Tyler, 5 years old, shows Crystal , a 6 month old Lowline heifer weighing 344 lb. |
Lowline Cattle were developed from the Australian Angus herd established at the Trangie Research Centre in 1929 to provide quality breeding stock for the NSW cattle industry.
Trangie's foundation stock were purchased from Canada and reinforced with further imports from Canada , the United States of America and Scotland from 1930 to 1950.
The Australian Meat Research Committee sponsored a project by Trangie Research Centre to establish the role of performance recording in a breeding program. The trials, to evaluate selection for growth rate on herd profitability which produced the Lowline breed began in 1974.
One herd selected for high yearling growth rates (High Line), and another selected for low yearling growth rates (Low Line), with a randomly selected control group.
The program involved a detailed evaluation of weight gain, feed intake, reproductive performance, milk production, carcass yield and quality and structural soundness.
The original Low Line herd comprised 85 cows, which were joined to yearling bulls also selected for low growth. From 1974, the Low Line herd remained closed.
The protein conversion performance of the High Line and Low Line animals was monitored on an individual basis. Their efficiency as protein converters were much the same.
Dianna, a 7 year old cow weighing 778 lb and 43 inch at the hip is a half sister to the Sharidon Farms herdsire, SCR Dominator. |
After years of selective breeding, the Low Line herd stabilized at about 30 percent smaller than the High Line cattle. Through no plan of the Trangie Research Centre the Lowline had become a new breed of cattle, a breed which had the desirable characteristics of the Angus breed. The Australian Lowline Cattle Association was formed in 1993 with the dispersal sale of the Trangie Lowline cattle.
Lowlines are smooth, free from waste, and produce high quality meat. They are free from the eye cancer which plagues the Hereford , and they have proved adaptable to Australian conditions. Being descended from stock which have been handled in Australia for 60 years, they were also exceptionally docile.
Lowlines were first imported into the United States in 1996 and the American Lowline Registry, ALR was formed in 1997. There are over 1,500 registered full blood Lowlines and over 2,400 registered percentage Lowlines in the ALR herdbooks. The breed continues to grow rapidly in popularity. |
