Big day at the Hairy Cow Ranch

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, Thanks for the opportunity to tell you more about Luings. As you say Dr Bob Church at Airdrie has a herd of them - the largest herd outside the UK.
Their two biggest assets are longevity and foraging ability.
I bought four old cows from Bob and they will calf at 19,18,17 and 17 years old this spring although anyone seeing them would think they were 10 year olds. Longevity will be very important post BSE but it should always have been more important in my book as there is a lot of cost and risk in getting a heifer calf reared and calved the first couple of times. Four or five extra years on the end of a productive life is pure profit.

Most breeds claim great foraging ability but I would suggest Galloways, Welsh Blacks,Highlands and Luings truly excel in this trait. These breeds have been used over the last 200 years as secondary animals to improve the quality of grazing for sheep on the extensive hill sheep farms of Scotland. They eat the coarse/stale/rubbish and thrive on it, that's why these breeds do well on poor quality grazing/feed.

Herefords and Angus in contrast originated on good lowland pastures of improved grasses and were THE terminal sire breeds pre-European "exotics"

Experimental tests in the 1970s found Luings to be the most efficient cows in a cross breed comparison which measured calf weaning weights as a percentage of dams weight. I know of no more recent comparisons in the UK.
Feet and udder traits are like any other breed - they consist of the good, the bad and the ugly! selection for these traits is always ongoing!The Luing is considered to be the easiest calving "British" breed due to the low birthweight calves. Most mature Canadian Luing cows will produce a calf weighing in the 70s/lbs. Their coats suit the cold winter climate and reduce feed demands -just don't keep them inside or they will sweat like pigs!

So in summary I plan to build a herd of 11-1200lb cows max that are cheap to maintain because they are feed efficient and will utilise banked grass, stubble grazing, a good proportion of cereal straw in winter and turn in a good calf every year. They can be bred Charolais to produce the good haired tan calf that buyers look for or bred pure to produce a calf suitable for grass finishing. I am told they grade with a high proportion AAA(due to the Highland influence which is the 4th highest marbling breed in the world)
Please check out my website at www.luingcattle.com if you want to know more about them.

Cowman, as a footnote the next time you are in Innisfail Auction take a look at the steer head mounted on the wall - he was a Luing x Highland lead steer that I think came from Bob Church - he was the last animal sold through Calgary Stockyards before they moved out to Strathmore.

[cowman]

Thank you for the info Grassfarmer. Sound like tough cattle. I would think they would really work out in the desert of eastern Alta.?
I assume the steer head you are talking about is the one on the west wall as the one on the North wall sure looks like a Hereford. Have you ever been there when they blow smoke out that steers nose? Jack Daines is definitely a promoter and always good for a laugh!

[15444]

grassfarmer:

Have looked into Luing's in the past, but other then what I read, I haven't been able to ask anyone specific questions. Just a few that I am curious about.

First, what is the disposition like on the Luing cow and bull. Coming from an area that used alot of Shorthorn crossing in the past, and having done a fair bit myself, I know of alot of bad experiences with Shorthorn crosses.

Secondly, how much does the Shorthorn cut the mass of hair down on the Luing? aka what is the average length of the hair along the back of the animal.

and finally, how common is it in the Luing breed for fluctuation in the hair colour? Raising Shorthorns everyone knows about the solids, mixed and roans. Just wondering if you get any mixed or roan colored animals in the Luings.

Other then that, Luing looks like a fine breed. Have a few local guys who raise Galloways and know one who is looking into Welsh Blacks. Have always liked a Shorthorn cross cow. She usually wouldn't mind taking a hunk out of you at calving time, but she always brought a strong healthy calf home in the fall. Disposition on these crosses is why my father and I have shyed away from them in recent years, but Luing might be just enough reason to start looking at them again!

[grassfarmer]

15444,

Interesting to hear your experiences of Shorthorns with attitude - I had never really heard that of them. Luings are surprisingly docile, everybody says it comes from the Highland side as apparently, despite their wild and hairy look they are really quiet. In the past lots of the little crofter women would have a Highland for a milk cow and they were able to milk them standing outside in a field.
As for length of hair, I've never actually measured it but like the Galloway they have two coats, a shorter finer coat like a Red Angus with an outer coat of guard hair. They look hairy in winter but smooth off and shine up in the summer. Their hair is straight not curly the way a Galloway's is.
The Luing breed in Canada has used some Snowlander blood to introduce polling and this has resulted in cattle with barer skins. (The Snowlander was a similar breed created by Charlie Flick at Edgewater, BC in the 1930's from a Highland and polled dairy Shorthorn base)
Luings can be any colour common to the Shorthorn or Highland breeds. Selection in Scotland has been very much for solid red with red/roan or red mixed also popular. Yellow cows are less popular there as are the very occasional white animal. In Canada red is again most popular with yellow close behind, they seem to like roans/ mixed colours less here. Which is the best colour? anybody's guess. It's a lot of fashion but the solid reds are the easiest to sell wherever you are. As the old saying goes "a good beast is never the wrong colour"