Duff Bull Sale - Top Selling Bull is Moderator Plus

For those looking for a calving-ease bull but don't want to use a Lowline bull.  This bull is sired by Low Beau, a fullblood Lowline! 

Looks good to me..  Might prefer his dam have a more level rear third but---  If they were to blood type Lowlines, would they type the same as modern Angus?

Is Duff calling this line Aberdeen Plus? Good looking bull. Hope he sires calves with acceptable carcass size for the packer. Duff can use these Lowline cattle beings he has a line to the shelf.

Lowlines are angus from a herd in Australia that were eventually used for research.  The herd was closed in the early 1960's. 

XBAR - in theory they should type the same as modern angus, assuming there were no other breed-types crossed with today's angus.

CAB - Not sure why they're calling it Aberdeen Plus.  In the lowline breed it's called Moderator Plus. Don't know what the acceptable carcass size would be but find crossing larger-framed cows with lowline bulls will downsize the progeny.  We crossed a shorthorn cross/1,600 lb + cow with lowline and ended up with an 800 lb + hanging carcass. That was with no grain.

Here's an interesting article from the Stock Journal about this bull and Duff's theory on using lowlines:
http://www.stockjournal.com.au/news/agriculture/cattle/beef/trust-me-lowline-makes-us85000/2692120.aspx

When they were conducting trials on Angus cattle in Trangie, NSW, Australia, they had three lines: low, control and high.

The trials which produced the Lowline breed began in 1974, with funding from the 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 trial continued for 19 years.

The Trangie staff chose one herd selected for high yearling growth rates and another selected for low yearling growth rates, with a randomly selected control group. Satellite herds were established at Glen Innes in the northern tablelands of NSW and at Hamilton in the Western Districts of Victoria to enable climate to be taken into account.

The program involved a detailed evaluation of weight gain, feed intake, reproductive performance, milk production, carcass yield and quality and structural soundness.

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 the replacement bulls and heifers selected from within the line.

After 15 years of selective breeding, the low line herd had stabilised at about 30 per cent smaller than the high line cattle. The bulls were maturing at about 43 inches, and the cows at about 39 inches or less, against 59 inches for standard Angus bulls, and close to the same height for standard Angus cows.

Thanks,thunderdownunder.  Lowline cattle are slowly but surely getting taller, and our full brother to Low Beau, who sired this top-selling bull, stands around 48 inches and weighs 1600 + lbs.

  Thunder do you know why they discontinued the study or breed development?

I have heard it was discontinued during the 1980's when they wanted cattle so tall with lots of frame. The first Lowline show in Denver was in 2004 and they have become more popular every year with increasing feed prices.

Care needs to be taken introducing Lowline in to the mainstream genetic base. Here for a while many ranches were using Lowline bulls over hfrs and then selling those calves at weaner sales. These calves looked the same as their comtemporary groups that were out of cows but did not grow out costing the the buyer and the industry a lot of money. Practice has all but stopped  due to industry backlash. Proceed with care  (pop)

when you say they don't or didn't have the ability to grow out, do you mean their ability to convert suddenly stopped or?

Not sure what Aussie means as we're seeing more and more commercial cattlemen using lowlines in their herds.  Also, just another note, at the stock show in Denver this year the pen of commercial heifers was won by 1/2 lowlines.  So really don't understand Aussie's comments.

The Australian government concluded their studies in 1992 and intended to send all the cattle to slaughter.  Some Aussie cattlemen found out about these animals and purchased them, thus starting Australian Lowline Cattle. And Lowlines started showing here in the U.S. in the late 1990's at the Iowa State Fair, then the first show at Demver was in 2000.

Do you know what the foundation Angus bloodlines were that they started with?

I am not sure of the size of animal your packers require at harvest but here they ideally want strs over 1300 lb the Lowline cross were done at 1000lb did not grow anymore just put on more and more fat. Remember these cattle were selectively bred for low growth.

-XBAR- said:

Do you know what the foundation Angus bloodlines were that they started with?

Click to expand...

Xbar a bit more about the program which gives you abit more back ground

The NSW Department of Agriculture developed a research herd 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

"The original imports from Glencarnock Stud, Canada, included the bulls Glencarnock Revolution and Brave Edward Glencarnock, 17 heifers and a cow and calf. These cattle came from show quality stock, continuing to win championships when competing in top Australian cattle shows."

To say moderator (percentage) lowline steers are only 1,000 lbs is a bit of a misnomer.  The cow still plays a part in the calve's size, and we've raised steers that were over 1,000 lbs.  Percentage lowlines in Australia continue to win carcass competitions.