lowline

Alaska · #1 07/15/12, 11:27 AM

WE now have two bred cows and one bred heifer. They are angus x and the angus bull that our neighbor loaned us will be going away soon.
After the calves are born I look to get my own bull . I am considering a lowline to keep the size of our herd down.
Does anybody have any advice on the lowline?

SpaceCadet12364 · #2 07/15/12, 02:20 PM

MY neighbor has registered lowline's he has a bull he is looking to sell. He is just over a year old so by the time yours are ready to breed he should be ready too breed them.

Mc Daniel's Lowline Angus Campbellsville, Ky.
McDaniels Lowline Angus

Alaska · #3 07/15/12, 02:37 PM

Im not so much worried about papers as good animal. And of course money is an issue, being in central Texas Im sure we will find something much closer to home. but thanks for the link I will check it out
Ive been watching this market for several years and the lowlines always seem to bring a good price.
They also seem to deliver more meat per acre than most breeds.
just wondering if anybody here had first hand knowledge

SpaceCadet12364 · #4 07/15/12, 03:39 PM

Well he also has lowline x angus from what he says they get to 500 lbs almost as fast and feeding a 800 to 900 cow versus 1200 to 1400 is cheaper so more per acre his bull is a embryo from Australia. so calves can be registered at 50% and up. The one he would like
sell is dam 3/4 lowline ,sire purebred.he has a couple younger that are 50%. and don't have papers yet his phone number is on his site.not suppose to give out numbers here.

opportunity · #5 07/15/12, 04:21 PM

I had some a few years ago they were easier on the grass didnt' kill it by walking all over like some of the big cows do. I also found them to be way over priced was afraid the market wouldn't hold on them so I sold out and kelp the highlands as they taste better to me
I was also worried that someone elses bull would visit us and I would have cows with huge babies.

Alaska · #6 07/15/12, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by opportunity

I had some a few years ago they were easier on the grass didnt' kill it by walking all over like some of the big cows do. I also found them to be way over priced was afraid the market wouldn't hold on them so I sold out and kelp the highlands as they taste better to me
I was also worried that someone elses bull would visit us and I would have cows with huge babies.

Thats why I thought we would start with some resonably sized angus cows and then bring on the lowline bull. hopefully they will have it easy calving

SteveO · #7 07/15/12, 07:01 PM

Afternoon All,
I have Lowline and just bought a bull pure bred for my little herd of 8. Where in Tx are you? There are many breeder down there. I would look at a percentage bull and save a few bucks the difference from a 75% and a pure bred is large also look at a yearling if you have a year before you need a bull. I love mine and no HORNS is even better.
Check out the American lowline website and also the regional one that includes TX.
Send me a PM if you want to talk.
Steve

Alaska · #8 07/15/12, 07:35 PM

Yes there seems to be plenty of breeders here in texas. I have been watching the SLABA classies .
We are in mason county, the heart of texas.

DJ in WA · #9 07/16/12, 09:04 PM

I've messed with lowline crosses, but then decided to go to smaller frame standard angus.

Here's a place that specializes in smaller bulls. He also has a couple lowlines under black angus and red angus, but if you look for bulls around frame 3, that isn't very big.

For just 3 females, you might consider getting semen and having someone do AI. I found a local dairyman to do it for me, and stores the semen. You just have to know when to call him - if you see her in heat in the morning, have bred at night, and if heat in evening, breed next morning. Or they can give a shot to bring them in heat a certain time.

Many don't want to mess with AI, but works for me.

Save the cost of a bull and feeding him, and fixing the stuff he tears up. You could at least get an unrelated female to your other cows and breed her AI and make your own bull.

Advantage of AI is you can get the best bulls in the world, with more predictability as to what the calves will be. Often the improved performance of the calves can offset the cost of the breeding.

I'm also going red, as blacks don't take the heat as well.

PCC Semen Source

cedarcreekranch · #10 07/19/12, 12:38 AM

We have a fullblood Lowline bull & percentage lowline cows, plus a few small mixed breeds.You can breed your heifers of any breed to one of these bulls and they'll throw a small calf that will still grow up to be a good size at weaning & you won't have to worry about pulling a calf. After the first or second calf, you can breed your Lowline cows to any commercial bull and she'll wean a calf almost her own size.Same grass feeds 2 calves from 2 cows on what would normally feed 1 cow & 1 calf per year. More beef per acre. We don't have a lot of cattle, only 20odd head, but these smaller cattle are really easy on the pasture. The Lowlines do have a range of sizes, from little bitty to pretty good sized - ours are mostly mid-size (the bull weighs maybe 1000# - cows 700-800). Our biggest cow is a Limousin/Angus BIG girl and he gets her bred to produce awesome calves. We calved out a 50%Jersey/50%Lowline and a 50%mini hereford/50%mini zebu heifer and their calves are going to wean about the size of their mamas. And all they eat is grass or hay in winter and mineral but they breed back and keep producing milk to grow those babies while keeping good condition themselves. We are so pleased with our Lowlines we can't say enough good about them. Plus they're a lot easier to work than 1500# and up cattle! I just don't think you can go wrong with them and you can get into them by starting with percentage and breeding up. You can breed up to purebred but Fullblood is just that - nothing else in but angus. Watch craigslist and some of the lowline assn ads - there are good cattle out there for less than show prices. I've got some pics of some of our calves on our site: www.thecedarcreekranch.com