lowlines???

[pigguy]

OK so what is a lowline?? Are they good show cattle? feeder cattle? hair, frame, fertility, milk, calving ease?? colors?? where can we get semen??

Also where can you get highlander, or galloway semen?? thanks a bunch ))

 

[pigguy]

TJ or Dori?? someone

 

[TJ]

OK so what is a lowline?? Are they good show cattle? feeder cattle? hair, frame, fertility, milk, calving ease?? colors?? where can we get semen??

Also where can you get highlander, or galloway semen?? thanks a bunch ))

I'll try to answer your questions...

*** What is a Lowline? ***
A Lowline is a 100% Aberdeen Angus & their pedigrees can be traced back to Scotland & back to the 1600's.   They are not "modern Angus", they are the "old time" Angus, like were around in the early 1900's.
In the early 1900's, an Australian Research Center (Trangie) imported several Angus genetics from the Glencarnock herd in Canada & a few from the USA & Scotland.  Many of those imported from Canada were sired by Blackcap Revolution, a bull whose progeny dominated the "old Chicago Shows" during the 1920's.  Anyway, to make a long story short, the Trangie researchers divided their herd up into 3 groups based on size.  Those 3 groups were called high line (biggest), control line (average) & low line (the smallest).  After several years the low line group became a consistant 30% smaller than the high line group.  In the 1990's Trangie sold their cattle & the buyers of the low line cattle formed an association called the Australian Lowline Association & the cattle became known as "Lowlines".  All fullblood Lowlines have to be DNA tested for parent verification & since the cattle were in a research center since the early 1900's... you can feel 100% confident that these cattle are 100% pure Aberdeen Angus cattle.  BTW, most are black, but a few are red (VERY FEW!!).  Also, they DO NOT carry the dwarf gene.    

Before going further, the American Lowline Registry has 2 herdbooks... 1 for fullbloods (100% & DNA verified) & 1 for percentage cattle (a lot like shorthorn plus or mainetainers or Chiangus or Chimaines, etc.). The percentage Lowlines can be bred up to purebreds (7/8) or higher, but the percentage cattle can never become fullbloods.  


*** Are they good show cattle?  ***

I am biased, but I think so!  Many have a lot of eye appeal & they will add thickness, volume, & fleshing ability to probably anything.  FWIW, I am trying to buy a Sin City X Lowline heifer calf for that exact reason.    I had a heifer in Kansas City, tied beside the center aisle, that was literally stopping traffic.  2 girls from northern Indidana (show calf) borrowed her & another heifer of mine to take & show their friends... the guy who took my cattle to the show took her upstairs to show her off to all his limi buddies.  Anyway, anything that Angus will work on to produce show cattle, Lowlines will work on.  Many are starting to cross them with Shorthorns & Maines & are showing them at the percentage Lowine Shows.  Actually, the Grand Champ Percentage Heifer @ KC was a Shorthorn X Lowline.  
 
*** Feeder cattle? ***

The 3 year NDSU-Dickerson research study crossing Lowline bulls on commercial heifers would indicate so.  Those were 1/2 blood steers sired by Fullblood bulls.  Finish weights averaging over 1000 lbs. & one year they averaged over 1200 lbs.  If that is too small, then you could use a 1/2 blood Lowline bull to get a little more performance. I've got a friend who has some excellent quality 3/4 Lowline X 1/4 Angus (show winning Angus genetics), bulls for sale @ reasonable prices.  They would work extremely well on Maine or Shorthorn or Charolais or Simmi heifers to produce show calves, IMHO.  One of those bulls weighs over 1150 lbs. as a 2 year old & it was grass raised.  You can't tell me that a bull like that wont sire 1300 lb.grain fed finished steers when crossed with typical show quality cows.

*** Hair? ***

That depends upon the genetics.  But , the best thing that I can tell you is to go to Denver & check out all the Lowline hair balls!!  Doc Holliday had 5 - 6 inch hair as a calf & he was raised in south/central Alabama & even though it was winter time, they had water in the "uncovered" swimming pool at the hotel where I stayed!!  You can easily pick out Doc's calves because they are fuzzier than the others that I've got.  I did clip some Lowline bulls that went to Denver last year & their hair was a little disappointing for winter time... but they were bulls, they were from TN, they had been born in the fall the previous year & they hadn't been brushed or rinsed or anything!!  Those bulls had real curly hair too, which isn't real common even among Lowline bulls, but that was surely due testotserone.   However, all of their heifer mates had real good long hair & it clipped up nicely.  As a general rule, yes, Lowlines have pretty good hair.  

*** FRAME? ***

My bull Doc is 48.5 inches tall.  44 - 46 is about average.  Some are as short as 40 inches or shorter.  Most of my 1/2 bloods are in the neighborhood of 4.5 frame out of 45 inch bulls, Doc's are closer to a 5 frame.  My friend has had some 5 frame 1/2 bloods out of 45 inch bulls, but her cows are mostly 1900+ lbs. She sold a 1/2 blood cow that weighed 1400 lbs. & was only 48 inches tall this summer!!  A whole lot depends upon the females frame size, but 1/2 blood Lowlines are not as small as many would tend to believe.  The NDSU-Dickerson data showed that 1/2 blood steers out of commercial heifers averaged in the upper 4 frame.  

*** Fertility? ***

My 1/2 blood bulls have had the biggest testicles compared to my dad's Tarentaise bulls (and their testicles are good sized!).  So far, the females do seem to be very fertile.          

*** Milk? ***
Don't expect dairy cows, but I did have a fullblood bull wean off weighing 350 lbs. @ 5 months, which I think is pretty good considering he wasn't creep fed, was eating mostly KY fescue & we were in a drought.  If he stayed on until 7 months, she would've weaned off over 60% of her body weight, which is what you want, IMHO.


*** Calving Ease? ***

Breed a Lowline bull to your regular sized heifers & you can sell your calf pulling equipment.  Seriously, it would have to be a fluke if one of your heifers had trouble.  My biggest fullblood calf weighed 37 lbs. this year!!

Lowline females seem to be very easy calvers also.  


*** Colors? ***

Black & homo polled.  A few red Lowlines exsist, but very few.  

Percentage Lowlines is a different story... I've got browns, white faces, smokey's & blacks. I've seen belted, belted with white faces, white with black points & blue roans.  Whatever colors Angus or Red Angus produce when crossed is what you will get with Lowlines.  FYI, the Grand Champ & Res. percentage bulls at the NILE show were black with a white belt & white with black points!!  It's a rainbow of colors with the percentage registery!!  

***  Where can you get semen? ***  

From me, of course!!  I've got semen on Doc Holliday & if somebody is interested, I will collect my Grand Champion Percentage bull @ a very reasonable price.  

Attached is a picture of my Grand Champion Bull (Lowline X Tarentaise)... I think he is good enough to sire show calves... he's thick!!   He actually lost some weight getting broke for the show (he had never seen a halter about 40 days before the show in KC!!) ... he's a tank, but has a nice phenotype.  

And I also attached is a pic of one of my Doc Holliday's heifers.    

 

[TJ]

Here is a link to a thread on this site with a lot more detailed info about Lowlines...

http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/index.php/topic,938.0.html

It's entitled, "The Lowline Angus Story" & has 3 pages worth of posts. 


If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.  Dori is a wealth of info RE Lowlines & I am sure that she is willing to answer any of your questions too.

BTW, thanks for asking about them!!  If I can help you with Lowline semen, just let me know 

Thanks again!!
TJ 

 

[TJ]

I dug up 2 baby pics of my Grand Champ Lowline bull back when he was a baby.  He was around a month old in one of the pics & 4 months old in the other.  They are not best pictures at all, but you can see how beefy he was & you can tell that he grew fairly well too.   His #'s weren't bad at all either...  64 lb. BW  -  675 lb. - 205 Adj weight (no creep feed).      Out of a 1st calf heifer & dual registered as a Lowline & a Tarentaise.