the L Bar herd, in spite of the fact they were black. Could this be the black foundation we were looking for? Lorenzo confirmed that they had a few black cows, one in particular, that always threw black calves, from red bulls. The deal was struck.

11/03  Big Springs, TX – ROAD TRIP! Toby and I met our friends , Toby & Trevyr Lester on the way to Big Springs. Lorenzo had consolidated all the “truly” black females, five total, for our inspection, and as we had suspected, four of the females were relate. The matriarch was an awesome 13 year old black cow  that was still holding her place in the herd! Three hours later we were heading back to Arkansas, with all of the black cows from the heart of the Isa herd. Unquestionably Beefmaster, these females represented 13 years of black genetics., with the youngest heifer, fourth generation black. More importantly, these females define EPD’s, having lived the creed of the breed in the L Bar Lasater herd.

2/04 – San Antonio, TX. –“ Isa Basic Black” earned her Pacesetter * classification!

5/04 - Mulberry, AR  “The Black Heifer*” our donor, who won Miss Beefmaster America, 2003, continues to grow and is  proving to be an extremely  fertile donor. . “The Isa Blacks”* have thrown tremendous calves and have been named  Isa Essential Black,* Isa  Basic Black, Isa  Truly Black, Isa  Ebony Black and Isa  IV Ever Black. We have several embryo heifers on the ground out of Black Jack 21 and Isa Essential Black that have exceeded out expectations.  We have our first black calf out of Crown Prince 920, and plan to use him on part of the Isa Blacks this breeding season.