Liquid crystal ferrosuspensions (LCFs) were obtained by inclusion of magnetic microparticles in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) at mass fractions of up to 20. The phase transition of the NLC promotes the formation of a space filling particle network and an enhancement of the mechanical properties. Polarized optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry were used to study microparticle network formation. POM images show that an anisotropic particle structure formed when an external magnetic field was applied, whereas a quasihomogeneous cellular network is obtained in the absence of the field. A jump in the viscoelastic moduli at the isotropic-nematic transition temperature of the NLC was observed for all particle concentrations and applied magnetic fields. Experimental results also showed that the rheological response of the LCFs increased with magnetic field and tend to saturate at high fields. A linear relation between the particle mass fraction and the saturation value of the storage modulus was found. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.