Back in 1975 Bill Bishop's father traded a truck he had for some Beefmaster heifers. Bill had raised a lot of Herefords and a little bit of everything else prior to that time. But he started to watch the calves from those heifers and noticed that the weaning weights were significantly higher than some of the other calves. He recognized that their dispositions were considerably better. He also realized that he had fewer calving issues virtually no vet bills. They were just a heartier breed and required little to no maintenance. Bill was hooked on the Beefmaster breed.

He began going to Colorado to the Lasater Ranch, which is known as home of the Foundation Herd of the Beefmaster breed. He learned about the Lasater six essentials of the breed: fertility, disposition, confirmation, milk production, weight and hardiness.

St. Clair Beefmasters believe that these traits are essential in order to maintain an "economically viable cattle operation." In 2004 Craig bought his first cows from the Lasater Ranch. Bill Bishop & Craig Johnson own farms in both Cedar & St. Clair counties in Missouri.