The New Zealand Beef + Lamb Dairy-beef trials
Around winter time 2020, members of the North Island Lowline Promotion Group (NILPG) saw an article advertising for Beef bull involvement inviting bull submissions in the Beef and Lamb NZ Dairy Beef Trials.
These trials are designed to identify and prove various breeds of beef bulls as suitable for terminal sires where AI straws are inseminated in New Zealand Kiwicross dairy cows – a crossbred dairy breed created in NZ with Friesian, Jersey and Ayrshire genetics. Ultimately, beef bulls must deliver easy calving progeny that grow into a viable option for NZ dairy-beef production, benefiting all stages of farming along the way by adding value.
ALCA Council at the time saw future value in funding Australian Lowline bull Ploughbright Fennessy , a New Zealand bred Australian Lowline bull who had improved pedigree offspring in NZ where birthweight, frame size and overall impression had NZ breeders convinced he was the right bull for the trials. Unfortunately Fennessy was old and past his time , but some semen had been collected on farm by David and Christina Clee, some years earlier.
The calves were born in the spring of 2021 and reared with a range of breds of dairy-beef crossbred calves in Taupo where performance was recorded for their whole lives from gestation length all the way to useful carcase data.
The moderate frame Lowline cross beef cattle stood their ground and performed well above their expected punching weight in the trials and of particular mention is their high IMF ( intra muscular fat score).
Please use the link to see the Final Report
The Lowline X calves were above average in most useful traits except carcase weight, and even then were very good. You can bet they were more feed efficient through eating less over their lifetime.
Lowline bulls in New Zealand remain quite rare and demand for top beef producing types outstrips supply where using 2 year old Lowline bulls over dairy heifers is becoming increasingly popular for producing viable dairy-beef calves .
Now, there is modern data available to prove that Lowline genetics are indeed a sensible option among their much larger beef breed cousins within the beef market thanks to the vision of ALCA members with the support of ALCA
Lowlines are a diverse bunch of cattle with mature cows anywhere from 275 kg to 650 kg.
People targeting beef production are encouraged to ask their breeder about mature cow weights and growth rates. Some lowline reach mature weight by two years of age, other take four years or more.
High quality Lowline beef displaying ample marbling
Pedigree Lowline carcase, Kaitake Lowline stud, TARANAKI
New Zealand Lowlines 