Low Line Angus

[cowboy43]

What is the story behind Low Line Angus ? Who buys them?

 

[Kingfisher]

http://lazyglowline.com/

 

[dun]

I think they are the answer to an nonexistant question

 

[cowboy43]

Dun

Would you explain your answer ?

 

[dun]

Dun

Would you explain your answer ?

The industry wokred too long to get rid of the belt buckles to really be needing them again

 

[Avalon]

I think they are the answer to an nonexistant question

Right on. They are a novelty breed only.

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

The breed is basically a niche market People that only have a small amount of land & want to own several head of cattle, for something a bit different freezer beef the small size means they will fit into an average size family freezer, have been told they are easier to handle though from what I've seen a pig headed angus no matter what the size is still a pain in the backside if they don't want to go where you want them to go

 

[MO_cows]

www.usa-lowline.org

The niche that a lot of the breeders are working to fill is providing a sure-nuff calving ease sire for first-calf heifers. Then, the 1/2 Lowline progeny which result provide "downsized" replacement heifers for those who want to go in that direction. And the limited research that has been done so far is showing that the Lowline-sired halfblood steers are still big enough to work in the traditional beef production chain.

There definitely are breeders raising them just as pets or novelty cattle, no one could deny that. But also many breeders who also raise "regular" beef cattle and are geared towards commercial beef production are Lowline breeders or are at least trying them.

A Lowline breeder won two of the weight divisions of the 2009 Royal Brisbane Show, home of a very large and prestigious carcass competition in Australia, with Lowline-influence steers. They beat out 255 other entries of ALL breeds.

I don't raise them myself so I'm not trying to "pimp" them. Just trying to keep the mis-information to a minimum. I personally love the smorgasbord of genetics that are available here in the U.S. to work with, and would like to see a lot of different breeds thrive.

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

The breed is basically a niche market People that only have a small amount of land & want to own several head of cattle, for something a bit different freezer beef the small size means they will fit into an average size family freezer, have been told they are easier to handle though from what I've seen a pig headed angus no matter what the size is still a pain in the backside if they don't want to go where you want them to go

Our neighbor's lowline bull is from Crazytown, USA.

 

[backhoeboogie]

In the 60's, all the angus I saw must have been lowlines. I google lowlines and that is how they all looked to me back then. Gerts were the rage and angus were about half the size of a gert. Now they are bigger. Go figure.

 

[Keren]

Dun

Would you explain your answer ?

The industry wokred too long to get rid of the belt buckles to really be needing them again

With all due respect dun, have a look at the maturity pattern of a belt buckle, vs the maturity pattern of a modern lowline.

They are very very different animals.

I dont breed them, but have worked with them.

And yes, the Crazytown comment is dead right LOL

 

[dun]

Dun

Would you explain your answer ?

The industry wokred too long to get rid of the belt buckles to really be needing them again

With all due respect dun, have a look at the maturity pattern of a belt buckle, vs the maturity pattern of a modern lowline.

They are very very different animals.

I dont breed them, but have worked with them.

And yes, the Crazytown comment is dead right LOL

The ones that I saw that they claimed were lowlines looked like Dexters without horns and a little (very little) more muscle.

 

[Keren]

yuk. I guess you get good and bad in all breeds.

good lowlines are actually really really good little meaty cattle

and from me, thats saying a lot cos I really dont like the breed in general. they are angry little cattle

 

[lazyg]

We raise Lowline Angus and have never had a problem with the bulls being crazy. That IMHO is an animal that should have been culled. We have had a lot of interest in the cattle from all areas of the cattle business, some commercial cattlemen who want to raise a more efficient momma cow as well as small acreage landowners who want to raise a beef cow and are somewhat intimidated by a 1800 pound steer. Mo cows raised some good points, no one who raises fullbloods lowlines thinks they will ever replace commercial cows, but the genetics are really more Angus than today's modern Angus.
Lowlines started out as a championship Angus herd imported into Australia in 1920's to improve their Angus herds. These animals were purchased from Canada, Scotland, and America and included champions from the all the above countries. They were raised on a government research centre in New South Wales for the next 70 years. The bloodlines were freshened by bringing in champion bulls from time to time (again from the 3 countries mentioned above) for the next 30 years. Then in the 60's they used bulls from the Australian Studs as new blood. The 1970's saw the start of a new project to test whether there was a difference in how cow size related to the conversion of grass to meat. The herd was then closed to all outside influences and was divided into 3 groups, high line for the biggest animals, control line for the average, and Lowline for the smallest. This study continued for the next 20 years and what they finally decided was, that there is no difference in efficiency's between large cattle and the smaller lowline's. What struck them was the FACT that with the smaller cattle they could actually raise more pounds of retail product per acre than with the large cattle!
The herd was set to be sent to the feed lot when a group of Australian's stepped in and purchased the entire herd. This was the start of Australian Lowlines. All fullblood cattle must be DNA tested for sire and dam to be registered. The cattle were imported into north America in 1994 and in 1996 the American Lowline Registry was started.

 

[robert]

Lowlines, where research goes bad :x

 

[lazyg]

Lowlines, where research goes bad :x

Why??? What is bad about taking anhus back too what they were?
We have cows that range in size from 800 lbs to a few that are 1300 lbs. These are true angus not the mutts that are out there now. No curly calf ., no tiny calf , no genetic problems that plage the angus breed

 

[thunder downunder]

From the Australian Lowline history (given they are an Australian breed, you should go straight to the source):

Lowline cattle were developed by the NSW Department of Agriculture from registered Angus stock at their research centre in Trangie NSW Australia. The research centre was created in 1929 to provide quality Angus genetics to the NSW cattle industry. Seed stock were purchased from Scotland, Canada, America and selected Australian Studs to form the foundation of the herd. From 1929 to 1963 the Angus herd was prominent in the Australian showing circuit and won many major awards. The research herd was closed to outside genetics in 1964 after the purchase of herd sires from leading Australian Studs, Wambanumba, Glengowan, Tulagi and Wallah.

In 1963 the emphasis at Trangie was changed to scientific research in the form of performance recording. The project, involving weight gain, structural measurements, objective visual assessment and selective breeding, continued through to 1973 and pioneered performance testing in Australia today. The trial which produced the Lowline breed began in 1974, with funding from the Australian Meat Research Corporation, to evaluate selection for growth rate on herd profitability. The aim was to establish whether large or small animals were more efficient converters of grass into meat. This project continued for 19 years. The Trangie herd was divided into three groups based on yearling growth rates. The high yearling growth rate cattle were named High lines, the low yearling growth rate cattle were named the Low line and a randomly selected group was named the Control line. A program of detailed evaluation was implemented, which included weight gain, feed intake, reproductive performance, milk production, carcass yield and structural correctness. The protein conversion performances of the High line and the Low line cattle were monitored and recorded on an individual basis. The lines continued to grow apart with the selection process and recorded on an individual basis.

After 15 years the Low line of cattle were around 30% smaller than the High lines. The result of the efficiency in conversion was the same for the bulk of the Low and High line groups. The original Low line herd comprised 85 cows, which were joined to yearling bulls also selected for low growth from birth to yearling age. From 1974 the Low line herd remained closed, with all replacement bulls and heifers from within the Low line herd.

Towards the end of the trial a group of interested cattlemen persuaded the Department of Agriculture to sell the Low line of cattle on the open market. On the 8th of August 1992, 9 bulls, 23 heifers and 7 cows were sold to 7 purchasers. They then formed the Australian Lowline Cattle Association. The complete dispersal sale followed on October 30, 1993 where 20 bulls were sold, together with 44 cows and 51 heifers.

 

[djinwa]

LazyG, I wouldn't waste your time. Anyone who has cows under 1300 pounds is not welcome here. You also must feed the high growth calves a mostly grain diet, while treating them for the consequences, otherwise you are not part of "the industry".

 

[lazyg]

LazyG, I wouldn't waste your time. Anyone who has cows under 1300 pounds is not welcome here. You also must feed the high growth calves a mostly grain diet, while treating them for the consequences, otherwise you are not part of "the industry".

We're used to the skeptics who think these cattle are 'miniatures'. We personally don't use the 'M' word 'cause it's pretty hard to call a 1200 lb cow 'miniature'. We just bought a couple commercial cows - one is 1/2 shorthorn/1/2 limmi and she's 1100 lbs; another is 1/2 limmi out of a big name clubby bull called Heat Seeker and she weights 1193 lbs. We have several fullblood lowline cows on hay only (no grain) that outweight these commercial cows and they would not be considered 'overweight'. And they don't have near the height that these 2 commercial cows have. We have several commercial cows that weight well over 1,600 lbs that we finally bred to lowlines to downsize them. If these cows can't raise a calf that's weaning weight is at least 40% of their mama's weight then they're not efficient. And our lowline mamas on average are weaning calves that are at least 40% of their body weight.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If these cows can't raise a calf that's weaning weight is at least 40% of their mama's weight then they're not efficient. And our lowline mamas on average are weaning calves that are at least 40% of their body weight.

What age are you considering your weaning calves?
That's not exactly something I would be bragging about. You should be shooting for at least 50%. So, you are saying your 1000# cow weans a 400# calf?
So what frame score is your 1300# cows?? How many inches tall if you don't know how to calculate frame scores.
Lowline is a novelty breed, not a mainstream breed. But, there is room for all kinds of breeds - for all kinds of people.