Lowline cattle Full blood or Purebred/Percentage

[arbullet]

I have really enjoyed this forum and have been reading off and on for days. It seems I’m not the only person out there, that has limited experience with cattle. While my experience is closer to zero with lowline cattle.

My little piece of paradise is 20 acres along the Ouachita River in Arkansas. Roughly 15 acres is pasture and fenced. My wife and I are really interested in red Lowline cattle. Everything I’ve read sounds promising besides the price tag of them.

My question is either getting Full blood or Percentage cattle. I know the difference between to two. Just don’t know if I should spend more money on a fullblood,

We’d like a red lowline fullblood bull. That way everything will always be atleast 50% purebred. That and to keep them short (like the wife and I are) 8-)

If my goal is to raise my own beef. Will my stomach really care if it’s fullblood or purebred?

This being a little hobby farm. I realize I’ll never make tons of money with them, be more surprised if I break-even. If I make a steer out of one, guess there isn’t a reason to have him in the American Lowline Registry. So how would I prove it’s a fullblood, when I try to sale him for top dollar?

Here is my plan. 1 bull ( talked out of AI) and 3 cows or heifers. Hopefully one day have 1 bull and 6-8 cows.

Sure it’s talked about on here, just haven’t ran across that post yet. Still a little confused about inbreeding. Getting mixed guidance from some buddies on that.. Is it ok to bred bull to his daughter? Or does it just depend on what your going to do with the new calf?

[nosqrls]

A friend went with Black Percentage cows, and 100% pure bred Bull (reg)that way if he breeds a non lowline the calf is still reg.. You can breed related cows together if you get something desirable it is line breeding if not inbreeding. What he does is a friend does ai so when he ai's he takes the related ones over and lets him breed them. Always paper the bull he is half of your genetics and when it comes time to move him to someone else keep pic's of his calf's to show buyer and he will move allot easier.

[MO_cows]

Depends what you want to do with the cattle. Unless you want to hit the show circuit and spend a lot of money on promotion, you likely don't want to get into fullblood Lowlines. The purebred/percentage are more affordable and still have the size and the traits that made them desirable to you in the first place.

No genetic defects have popped up yet in the Lowlines. You should be able to get by with breeding a bull to his daughters but maybe you wouldn't have to, you could trade bulls with someone else in the same boat.

[arbullet]

MO_Cows. My bank account says thanks.

[ArmyDoc]

The only reason for owning (all) full blood cattle is if you are breeding them to sell as breeding stock.

There may be benefit from owning a full blood bull if you value his genetic traits and feel by virtue of his being full blooded that he will be more likely to pass those traits on to his offspring.

But if you are selling for slaughter...there's really no reason for it. You're paying more for the stock... and in the end your getting steak. I guess if you are a really good salesman you may convince someone to pay more...

[cedarcreekranch]

We run a fullblood bull on percentage Lowline cows. (except for one fullblood cow we have) If you're not going to be showing, or even if you are, that would be my advice to start out and see if you want to raise a few fullbloods later on. Even percentage cattle bring good money and a lot are shown. We live up by Sallisaw, OK so not that far away. Not big farmers, have around 20+ head. Plus we have a crop of calves to sell right now ;-)

[pfettig77]

What's a good deal right now for bred fullblood cow? There are a couple near me for 2200 each.

[Gravytrain]

Originally Posted by pfettig77

What's a good deal right now for bred fullblood cow? There are a couple near me for 2200 each.

That seems about right.

[Alaska]

This is our 3/4 lowline bull at 2 1/2 yo. We do not have any pure or full bloods , but plan just to raise all for grassfed beef to sell to private parties.