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Meet Your
Canadian Lowline Association 2014-2015 Directors Russell Crawford, President - Victoria, BC
I am currently president of the Canadian Lowline Cattle Association and have been a board member since 2010. We run approx 120 Fullblood Lowline Angus and percentage cattle. We believe with other members of the board that Lowline Angus cattle have a place in the commercial market place, and we are actively expanding and promoting these cattle to the industry. Should anyone have any questions regarding the breed please feel free to email me at info@highpointlowlines.com
Cathy Monteith, Vice President - Edam, SK
We first got our Lowlines in 2010 when we bought a small herd from Ken Lindahl in Wetaskawin. I became a director of the Canadian Lowline Association in 2012 and am Vice President this year. With my husband Lee and children Melissa and James we have Honeybrook Lowlines and raise both Fullblood and Percentage animals.
Darrell Gotaas, Director - Edmonton, AB
Darrell Gotaas resides in Edmonton, Alberta and has been involved with Lowline cattle since 1999. Darrell, along with his wife Barbara, his father Paul, and herdsman Murray Skippen, operate Big Island Lowlines. It began with the purchase of 20 Australian embryos and 3 heifers and a flush cow from the original Australian import that started the Canadian herd. Darrell has been a member of the Board since 2006, and served as President from 2006 through 2014.
Melanie Guttner, Director - Pink Mountain, BC
Melanie I have been a board Member since 2013. Pinnacle Lowlines is owned & operated by Andy & Melanie Guttner of Pink Mountain, British Columbia Canada. We purchased our foundation Lowline herd in 2008. We are proud to be a part of developing some of the most hardy grass fed Lowlines available in North America.
Monika Herter, Director - Leduc, AB
Hello, my name is Monika Herter. I have been a Board member since November 2014. My responsibilities are Promotion and Membership. I will do my best to promote the Lowlines and explain why it is important to become a member. I try to make it exciting to be a member. My Husband and I are the owners of Big Mountain Lowline. We are proud to own a little herd and be happy to help the people in our neighborhood to learn more about the Lowline.
Laurie Brunsdon, Director - Vernon, BC
Silverhills Lowlines is located on the edge of the Monashee Mountains east of Vernon B.C. We raise Fullblood and Percentage Lowlines. We promote a grass raised animal without hormones and only use antibiotics if necessary. We now have a location in Lumby that sells our meat at a retail facility, the Lumby Community Market. We are pleased to see the breed growing in popularity as they are a great animal for this area. I have been a director on the Canadian Lowline Association since 1999.
President's Message
I would like to welcome everyone to the first publication of the Canadian Lowline Register there are some very exciting times ahead for the Lowline Angus breed and the cattle industry . This is my favorite time of the year, with new calves on the ground and some satisfaction that last year’s breeding plans worked. I have had the opportunity over the last few months to visit with Lowline breeders and commercial cattleman in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and have been very impressed with what I have seen and with the feedback I received from the commercial industry was more than positive. In Alberta, I stopped in at Marshall Farms and the Come and Go Ranch. These two commercial operations used Lowline bulls over approximately 100 commercial Angus and Simangus heifers for the first time and both were very impressed with the results. Easy calving, hybrid vigor and reduced labor costs at calving time, and no calf losses, we are now looking forward to weaning data on these calves. In British Columbia I stopped in at Mike and Lynne Wrights, who are located in Merritt B.C., and run a registered herd of black Angus bred back to Lowline bulls. They are making some big inroads with the commercial cattlemen in the Nicola Valley with their Lowline x Angus bulls that are being used over heifers for their easy calving. Mike says the biggest problem we have now is keeping up with the demand and having enough GOOD bulls to supply the industry. Last winter a group of nine progressive breeders from Montana, Idaho, Washington , North Dakota, Georgia and British Columbia participated in the first ever Can-Am performance bull test for Lowline bulls at the Treasure Bull test in Simms, Montana. The purpose of the test was to identify the top performing bulls and to show commercial breeders the benefits of incorporating Lowline cattle into their breeding programs. Many of the Lowline bulls had a larger rib eye area than most of the other breeds on the test. There were 28 bulls on this first test, which were tested for daily gain, performance, and at the end of the test they were all semen tested, ultra sounded, BVD and Trich tested so buyers could buy with confidence knowing these bulls were ready for service. We are hoping that we have even more participation next year and would encourage all breeders who are breeding bulls to participate. Bulls go in this year October 2015, and come out April 2016. The Canadian Lowline Association has numerous shows that are coming up and would encourage all breeders to participate where they can: September 2-6 at IPE in Armstrong B.C., and then November 10-15 at Canadian National Show at Farmfair in Edmonton, Alberta. For those willing to travel across the border there is a show September 10-15 at the Western States Lowline Classic in Spokane Washington which will be hosting the first ever fullblood bull battle and heifer futurity with great prize money and prizes . For all those showing at any events please remember this maybe the first time folks have seen Lowline cattle so have your cattle in show shape and clipped prior to attending as the first impression is a lasting impression. Any members that need assistance please contact any of the directors and we will be more than happy to help you out or answer any questions you may have. I would like to thank all of those who helped make our first publication a success and look forward to making this a semi-annual magazine, with informative information and advertising for Lowline Angus cattle in Canada . All the best to those participating at upcoming events and I hope everyone has a great summer. Russell Crawford President CLA 1
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Table of Contents
Meet Your Directors..................................................................... 1 Presidents Message....................................................................... 1 Breed History................................................................................ 3 What Are Lowlines?..................................................................... 3 Breeder Profile.............................................................................. 4 A Breeders Veterinary Prospective............................................ 8 News From PEI............................................................................. 9 Wessex Lowlines........................................................................... 10-11 Lowlines On The Grid................................................................. 14 Why A Lowline - From A Juniors Perspective......................... 16 20th Anniversary In Canada....................................................... 19 IPE.................................................................................................. 20
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Breed History
What are Lowlines?
1929 ...................................................................................
• Lowline cattle are a selected strain of Aberdeen Angus cattle, bred for many generations for smaller stature, feed efficiency, and high yielding, high quality meat production.
• Lowline cattle are a pure Australian breed of cattle.The original cattle were purchased from Glencarnock Ranch, an Aberdeen Angus seedstock producer, in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
• Lowline cattle are structurally sound, compact, good natured, easy calving, feed efficient, grass-maintained cattle.
• Top Angus from Scotland, Canada and the USA were added to the herd over the next 35 years. The herd was then closed.
• Mature Lowline cows generally weigh between 7501,000 pounds and stand between 40-44 inches high at the hip. Lowline cows are feminine, good milking, nurturing mothers.
1974 ...................................................................................
• Mature Lowline bulls generally weigh between 1,1001,500 pounds and stand 42 to 48 inches high at the hip. Lowline bulls are virile and easily managed.
• The Trangie herd was divided into three groups based on yearling growth rates: they became the “High” lines, the “Low” lines, and the randomly selected “Control” lines. The Australian government began a research program involving a detailed evolution of weight gain, feed intake, reproductive performance, milk production, carcass yield and quality, and structural soundness. • After 15 years, the Low line of cattle were approximately 30% smaller than the High lines. The bulk of the High lines and Low lines were found to be comparable in their efficiency of protein conversion. The original Low line herd consisted of 85 cows, which were joined to yearling bulls that had also been selected for low growth from birth to yearling age.
1992 ................................................................................... • Research was completed. Interest was great in the Low lines, as they had the desirable characteristics of the Angus breed, but stood only 39-43 inches high. A new breed, the “Lowline,” had been created. The herd was sold and the Australian Lowline Association was formed.
• Yearling heifers generally weigh between 600 to 750 pounds. • Lowline Calves generally weigh between 45-65 pounds at birth and stand 24-28 inches at the hip. Low birth weights and early maturity are characteristics of the Lowline. Certain individuals will be outside of these parameters. Judgment should be made on quality and confirmation and not on size. Percentage Lowline: Lowline bulls cross well with many breeds and produce calves with lower birth weights, generally ranging from 60-80 pounds, but dependent upon the maternal influence. Easy calving on first-time heifers, quicker breed backs, and lower feed costs are just some of the advantages of using Lowline bull in operation.
• The complete dispersal sale followed on October 30, 1993 where 20 bulls, 44 cows and 51 heifers were sold.
1996 ................................................................................... • Six Lowline cows were brought to Canada and were placed in an embryo transfer program in Alberta. The Canadian and American Lowline Associations were formed. • Presently there are Lowline cattle operations successfully established in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, China and UK. More than 800 registered Fullblood Lowline cattle can be found in operations across Canada. 3 lowline15.indd 3
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e are located in the Southeast corner of Saskatchewan and have been involved with Lowlines for 19 years. We bought our first embryos in the fall of 1996. Our first four heifer calves were born in August and September of 1997 and we were in the Lowline business. We got into the Lowline breed to diversify our 200 Charolais x Simmental cow calf operation. We could see that the baby boomers were getting older and more health professionals were suggesting smaller cuts of red meat. With the Lowlines ability to produce more pounds of beef per pounds of input and with the smaller cuts, they seemed like the answer. We have been a member of the Canadian Lowline Cattle Association since its inception, helping to draft the by-laws and set up the constitution. We have attended many shows and fairs over the years to showcase and promote our cattle. The feedback and interest has greatly increased since our first few shows and fairs, it was a hard sell to get the public to see Lowlines as beef and not pets. We love to talk about and show off our Lowlines and now have increased our herd to sixty cow-calf pairs.
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Biography: Dr. Colin Palmer is an Associate Professor of Theriogenology (Animal Reproduction) at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. Originally from Nova Scotia, Dr. Palmer worked in mixed practices in Ontario and British Columbia and has owned/operated a practice in Saskatchewan. Dr. Palmer along with his wife Kim and children Lauren, Emily and Carter run a herd of purebred Red Angus cattle under the KC Cattle Co. name.
Maximizing Opportunities in Today’s Economy with Sound Herd Management For the beef cow-calf producer the revenue side of the profitability equation has two major components: pounds of calf weaned and cull cows sold. Both income streams are seeing prices that few of us thought were possible 5 years ago so why not take the best possible advantage of these good times? Weaning a high percentage of calves from cows exposed to bulls and at optimum weaning weights are the two most important things you can do maximize profitability! Calf health and breeding related issues usually top my list of common questions I am asked this time of year. Poor quality, late born and certainly dead calves can have a significant effect on the revenue side; especially this year. Many producers report having a few to several sick calves over the late summer/ fall and are concerned that they are about to experience a wreck at weaning, or have had had wrecks in the past and want to know what to do to prevent it happening again. On the breeding front it seems that more and more producers are noticing a few cows cycling very late in the season causing them to worry that a bull wasn’t doing his job or that they have a sexually transmitted disease in the herd. Vaccinating young calves (2 to 4 months old) against respiratory diseases at spring processing is becoming commonplace. If you are not vaccinating calves and are treating depressed calves, coughing and/ or nasal discharge during the summer grazing period then you should definitely consider doing so. If your calf health problems occur at weaning then consider vaccinating calves 3 to 6 weeks prior to weaning to allow their immune systems to respond adequately so as to prevent, or at least lessen the impact of a disease agent. Your vaccine program should provide protection against Mannheimia (formerly Pasteurella) haemolytica the bacteria responsible for the so-called shipping fever pneumonia. Other agents that you should strongly consider vaccinating against in your pre-weaning program include Bovine Virus Diarrhea Virus (BVDV), Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Bovine Respiratory Syncitial Virus (BRSV), Histophilus somnus and, of course, the Clostridia (Blackleg) bacteria. There are many good products available on the market; some are just what you need all in a single shot. Certainly other things to keep in mind are low stress weaning techniques including nose tags (i.e. Quietwean®) and fence line weaning. The value of cattle has increased many fold in comparison to the cost of our inputs this year so I see no reason why a producer could not see a healthy return from a sound vaccination and weaning program. Calves that have been stricken with disease and recovered seldom perform as well their healthy counterparts and represent a huge loss of revenue. Other considerations for your calves include growth implants, deworming and creep feeding. There are many oral and topical anti-parasiticals available. Most of us have fallen into the habit
of only using broad spectrum anti-parasiticals in the late fall to kill lice, but research has shown that use of these products on pastured cattle can pay big dividends in improved performance. Probably even better returns than controlling lice. Again, factor in the relatively low cost of these products in comparison with the value of your product – the calves. Growth implants for calves not intended as replacements have always made sense, but these products have suffered unfairly due to negative publicity, and in my opinion, producer apathy. You can pretty much bet that those calves you sell will be implanted in the feedlot so why not use this technology and reap some reward yourself. If you can expect 20 to 25 pounds of extra gain in that calf, isn’t an extra 40 to 50 dollars, or more, in your pocket worth the effort? The low cost of feed grains combined with the high price of cattle has been dubbed the “perfect storm” for our industry. Calves easily outstrip what their mothers can supply within a few months and need outside sources of energy and protein to continue to grow. By late summer pasture quality has declined and in many cases gain dwindles to less than 1.5 lbs per day as we move into the fall when the potential to gain at least 2.5 pounds per day is there. Cow body condition also suffers; especially in heavy milkers jeopardizing future calf performance and her breed back potential next year. At 6 cents per pound and a feed conversion of 10:1 (feed to gain) it is easy to see that 60 cents worth of feed can return $2.25 per pound in calf gain. Take out costs of the creep feeder etc. and you will see that it is still easy to make a profit. Furthermore, calves started on feed will have an easier time at weaning and should be healthier yielding more potential profit. Although bull power is usually the first consideration there are many other reasons that cows may be seen in heat weeks or months after the beginning of the breeding season. I usually like to define the problem and that starts with pregnancy checking. Guessing, fretting and checking bulls seldom provide the answer. A bull that passes his breeding soundness check today may not have passed 2 months ago. What about his ability to breed? Did you actually see him serve cows? In many cases, a few cows are late and were late calvers last year, or represent a single management group e.g. newly purchased animals, 1st calvers, old cows, and so on. Now once they have been identified further investigation is possible. On the vast majority of operations, nutrition - energy, protein, minerals and vitamins, is likely responsible for more production loss than any infectious disease. Recent evidence shows that many feeding programs fail to supply adequate levels of trace minerals to support reproduction. Feed testing and mineral supplementation definitely makes sense when you think about it in terms of pounds of weaned calf. On the flip side, if you sell off those open and late calvers you will be well paid for them.
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n 2011 I was asked to join Geoff Roper and Nick Weber in the development of their Lowline herd investment. Having imported a foundation batch of heifers from Canada they were at a crossroads for the herd’s progression. They felt that with my experience within the cattle industry together with my wife Sam, that we could help move their plans forward in relation to their aspirations for Lowlines in Europe. My wife, Sam and children Logan (12) and Charlotte (7) and I have been managing the farm and we very much enjoy working with the Lowline cattle. I have over 35 years experience in cattle and sheep farming and have worked with many breeds of cattle from commercial beef animals to pedigree Highlands. I am on the panel of judges for the Highland cattle society. Sam was brought up on a dairy farm and showed dairy cattle from a young age. Our children have both been involved in Farm life since birth – Logan showing his first animal, a Highland calf at just 3yrs old, they both love the Lowline cattle. The temperament and size are fantastic for children to be around. They help with day to day activities when out of school and both show Lowlines, helping with the halter training, grooming and show preparation. Charlotte made her showing debut at the age of 4yrs old with a Lowline calf; Logan is able to help with showing the older cattle and picks out a heifer every year to show, plus he loves showing our mature stock bull Conker. Wessex Lowlines is currently the largest herd of Lowline cattle in Europe and is based at Stubhampton, near Blandford in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It was set up by Geoff Roper and Nick Weber who after hearing about Lowlines started to look into the breed and became excited about their prospects. They
began trying to source stock.....the only Lowlines in the UK at that time was a small herd with just a couple of females that derived from an import of embryos from Australia, and so because of the lack of available animals in the UK, a decision was made to source live animals from overseas rather than spend a lot of money on embryos. Our view was that embryos can be a more expensive route than live animals. A recipient is required, conception rates can be as low as 50%, and a percentage of the calves will be bulls, of course. So importing heifers was agreed to be the way forward. Much research was done and eventually a breeder in Canada was found who could supply the foundation stock for the herd. Canada was the only country worldwide that could meet the strict health criteria for importing cattle into Europe and in 2010 the first crate of 10 heifers (the first live cattle imports into the UK for over a decade) made the long journey from Big Island Lowlines in cold Alberta, Canada to their new home in Dorset, England. They seemed totally un-phased by their travels and stepped out off their shipping crate calmly as if it was an everyday occurrence for them. We have subsequently had 2 further imports and in 2013 we were able to make a trip as a family to view animals for import, and also to visit Farmfair in Edmonton, Alberta where we very much enjoyed seeing how cattle are shown in Canada – a very different way to showing in the UK. It was a great opportunity to meet with other Lowline breeders and see some great examples of Lowline cattle. The rodeo and snowmobile rides were particular highlights for the children! As awareness of the breed grows we receive a lot of interest and enquiries about the cattle from all over Europe. Our biggest hurdles here in the UK are cost and availability of stock. The cost of importing animals has dictated the prices we can sell stock at and whilst people may want to breed Lowlines – not everyone has the money required to invest in them at this time. In addition we can only sell a limited number of animals a year without jeopardizing our own breeding program as we work to grow the herd to 100 head of breeding females. The availability of animals to import is limited and is a costly process. Others have chosen to go down the embryo route, and there have been imports of embryos from Australia into the UK. I was keen to establish an embryo transfer programme so that we can produce more calves and also be able to supply embryos. We have one cow which was able to provide us with 13 calves last year. We initially used 10 locally bred elite health status pedigree Aberdeen Angus as recipients – we now also use Highland cattle as they are a much more economical recipient, that like the Lowlines, can out winter and do not require concentrate feed.
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One thing I felt was imperative to implement from the beginning was a high health status for the herd, which has resulted in our herd being ‘Elite Health Status’, accredited free from IBR, BVD, Lepto, Johnnes and Neospora. I feel this is vital, not only to allow us to export cattle into Europe in the future, but also to give any buyers confidence that the cattle are disease free and in good health. We now have a herd of 80 plus pedigree Lowline cattle. Excepting the foundation females imported from Canada, and one of our stock bulls, which was derived from an embryo imported from Australia, everything is home bred. We were able to buy that stock bull from another UK breeder. He is sired by Trangie M206 Midshipman. We are able to graze the cattle here at a ratio of 2.7 cows plus calves at foot per acre. Alongside our stock bulls we use imported semen from Australia to bring in different bloodlines, which means that our herd now includes Big Island, Alta, Colombo Park, Elandra Park, Vitulus, High Point, MRG Rusty, Muddy Creek and Ardrossan genetics. So I am able to select pairings to suit specific animals and it also enables us to sell ‘starter herd’ packages of unrelated heifers and bulls. So far we have set up 5 breeding herds throughout the UK; sold several bulls that have gone to people impressed by the Lowlines and their potential for crossbreeding by introducing the Lowline’s carcase quality and hybrid vigour. We have arranged 2 exports into Northern Ireland and 1 into Southern Ireland, from where we have had a lot of interest both in establishing purebred herds and using bulls for crossbreeding. There aren’t sufficient breeders or numbers of cattle in the UK yet to warrant setting up our own Lowline Breed Society, but this is something we are working towards. Currently all registered Lowlines in the UK are registered with either the Canadian or Australian societies depending on their origin.
Because the Lowline breed is still a minority in the UK we spend a lot of time during the summer taking cattle out and about to agricultural shows so that people can see the animals in the flesh. There is currently only 1 show in the UK that has specific classes for Lowline cattle, which is Frome show in Somerset. At other shows we have to enter into the ‘Any other pure beef breed’ or ‘Pure beef breed of native origin/indigenous to the UK’ classes, in which we can be showing against all-sorts of different breeds such as Longhorn, Shorthorn, Lincoln Reds, Herefords, Ruby Reds, South Devon’s, Speckled Park, Dexter’s, Belted and Riggit Galloway’s and Highlands! At some shows we are also in with the continental breeds such as Belgian Blues, Charolais and Limousin. As you can imagine it takes a good judge to be able to score each animal by its own breed standards as there is no way you can compare these animals directly against each other. With such diverse breeds and many judges not having seen Lowlines before, or know anything about them, it becomes a bit of a challenge when judging! However we have done well over the last 3 years and won beef championships with both our stock bull and a cow & calf plus several reserve championships. We also won an Overall Beef Championship. As well as attending shows we have been featured in several farming / smallholder publications that have run articles about our Lowlines, which all helps spread the word and widen the knowledge of the breed. This year we started retailing beef from the farm, which is run by Sam. I am very strict about only keeping the very best of the male calves as breeding bulls. It is very important to keep the quality of animals as high as possible so anything that doesn’t make the grade is castrated and we will finish it for beef. We had 2 grass fed steers butchered earlier this year at around 450kg, giving a 77% meat to bone yield . We hang our carcasses for 28-30 days and local people are very happy to buy well cared for, locally produced, and naturally finished beef. Eventually we would like to see Lowline beef in restaurants but we aren’t quite at the stage of beef production yet to be able to supply the quantities that would be required. We happily welcome people to the farm to view the cattle and have had visitors from Italy, Germany and Ireland, also fellow Lowline breeders have visited from Australia and New Zealand. We hold an annual open day at the farm to allow people to come along and see the whole herd and cattle at all stages. We are passionate about getting the breed established in the UK and indeed Europe. We believe Lowlines have a big part to play in the future of the beef industry due to their hardiness, easy handling, temperament and the ability to finish for beef on grass.
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E
ver since Lowlines were imported into the United States, the message has been the same: Lowlines are easy calving and have superior carcass traits. Their calving ease has been well documented with thousands of births and breeders recording the weights with the breed registry. Carcass traits, however, are more difficult to collect and very expensive to prove.
A collective group of breeders set out three years ago to prove the Lowline breed could have a seat at the table in the commercial cattle market. These breeders included Lowline seedstock producers Muddy Creek Ranch (MCR) of Wilsall, Montana and Topline Lowlines (TL) of Monroe, Washington along with Walters Land & Cattle Co (WLCC) of Fort Lupton, Colorado, a commercial cattle ranch. This project pulled together many years of breeding data from the seedstock producers and also utilized Ultra Sound Data Technology to determine the bulls utilized. The bulls were then artificial bred to cow groups that were composite based groups that have been established for over 10 years with Walters Land & Cattle Co., and their other partnerships with friends and family. Calves were then backgrounded at weaning on cover crop residue fields, supplemented with mineral licks, protein tubs and salt. Hay was provided to these calves during inclement weather. After a few months the calves were then processed and put into feed yards. These calves were fed and finished with a forage and concentrate ration. These calves were placed in several feed yards in Colorado and Nebraska. When they were finished and ready to harvest, they were purchased by cattle buyers from several processors in Colorado and Kansas. WLCC aggressively played the Grid with these calves at harvest. Grid pricing is pricing over and above the open cash price for live cattle. Basically in grid pricing, you’re guaranteeing the carcasses to hit certain criteria set and established by packers for premium dollars over and above the cash live price. But if the criteria is not met, severe discounts to those same carcasses are applied. In other words, the potential is that you can make a lot of money or you can lose even more on the grid if you don’t know how your cattle will perform in a feedlot situation. The cattle in the project did great, grading mostly prime and choice with yield grades 1’s and 2’s. The grid price was high and yielded high dollar amounts for their carcasses. The take away from this article should be: 1) Lowlines prove they have a place at the commercial table 2) specific bloodlines prove they can perform above and beyond set expectations in the commercial market place
3) there are Lowline breeders out there not just knocking at the commercial market door but literally KICKING that door in.
AVG Live Weight
AVG HCW
AVG Dress %
331 Steers
1278
805
62.95%
278 Heifers
1167
724
61.97%
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hi my name is Melissa Monteith. I am 17 years old and this was my 3rd year in the Mervin 4H beef club. This year I took one of mom and dad’s half lowline heifers as my heifer project. At our achievement day there were 3 heifers. HNB As U Wish was champion yearling heifer and also was awarded Grand Champion female. When we moved on to our regional show in St.Walburg, SK. , HNB As U Wish placed in the top 4 out of 21 all breed heifers. I also got top 6 out of 18 in senior showmanship at our regional show. I took my heifer to Farmfair and showed her there last November before taking her to 4H. This was the second year I have taken a lowline influenced heifer in 4H.
Melissa Monteith
We live at Pink Mountain,British Colombia Canada . I bought my first registered Lowline cow in April of 2014. Shortly after that I registered Eagle Ridge as my herd prefix. My foundation cow goes back to the Trangie Lowline starting from the third generation. Some people may ask why a Lowline? Why not your standard Angus? Lowlines are so small compared to today’s standard Angus. They may be short, but one of our Bulls at 4 years of age weighed in at 1500 pounds and he is only 43 inches tall and grass fed. There are a lot of positive traits in the Lowline breed. With the Lowlines being smaller they are less intimidating to people. This also makes it easier for kids to handle them in and out of the show ring. A Lowline is very efficient, you don’t have to finish them on grain, they finish very nicely on grass. They are very quick, easy calvers and the cows have a strong maternal instinct. I love that the Lowlines are easy to handle and they have a lot of meat on them considering their size. The meat to bone ratio on the Lowlines is very high compared to your standard beef, because of their height. Lowlines are a wonderful breed to work with and raise. They have done very well for us.
Sonja Guttner We purchased 2 lowline steer calves from Russ and Linda Crawford of High Point Lowlines in the fall of 2014. We were looking for something for our younger children to be able to work with and raise and show alongside of their older siblings. We have been extremely happy with our decision, the calves have been a joy for them. They are able to catch, halter, wash and walk their animals and the smaller stature has been far more manageable for them to work with as they are at a much more reasonable height for them. Being able to reach the toplines in the washrack and giving them the ability to work with them without relying on others for assistance has given our kids a lot of pride and confidence, and as a family we have enjoyed countless hours in the barn working together. In addition to that we have been extremely pleased with how the steers have come along. Not only do they have a lot of eye appeal and a great ‘show steer’ look to them, but they also definitely have had a great conversion rate with a good daily gain and we are really looking forward to winter and enjoying the end result as it appears they are going to hang a great carcass. We will definitely be visiting the Crawfords again in the fall to hopefully find a few more!
Dawson and Denny Spady
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Want to promote your Lowline genetics? Contact us to be part of the next Lowline Register! 22 lowline15.indd 22
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Where
y t i l a u Q
is Found
Stop by to see our top genetics of Registered Lowline and Midline Angus. Watch for our genetics out this fall!
Stumbles Creek Ranch Mike & Lynne Wright
Box 2051 I Merritt BC V1K 1B8 I P: 250-378-4996 I F: 250-378-4991 I E: mlwright1@telus.net
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Advertisers Index Abegweit Isle Lowline Cattle........................... 2 Aspen Lane Lowline Cattle............................. 22 Big Island Lowlines.......................................... IBC Black River Farm.............................................. 22 Butterkup Farms............................................... 5 Farmfair International..................................... 6 Highpoint Lowlines.......................................... 13 Honeybrook Lowlines...................................... IFC Idaho Lowline Cattle Company...................... 15 JNF Lowline Cattle........................................... 24 Muddy Creek Ranch........................................ 21 Painted Post Lowlines...................................... 7 Pinnacle Lowlines............................................. 5 Silverhills Lowline Cattle................................. 24 Stumbles Creek Ranch..................................... 23 Wessex Lowlines............................................... 9 Western States Lowline Association.............. 22 Yarra RangesLowline Cattle Stud.................. OBC
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