Lowlines on the up - Country Smallholding

Herd manager David Maughan extols the virtues of Wessex Lowlines

Wessex Lowlines is currently the largest herd of Lowline cattle in Europe and is based at Stubhampton in Dorset.

The herd holds an ‘Elite Health Status’, something we felt was imperative to give buyers confidence that the cattle are disease free and in good health.

This year we started retailing beef from the farm; we are very strict about only keeping the very best of the male calves as breeding bulls. It is very important to keep the quality of animals as high as possible so anything that doesn’t make the grade is castrated and we will finish it for beef. We had two grass fed steers butchered earlier this year at around 450kg, giving a 77% meat to bone yield. We hang our carcasses for 28-30 days. Eventually we would like to see Lowline beef in restaurants but we aren’t quite at the stage of beef production yet to be able to supply the quantities that would be required.

This year we have also had our first crossbred calves out of Highland and large Angus cows sired by our Lowline bulls to enable us to show people the advantages of using a Lowline bull. We are also awaiting a Lowline Dexter cross calf

We believe Lowlines have a big part to play in the future of the beef industry due to their hardiness, easy handling, temperament and the ability to finish for beef on grass.

Why choose Lowlines

• The original Angus Beef cattle;

• Easy to handle and calve, naturally polled;

• Produce more beef per acre, we stock at a ratio of 2.7 cows plus calves to the acre;

• Perfect for the smallholder or commercial beef unit alike;

• The ultimate in sustainable grass-fed beef;

• Lowlines do not carry the dwarfism gene found in some other small breeds.

MORE: wessexlowlines.com

Tel: 07776 016473 or 01258 830568

mail@wessexlowlines.com