Market for Lowline Angus

[BK9954]

We are within a year of me buying my uncles out of my grandparents ranch. Looking like I might only be able to afford 60 acres out of 113. In that case thinking about going to lowline angus to get more head per acre. Anyone know the market for lowline angus especially in the texas area?

 

[Muddy]

You'll have hard time to selling mini cattle despite of able to have more head per acre.

 

[Andyva]

Are lowliness considered mini cattle? I though some of them ran up around 1400 pounds, that would make a lot of breeds mini cattle.

 

[B&M Farms]

Think pounds of cattle per acre instead of head per acre. Efficiency doesn't always mean more head per acre because there are too many other variables.

 

[Muddy]

Are lowliness considered mini cattle? I though some of them ran up around 1400 pounds, that would make a lot of breeds mini cattle.

Yes Lowlines are considered as a mini cattle and they get lot smaller than 1,400lbs, Andyva.

I've seen folks got burnt on sale gimmicks and got out of the mini cattle business because there is no market for the mini cattle and you need to have a strong customer base to keeping the business going (either selling animals or selling beef to customers privately). If you are going to selling the calves at the sale barn, forget it. The dock on these mini calves is much worse than a dock on chromed up or longhorn x calves.

 

[Rafter S]

I agree with Muddy. If you have a market for the beef, you might be okay, but I would strongly advise you to stay away from them if you don't.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Will Lowlines work for you?

It depends on what your objective is.

How do you want to raise cattle -- what's your approach to management?
How will you market your cattle -- who buys your product?

Answer those two questions, and everyone here can give you better advice.

 

[AllForage]

Are lowliness considered mini cattle? I though some of them ran up around 1400 pounds, that would make a lot of breeds mini cattle.

Yes Lowlines are considered as a mini cattle and they get lot smaller than 1,400lbs, Andyva.
.

You are flat out wrong. How many freaking times does this board have to go over frame sizes and what constitutes a mini. Frames 000-1 I would classify as mini. Frame 2-3 are what most good lowlines are. Closer to 3 or a tad more. That would be small not mini for those of you hard core sales barn groupies.

To the OP, if you are going to dabble out of the mainstream you are best to market meat from your choice. If it goes well then seeds to k sales could come from it eventually. Marketing meat teaches you a lot about what is profitable and what works in your resources.

 

[Andyva]

Reason I asked was I looked at a guy's lowliness a while back and the only thing they were lacking was leg, they were scrubbing the sides of the chute, real nice looking cattle. Probably frame 3-4 with body condition scores off the charts. Maybe he didn't have good lowliness, but this fellow in particular generally tries to have the best of what ever it is that is his flavor of the week. Those calves would have brought a premium on the market, might not make the guys at the feedlot real happy, but maybe that would serve them right for picking cattle just because they have a black hide.

 

[ga.prime]

Andy, I don't know what kind of feedlot buyers you have there in Va, but the ones here sure as heck don't overpay for short legged calves whatever color they are.

 

[Andyva]

You couldn't tell the difference at about 450.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We are within a year of me buying my uncles out of my grandparents ranch. Looking like I might only be able to afford 60 acres out of 113. In that case thinking about going to lowline angus to get more head per acre. Anyone know the market for lowline angus especially in the texas area?

Knowing where you are located I would be scared to death of them.
You will get skinned at the barn.
Unless you are selling to a niche market.

 

[BK9954]

Yes you are probably right. Might just go into a registered breed to make the most off of every head. Lowline have great carcass but it is a specialty market. Sold my bull and doing AI for the next year. When I sell my commercial cattle looking to invest in some kind of registered stock. Buy high quakity registered heifers and AI them to a premium bull.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Yes you are probably right. Might just go into a registered breed to make the most off of every head. Lowline have great carcass but it is a specialty market. Sold my bull and doing AI for the next year. When I sell my commercial cattle looking to invest in some kind of registered stock. Buy high quakity registered heifers and AI them to a premium bull.

Why not try a few Murray Greys? There are smaller framed ones out there, and they have great carcass traits. The photo below shows one of our smaller framed cows. She is a frame score 3, and weighed over 1,400 lbs the last time we weighed her. We weighed her last fall after she weaned two bull calves that had a combined weight of 1,054 lbs. This photo was taken two months before we weaned the calves last year, and she was still in excellent condition. We grass-finish our steers and they produce extremely tender, well-marbled beef.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Yes you are probably right. Might just go into a registered breed to make the most off of every head. Lowline have great carcass but it is a specialty market. Sold my bull and doing AI for the next year. When I sell my commercial cattle looking to invest in some kind of registered stock. Buy high quakity registered heifers and AI them to a premium bull.

If you are going that route remember your customer is the commercial cattleman.
What you can't sell is hamburger through the barn still.
Best research what your customer wants and you wont get killed through the barn as well.
Just because it has papers doesn't make it seedstock. Your are still going to haul calves to the barn.
You will not have a unique product that I can't get down the road. You are selling your name.
Takes time to get the right reputation start try selling subpar cattle with papers and you are doomed
from the start.

 

[Andyva]

Don't know how much room you have, but you don't have to pick just one option. The same feed, infrastructure and time can be spent taking care of a handfull of purebred specialty breeds and you can use commercial cows to pay the bills. It's the year 2015 man, we have AI and stuff, you don't have to have a bull for each market. The trick with things like lowlines is that it might be hard to find "forever homes" for 60 of them in your area, but you might sell a couple of purebreds and a couple of freezer beef animals without having to deal with the salebarn.

 

[BK9954]

How do you get seed stock?

 

[Bigfoot]

I believe, if I just had a few acres, I'd go for selling bred heifers. Sit wait and watch at the yard, for some really nice uniform commercial heifers. Breed them AI, and sell to individuals. There will always be a market for "quality" commercial heifers. You won't have to fool with a bull, and you won't have to calve any out. Just my :2cents:

 

[Muddy]

Reason I asked was I looked at a guy's lowliness a while back and the only thing they were lacking was leg, they were scrubbing the sides of the chute, real nice looking cattle. Probably frame 3-4 with body condition scores off the charts. Maybe he didn't have good lowliness, but this fellow in particular generally tries to have the best of what ever it is that is his flavor of the week. Those calves would have brought a premium on the market, might not make the guys at the feedlot real happy, but maybe that would serve them right for picking cattle just because they have a black hide.

Have you ever been to the sale barn, Andyva? Just curious.

Mini cross and small framed calves do not sell very good at sale barns, no matter what color or how good they are. The buyers can spot a 450lbs lowline calf very easily and the dock on them is very bad. I sold a small framed angus calf last fall and I got docked harshly. It got sold for $800.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Some demand for bulls to use on large cows and thus reduce replacement frame size.
Some demand for cows by hobby guys.
Otherwise freezer beef