Cathy and Lee Monteith of Honeybrook Lowline at Edam hosted special guests Nov. 14 when John and Natarsha Canny of Yarra Ranges Lowline visited their farm.
They are premiere breeders of Australian Lowline Cattle and breeders of Yarra Ranges Jackaroo the Grand Champion Bull at the 2010 Royal Sydney Easter show where Lowlines were the featured breed (www.yarrarangeslowline.com.au ).
They were invited as part of an international group of guests to Farmfair in Edmonton and came to the Edam farm following the show.
The Monteiths produce the Lowline breed, developed in Australia from Aberdeen Angus cattle imported from a number of countries including: Canada, the United States and Scotland in 1929.
The cattle are about 60 per cent of the size of one of modern Angus. The cows mature to about 40 inches and 900 pounds and the bulls 44 inches and 1,200 to 1,300 pounds Today's Lowline represents over 30 years of genetic selection for high quality,y smaller stature beef cattle.
The research done at the Trangie Research Station involved dividing the cattle by size into three groups: small, control and large. Over a 25 year period the New South Wales Department of Agriculture found that the small stature group were ideally suited to grass finishing and had a high feed efficiency gaining on average 54 pounds per acre more than larger cattle.
"The quiet dispositions and smaller size is what attracted us to this breed," says Cathy.
"In today's society where smaller portion sizes are desired these cattle are ideal."
Cathy adds the cattle are easy calvers and hardy cattle.
Another area where much research has been done is looking at Lowline bulls for herd sires for the heifers of the larger cattle breeds. One U.S. study found the calves from the Lowline bulls averaged about 60-70 pounds at birth and they averaged 1,200 pounds at 18 months of age.
"We are excited to be involved with this breed of cattle and were very lucky to be able to have an extended visit with one of Australia's top breeders. It was a great learning opportunity," Cathy says.
