# Lowlines then and now.



## pfettig77 (Oct 14, 2014)

I am on the path to start a small operation on 50 acres this spring (I've contacted the NRCS thanks to advice from this website). I don't want to spend all my time focusing on which breed to get, but it is and important aspect of the operation. I'm leaning toward lowlines and have searched for and read just about every thread on here regarding them. These two quotes are from a decade ago:

"We have a lowline ( another get rich quick scheme) We are loosing tons on her. Too fat to bred, no emberyos, just an expensive yard ornament. She is not even friendly. Since I techniqually do not own her all I can do is hope she gets struck by lightning or has a coranary( She is obese). Put some goats and sheep on the pasture. It takes like 10 goats or sheep to equal a cow and are generally easier to have around. Pigs on pasture need to rung or there will be nothing left in a very short time."

"The Angus name has made the Lowline into a pricey fad, like emus and llamas."

Those quotes were written shortly after they were first introduced to the U.S. My question is were people wrong or is it still just a fad? Is there a way to make money from lowlines in today's market? Do you have to direct market them? What if it was 50% angus 50% lowline - couldn't it be considered either breed?


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## ArmyDoc (May 13, 2007)

Lowlines are a niche market. 

They have some benefits due to their smaller size 
- they don't eat as much as full size cattle
- they don't produce as much meat at slaughter (which can be beneficial if you can't sell / store / eat a full regular size cows worth) 
- they are more feed efficient than larger cattle

If you are selling to people who want these traits, you may be able to money as a breeder providing stock to other people who want animals of this type.

If you are selling cattle for slaughter directly to individuals, you may be able to make money as a producer. (i.e. beef on the hoof)

If you are selling beef to people directly, you may be able to make money as a producer.

But, if your plan is to sell on the regular market, you will have a hard time because they are not what the feed lots are looking for.

The first three markets are much smaller than the last one, but may be more profitable if you can develop them. How good a salesman are you?


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

The author of the quote above was a twit. If the cow is too fat to conceive, put her on a dry lot and feed her appropriately. The Lowline assn has grown, more members, more shows and sales, more cattle registered. Their graph has had the line going upwards for about 15 consecutive years now, so I don't think they are a "get rich quick" scheme at all. Some of the people who were involved in importing them originally are still up to their neck in the breed. If they wanted to get rich quick, they would have sold out when you could get $25000 for a heifer. Prices are moderating as the breed expands. 

Some of the cattle are good specimens. They look just like an Angus only smaller, good conformation and well proportioned. Others, they are small and that's it. Pot bellied, poor conformation, best suited to pet stock. Suggest you look at a lot of them before you commit to buy. The assn web site has classifieds of cattle for sale, plus you can look for members in your area. www.usa-lowline.org


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## Gravytrain (Mar 2, 2013)

MO_cows said:


> The author of the quote above was a twit.


I'll second that.


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## collegeboundgal (Jul 17, 2005)

Gravytrain said:


> I'll second that.


I'll agree to. :rotfl:twit...


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## cedarcreekranch (Nov 24, 2010)

We raise Lowlines, mostly percentage animals. They will produce tender marbled beef (they are PURE Angus) on grass, almost twice as many pounds of beef per acre as fullsize commercial cows, and are easier on fences and equipment because they are a bit smaller. Some folks do raise the tiny little lowlines but most cows are in the 800-1100 pound range.We sell some of our calves at the sale barn, they bring a bit less per pound but we sell more pounds from the same pasture so we end up with more money in the end. We also sell some bulls to breeders who use them on their large breed heifers. Our percentage cows are mostly Angus cross with a few crosses from other breeds. They aren't a fad, just another option in cattle raising.


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## cedarcreekranch (Nov 24, 2010)

I think I need to clarify part of what I said in previous post. You can raise 2 lowline cow/calf pairs on what it takes to raise one full size cow/calf pair is how I meant that.


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## Gravytrain (Mar 2, 2013)

cedarcreekranch said:


> We raise Lowlines, mostly percentage animals. They will produce tender marbled beef (they are PURE Angus) on grass, almost twice as many pounds of beef per acre as fullsize commercial cows, and are easier on fences and equipment because they are a bit smaller. Some folks do raise the tiny little lowlines but most cows are in the 800-1100 pound range.We sell some of our calves at the sale barn, they bring a bit less per pound but we sell more pounds from the same pasture so we end up with more money in the end. We also sell some bulls to breeders who use them on their large breed heifers. Our percentage cows are mostly Angus cross with a few crosses from other breeds. They aren't a fad, just another option in cattle raising.


Very similar to what I do. Full blood large Lowline bull (son of Doc Holiday) with full blood mainline Angus or mainline x Lowline cows. We typically produce a well marbled 1000-1200# animal in 26-28 months on grass alone.


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## pfettig77 (Oct 14, 2014)

cedarcreekranch said:


> We raise Lowlines, mostly percentage animals. They will produce tender marbled beef (they are PURE Angus) on grass, almost twice as many pounds of beef per acre as fullsize commercial cows, and are easier on fences and equipment because they are a bit smaller. Some folks do raise the tiny little lowlines but most cows are in the 800-1100 pound range.We sell some of our calves at the sale barn, they bring a bit less per pound but we sell more pounds from the same pasture so we end up with more money in the end. We also sell some bulls to breeders who use them on their large breed heifers. Our percentage cows are mostly Angus cross with a few crosses from other breeds. They aren't a fad, just another option in cattle raising.


That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. How many head do you have? I wonder if anyone out there makes a living off these critters (not that I could on 50 acres of course). If you had half lowline and half angus, wouldn't that technically be considered angus since it's black and half angus?


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

cedarcreekranch said:


> I think I need to clarify part of what I said in previous post. You can raise 2 lowline cow/calf pairs on what it takes to raise one full size cow/calf pair is how I meant that.


Not totally disagreeing with you but it's going to depend on actual cow size when making the comparison. It would be closer to 3 low lines to 2 regular cows weighing to 1400 lbs. I know there are bigger cows but they seem to be falling out of popularity.


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

Gravytrain said:


> Very similar to what I do. Full blood large Lowline bull (son of Doc Holiday) with full blood mainline Angus or mainline x Lowline cows. We typically produce a well marbled 1000-1200# animal in 26-28 months on grass alone.


Our neighbor has one of Doc Holiday's Bull's. And added one of Standing Bear's. And runs percentage cows 50-87.5% . Heifers start at 21-23lbs. and bulls 27-30lbs.


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## wstevenl (Mar 26, 2008)

My brother in law has one of Doc Holiday's son (used to be at my farm) and we have one of his grand sons. Most of the offspring we have from them are part Dexter. Sure did add some thickness to the Dexter.


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

pfettig77 said:


> That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. How many head do you have? I wonder if anyone out there makes a living off these critters (not that I could on 50 acres of course). If you had half lowline and half angus, wouldn't that technically be considered angus since it's black and half angus?


Lowlines are angus. They were developed from angus in Australia where they did an experiment and selected the angus that were smaller.

Of course now they are in a different breed registry than the black angus, but then red angus are also in a different registry though they were once part of the same breed. Reds and blacks are registered together in Canada.

I prefer the look of the standard cattle. Some of the lowlines look like big cows with just short legs.

I'm also not a big fan of black, as not real attractive and contributes to more heat stress in the summer. So I have a couple British White heifers that are quarter lowline. Bred them to a smaller framed quality black angus bull, and expect calves to probably be white.

Anyway, there are smaller framed standard cattle that are already the size of the lowline crosses. I like frame 2 to 3 (most standard cattle are 5 or more). Lowlines are zero and below. Frame 2 will fatten well on grass. 

Anyway, this guy has a collection of smaller framed standard bulls (plus lowlines), red and black angus, including Beral of Wye that I used.

http://www.pharocattle.com/semensource.htm


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## cedarcreekranch (Nov 24, 2010)

We keep around 20 head. Use a fullblood Lowline bull on mostly percentage Lowline females. We do have one FB cow but aren't really working towards a fullblood herd. We don't feed 'feed', just pasture and hay. To make enough to live on with any breed of cattle takes more than most folks have these days, although if the prices were always this good it would be easier! ;-) DJ is wrong when he says Lowlines are 0 and below in frame size, there are some 0 framed but most of us don't raise that small a cow as they are more miniature pets when they get that small. Lowlines have more ribeye area per hundredweight than larger cattle, they are deep bodied, good looking cattle. They are descended from the original Aberdeen Angus, so are pure Angus genetically. Easy calving (if you don't want to pull calves, this is the breed for you) yet the small calves grow tremendously as soon as they hit the ground. I'm not claiming they are a perfect breed, or to everyone's likes, but if you want to raise fork tender, grass finished beef in a little smaller package than most commercial breeds and on less forage, you might want to try them. Most of our crosses are from Angus and a couple mini-herefords, as well as one big Limousin/Angus cow my husband keeps because he likes her (she's his pet!) Bred back to our bull, we are very pleased with our calves and have been since we started in Lowlines several years ago.


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## cedarcreekranch (Nov 24, 2010)

Also, we breed for the black or black baldy and where we live in Oklahoma it gets VERY hot and humid in the summers, yet we have had no trouble with the black coats. They graze in the heat of the day just as much as any of the Charolais or red cattle around us and don't spend any more time in the ponds than the others do. The big red cow we have, the 2 herefords, and the jerseys all hang with the lowlines, although the jerseys are a bit more wimpy. LOL!


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## pfettig77 (Oct 14, 2014)

Thanks a lot cedarcreekranch! Unless someone gives me a fee herd of some other breed, I think lowline sounds like the breed for me. How many acres do you keep your 20 head on?


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

We got rid of our last big angus cow and replaced her with two 3/4 heifers . 
Love our 3/4 bull and all of our other percentage animals, so easy to handle.


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## pfettig77 (Oct 14, 2014)

Cool! Thanks for the pictures. I like the calf and bull checking each other out. That looks like a pretty easy going bull. Are your animals pretty average size for percentage lowlines? My wife thought the bull looked pretty big - like a regular sized cattle - but I reminded her that bulls are bigger than cows.


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

That is Mrs Alaska 5'4" .
When we had full size Bull in our pasture she would not dare be next to him and have hard time seeing over him. So far every lowline We have been around has been has been as gentle as can be................... knock on wood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ramiller5675 (Mar 31, 2009)

Alaska said:


> That is Mrs Alaska 5'4" .
> When we had full size Bull in our pasture she would not dare be next to him and have hard time seeing over him. So far every lowline We have been around has been has been as gentle as can be................... knock on wood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Nobody asked and it's none of my business, but that looks like an accident waiting to happen.

I'm not the sort of guy that's afraid of any bull, but I try not to get that close to any of my bulls (scratching and petting on the head is definitely not gonna happen) and I don't like little dogs running around my cattle when I'm on foot. 

There's no reason to be afraid of bulls or cows, but you need to stay out of their striking range.


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