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36 The Lowdown on Lowlines
A western Nebraska ranch boosted annual profit by 17% by using half-blood Lowline cows to
produce more pounds of beef/acre.
Loretta Sorensen - Sep. 1, 2009, Beef Magazine
It was their search for the best way to merchandise the grass covering the rolling hills of their
Cody, NE, ranch that led Jerry Adamson and his son Todd to Australia several years ago.
That’s where they discovered what the Adamsons say are the purest Angus bloodlines in the
world — Lowlines.
“We needed 1,150-lb. cows that consumed less grass than a 1,400-lb. but produced nearly
as heavy a calf,” Jerry says. “We found what was probably the largest full-blood Lowline bull
in Australia and brought home 750 units of semen. Using a half-blood Lowline cow and a
modern-day crossbred bull, we’re weaning calves nearly the same size as the larger cows pro-
duced. We’ve tried to be conservative in our estimates of increased profits with these genetics,
but we have seen producers who have achieved a 20% increase in profits with this plan.”
Todd headed up the research that outlines the Adamsons’ production inputs and profits sce-
nario. He says they based their projections on the fact that the average cow consumes 2.2% of
her body weight in dry matter every day.
“Most university figures agree with that number,” Todd says. “We know producers raising all
breeds of cattle have been retaining their biggest heifers for replacement females over the
last 40-50 years. That means cows and bulls have gotten bigger and bigger, but efficiency has
been left behind. Figures that told us how many pounds of beef for every acre of grass come
from bigger cows revealed that smaller cows actually produce more beef per acre, increasing
profits at a minimum of 16.7%.”
To implement their plan to reduce their herd’s cow size, the Adamsons used Lowline bulls on
their first-calf heifers. Doing so, they eased the calving process for the heifers and retained
heifer calves from the cross to begin developing a herd of 1,150-lb. cows.
“The beef industry has been using weaning weight as a measuring stick for efficiency,” Jerry
says. “A better efficiency measure is the return on grass per acre. In our scenario, we based
figures on calves that were 30 lbs. lighter than the calves out of 1,400-lb. cows.
“But calves out of our half-blood Lowline cows are nearly as heavy as those from the larger
cows. We didn’t develop this program with the idea of producing grass-fed beef, but it certainly
works for a producer who wants to get involved in that kind of program,” he adds.
The Adamsons were confident they’d be satisfied with Lowline genetics because they are
Angus cattle. While they downsized their cows, the Adamsons have retained desirable Angus
traits that include good milking, easy fleshing and docile nature.
“Lowlines aren’t a new breed,” Jerry says. “In the late 1930s, the Australian government
brought a herd of registered, line-bred Angus cattle from Canada to the Trangie Agricultural
Research Center. The herd was divided in half and the only selection criterion in both herds for
the next 58 years was frame size.”
One of the herds was bred to determine how large a frame could be achieved through the
breeding program. The other herd was bred to attain the smallest frame size. The former were
called Highlines, and the latter referred to as Lowlines.
“In 1998, the research project was ended and the government planned to terminate the cattle,”
Adamson says. “When the public discovered the plan, there was an outcry for the Lowlines
because the public perceived them as very appealing. As a result, the Australian government
put the Lowlines up for sale, and some of the cattle were imported to America.”
At their Rocking J Ranch, the Adamsons have retained nearly 300 half-blood Lowline cows