Talk to me about lowlines....

[Jackie]

I am probably jinxing myself here, but I just put an offer in on a quarter section of land. Currently a fully fenced cow pasture with 2 dug outs and about half bush/trees...the rest grass. We are hoping to have a house there sometime next summer. Probably a modular or an RTM at most.

I was bitten by the ranching bug when I used to be married to a cowboy. I spent 3.5 years on an 8000 acre cattle ranch and learned a lot. I want to have my own 'mini' ranch and I LOVE the lowline breed. Black Angus are my favorite cattle breed and lowlines are just like them only smaller...from what I under stand.

I am not interested in making any sort of profit...I just want to have some fun. I have to do something with my land. Besides the 9 horses that I already own.

Anyone have any lowlines?

[DJ in WA]

With just a few acres, I have just one lowline/jersey cow I breed back to lowline.

Many consider lowlines to be just a fad, and overpriced. I like them as a practical way to reduce size and get quality beef. Or to combine with Jersey to reduce milk production with smaller size. And good for small acreages, which are becoming more common as land is divided.

The purebreds are usually not cheap. You can either buy purebreds, or get some standard size cows and breed up (down?) to lowline. Or buy crossbreds which are cheaper. Which brings up the issue of breeding. Can’t just use the neighbor’s regular size bull on small cows, so you’ll either need to have a bull, or have someone nearby who can do AI. If you have your own bull, usually want several cows to make it worth feeding him all year.

Here’s some links I have saved:

http://www.usa-lowline.org/

http://www.barjranch.com/lowline_herdbulls.html

http://www.diamondjranch.net/about.html

http://www.loala.com/pdf/semen_brochure.pdf

http://www.lazyglowline.com/fullbloodRed.php

http://www.sharidonfarms.com/lowlinegenetics.htm

I like the Doc Holliday bull shown at the following sites:

http://www.crosscreekcattle.com/blank.html

http://www.pharocattle.com/Semen-Source-2008/angus.htm

[crowinghen]

I have a half Lowline steer out of a Hereford Murray grey cross cow-- he's a heckuva steer-- I really like the Lowlines-- he's really chunky and should give us some good beef next year. We don't have a need or the property for a large beef. I have dexter heifer that I might breed to Lowline just for a good polled cross.. or I might find a polled dexter to breed her to.
Anyway my Ai guy says LOTS of people are breeding to the Lowline bulls. I told him he's the best deal around-- 60 bucks for a half Lowline calf, when you see the prices people want for them!

[Jackie]

Thank you very much for the information guys! Now to spend some time checking out the links!

[farmerdan]

I have Lowlines. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about them. They have a lot of great traits.

Dan