Rancher says Tuli cattle best-kept secret

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

January 17, 2002 -- Tuli cattle may be one of North America's best kept secrets.

Producers in Texas are trying to help get the word out and Bill Bucek, of Schulenburg, is at the forefront of the challenge.

"The cattle business is something that your grandfather did and your dad did on the side, so I like to buy farms ... that means you've got to put cattle on them, and I do enjoy the cattle business. I've tried to upgrade them and do something a little different or a little better," said Bucek.

He was first introduced to the Tuli cattle by a business associate in Australia who convinced him to bring the first, live Tuli bull, Honey Bear, to the United States in 1995.

"The breed originated in Africa. Those cattle had to be brought from Africa to Australia and stayed in quarantine for two or three years before they could be exported any place else," said Bucek.

"The simple explanation of why I like the breed is that the Brahman has been the only way to cross-breed cattle for heat tolerant country, and being an African animal, it (Tuli) has the same traits as a Brahman, except that the quality of the meat is equal to an Angus or a Herford."

Bucek said that you can always breed in some qualities in cattle, but his goal is to upgrade the quality of meat. Most people avoid buying fat on beef or any other meat, so to him, extra weight and fat is bad business.

"It doesn't make any difference how big they (cattle) are anymore. People don't buy fat and so they buy quality of meat. If we can do the same thing and produce a better steak, that's what we're supposed to be doing," he said.

One of the hardest tasks confronting Tuli producers is convincing breeders that the Tuli is a better choice or an alternative to the Brahman.

"We do have a major breeder in Canada and the cattle handled very well in cold where a Brahman, if you

have a calf barn that's 32 degrees, the calf might die. So, it (Tuli) does have the cold resistance as well as the heat. It adapts almost anyplace," added Bucek.

He said he looks at the cattle business a little differently than some producers, since he is really in the "meat business," and interested in the end product for consumers.

Research has been done by Texas A&M University (TAMU), and Bucek sites Dr. J.W. Holloway of the TAMU Experiment Station in Uvalde and Dr. Ron Randel, TAMU Experiment Station, Overton as experts on the Tuli breed.

One of the largest Tuli producers in Texas is Carroll Shelby, car designer, racer, producer, etc. Although Shelby has a home in Las Vegas, he has the Shelby Tuli Ranch in DeKalb. He is partnering with Bucek to produce more calves through a specialized program.

"In Texas, there's probably 15 very active producers in the development of herds, and a lot of them are trying to do a little bit different things, but all, basically, know we've got to have a lot more Tuli females before we can build anything," said Bucek.

Through a partnership with Honey Bear, Bucek hopes to get five to 10 calves this year, rather than the two he has been getting.

"What I'm doing on my own ranch is ... I've got 40 registered Red Angus cows and I'm cross-breeding those with my Tuli bulls and I did coin the name 'Tulangus.' Everybody is coming up with these composite breeds, which is the hot thing now," said Bucek.

He said the Tulis are a medium framed animal and can take care of themselves quite well when turned out to pasture. They will "hold up" well in case of a drought, too.

Bucek is working with the Elgin Breeding Service with straws from Honey Bear, and hoping that the breed will receive more publicity.

"In our association, the North American Tuli Association, we have one director from Mexico and one director from Canada, and the rest are from Texas at the present time," he added.

"All of my cattle are looking a whole lot more like the build of an Angus, and when you get an F1 cross, you get a little more girls, and they really don't show quite the hump," said Bucek.

"The people that are in the Tuli business, now, still think that Honey Bear is the best bull in the breed ... we have to promote the breed. We have to tell somebody about it."