Pen-shade improves performance of beef cattle under hot weather. Brahman cattle pose better capability than Angus-cross cattle to confront hot environmental conditions. There are few comparative studies evaluating pen-shade benefices across breed’s types. This research was performed to determine the comparative feedlot response of Angus-cross (AC) and Brahman (BR) bull-calves to pen shade under hot weather conditions. In a completely randomized design experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, 30 AC and 30 BR bulls-calves (233 ± 24.9 kg) were grouped by breed type and placed in 2 types of pens: (1) Without shade (NO SHADE); or (2) Shaded (SHADE). Shade was provided by a ceiling of 6 × 4 m of metal sheeting positioned 3.7 m over soil level. Bull-calves were fed with a corn silage-based diet (15% CP 1.35 Mcal NEm/kg DM), served at 1700 h to minimize digestion heat load impact. Length experiment was 98 d, and pen was the experimental unit. Results were analyzed by covariance, and initial body weight was used as the associated co-variable. Across experiment, climatic conditions were air temperature 36.4 ± 4.04°C (range 27.6 to 49.5°C), relative humidity 47.9 ± 11.87% (range 24.7 to 82.5%), and THI 85.7 ± 3.16 (range 79.1 to 96.4). Interactions breed × pen shade (P < 0.05) were observed on final body weight, average daily gain, and feed efficiency. Angus-cross SHADE bull-calves were heavier (P < 0.01) as compared with AC NO SHADE (369.9 vs. 350.3 kg), while SHADE had no influence (P > 0.10) on final weight of BR. The Angus cross in SHADE gain 16% more wt (P < 0.01) than Angus cross allotted in NO SHADE (1.40 vs. 1.20 kg/d), but ADG was similar (P > 0.10) for BR both in SHADE and NO SHADE. AC SHADE bull-calves had a 12% better feed/gain ratio (P = 0.03) than AC NO SHADE (0.18 vs. 0.16 kg gain/kg DMI). Results suggest that feedlot response to pen shade vary with breed type, and become important as the proportion of Brahman breed decreases in genetic composition of beef cattle under hot climate conditions.