Beef Cattle
We try to keep five breeding purebred angus cows that are fullblood or percentage Lowline. The Lowlines are much smaller than standard angus, easier to handle, very gentle, and produce well-marbled beef on pasture alone. Aside from being super cute, we like having excellent quality steaks that are reasonably sized ... even though T-bones the size of plates are desired by some. We feed them on pasture spring through fall with free-choice hay, fresh water, and minerals.
A little about the breed - our lowline bloodlines are from the Australian Aberdeen Angus that resulted from a selective breeding program in New South Wales resulting in one of the smallest breeds of cattle. It is not a dwarf breed. In the program, they had three groups of cattle based on their growth in the first year - high growth (High Line), low growth (Low Line), and a control group (Control Line). During this program, they were evaluating animals for efficient feed conversion. Even though they were not targeting smaller size, after nineteen years, the Low Line group was 30% smaller. Today, they are about 40% smaller. They more efficiently convert feed to mass and are less damaging to pastures.
Our angus cows raise their calves and we encourage weaning around six months of age to keep the moms in good body condition. Most of the males are castrated with a small band they day they are born. We regularly vaccinate, deworm, and provide minerals and baking soda.
We also raise dairy offspring for beef. The Ayrshire cows produce vigorous babies that gain weight better than most dairy breeds. If we do not anticipate needing many replacement dairy cows, we cross our milking girls with beef breeds and raise their calves for meat. We feed the dairy crosses the same as our purebred angus but finish (final fattening) with a little non-GMO grain blend to achieve nice marbling.
A little about the breed - our lowline bloodlines are from the Australian Aberdeen Angus that resulted from a selective breeding program in New South Wales resulting in one of the smallest breeds of cattle. It is not a dwarf breed. In the program, they had three groups of cattle based on their growth in the first year - high growth (High Line), low growth (Low Line), and a control group (Control Line). During this program, they were evaluating animals for efficient feed conversion. Even though they were not targeting smaller size, after nineteen years, the Low Line group was 30% smaller. Today, they are about 40% smaller. They more efficiently convert feed to mass and are less damaging to pastures.
Our angus cows raise their calves and we encourage weaning around six months of age to keep the moms in good body condition. Most of the males are castrated with a small band they day they are born. We regularly vaccinate, deworm, and provide minerals and baking soda.
We also raise dairy offspring for beef. The Ayrshire cows produce vigorous babies that gain weight better than most dairy breeds. If we do not anticipate needing many replacement dairy cows, we cross our milking girls with beef breeds and raise their calves for meat. We feed the dairy crosses the same as our purebred angus but finish (final fattening) with a little non-GMO grain blend to achieve nice marbling.
