CATTLE: Lowline

Country of Origin

Australia

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Australian Status

International Status

Rare.  The Lowline is also being produced in New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

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Uses

Beef

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Breed traits

Developed in New South Wales, the Australian Lowline is a wholly black, and occasionally wholly red, moderate framed, naturally polled breed of cattle raised for quality beef.  The meat is reported to be well-marbled, and tender with a “very high yielding, high quality, high value beef carcass.”(1)  Being naturally compact and 60% of the size of a larger breed they make effective and efficient use of land, potentially increasing the carrying capacity of a property, or decreasing the number of acres required for a herd.  

As direct descendants of the Aberdeen Angus herds of the NSW Department of Agriculture, they display the characteristics typical of British breeds of cattle, especially the original Aberdeen Angus. They are among the smallest of cattle breeds, although not affected by dwarfism(2), with bulls being about 110 cm and cows about 100.  Calves average about 22 kg at birth, but may weigh as little as 14 kg. They are docile, and easy to handle, which minimises the equipment needed to work with them.

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History

When the NSW Department of Agriculture purchased cattle for their Trangie Agricultural Experimental Farm they chose a shipment of top stud Aberdeen Angus from the Glencarnock Estate of Mr James Duncan McGregor at Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.  The cattle embarked on the steam ship Huraki in December 1928 making it the first shipment of any cattle breed from Canada to Australia.(3)  From then until 1974, the Trangie herd was prominent in the Australian show circuit.

Beginning in 1974, the Meat Research Corporation funded trials which produced the Lowline breed.  The trials were set up to evaluate selection for growth rate on herd profitability. The aim was to establish whether large or small animals were more efficient converters of grass into meat. This trial continued for 19 years.  The original Trangie herd was divided into three groups based on yearling growth rates. The high yearling growth rate (High line), the low yearling growth rate (Low line) and a randomly selected group (Control line). The program involved a detailed evaluation of weight gain, feed intake, reproductive performance, milk production, carcass yield and quality and structural soundness.

After 15 years of selective breeding, the Low Line herd had stabilised at about 30 percent smaller than the High Line cattle. The bulls were maturing at about 43 inches, and the cows at about 39 inches or less, against 59 inches for standard Angus bulls, and close to the same height for standard Angus cows.

In 1992 the Australian Lowline Cattle Association and the breed name, Australian Lowline, was officially registered.(4)

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Breed Organisation

The Australian Lowline Association has an excellent website with articles on the history and development of the breed, as well as the current breed standards, and resources for anyone considering purchasing the Australian Lowline.  Lowline Cattle Association

All Lowline cattle are DNA typed and parent verified before registration so anyone purchasing a registered Australian Lowline can have confidence in the pedigree and genetics of the cattle.(5)

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Australian Population

2022:  489 - 520

Photo Credit

Lowline Bull by Cgoodwin, Wikipedia Commons

Page by Carol Wormald, June 2025

 

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