Icelander, son of Norseman

Luing Bonus as a rising 2-year-old

MRR Norseman, grandson of Bonus

LLR Leccamore 24P

Fully winterized cattle

GREYWOOD LUING HERD:

Welcome to Greywood Luings! We run a small herd of purebred Canadian Luing cattle and Luing/Angus-cross commercial cattle in the heart of west-central Alberta’s greywooded soil country. For us, Luings are far and away the best choice for profitable beef production in a demanding climate. We believe that both the needs of the producer and the demands of the consumer are calling for a return to the high quality of meat from moderate-sized animals finished without the massive props of grain, chemicals, drugs, and fossil-fuel-based inputs. Canadian Luing cattle exemplify the necessary traits to thrive on marginal pastures and feeds in cold prairie and mountain conditions.

Because we believe that genetic uniformity is the only way to create a predictable and sustainable breeding program, we are continuing from a solid foundation of line breeding in order to concentrate the characteristics of important bloodlines. We are endeavouring to preserve the influence of Luing Bonus, a tremendous bull imported into Canada from the island of Luing in 1984, who is the most significant contributor to both the male and female side of our herd.

Since Luing is “the cow breed,” that is, a breed developed particularly to produce top females, we place our strongest emphasis on the functionality of the dam. This is why the Bonus influence is so important, as he is noted for siring some of the strongest Luing females in Canada. This also means that we select, not some random, amazing and lucky high-flying bull, but cows that produce consistently good male and female offspring. We are building around Lochend Leccamore 24P, an outstanding young cow who has already proven in her own performance and in her progeny the effectiveness of the careful breeding in her ancestry. She possesses a heritage of 1/3 Luing Bonus as well as 1/3 original Canadian Snowlander blood, and is a double-granddaughter of Lochend Luing 223U. By breeding her to the best sons of 223U we are preserving and intensifying her excellent characteristics.

It is our concern that today’s purebred cattle are raised in a hot-house environment, with the best feed, shelter, and performance-enhancing drugs that money and technology can provide. As a result, 1) they produce extremely high-maintenance offspring; and 2) their actual performance records and their EPDs (Expected Progeny Differences) are virtually meaningless on the average ranch. At Greywood, our cattle are selected to thrive in tougher conditions than they’ll likely have to face on your farm! In summer they get pasture, water, salt, and mineral; in winter they get stockpiled forage, local hay, straw, perhaps some early-cut silage, water, salt, and mineral. That’s it. They never get grain, ionophore licks, hormones, or any other props. The industry’s expensive wonder-tools, pharmaceuticals and technology, have for too long tried to replace careful genetic selection — or mask its abandonment. If you are going to buy purebred genetics and breed them into your herd, you need confidence that what you see is what you get — both with the animals you purchase and with their offspring; with the performance on our farm and the performance on yours.

One thing that originally drew us to the Luing is that it is a true breed. It has not become larger, hungrier, growthier and less efficient in an eternal race to imitate the big exotics. As a breed, it possesses certain well-defined and predictable characteristics; there are many things it does better than any other breed and other things that it does not do as well. To determine if Luing is really the breed for you, look over not only its strengths but also its weaknesses. There are some scenarios where it may not be the best, and others where it is the only choice.

ADVANTAGES OF THE LUING
- exceptional foraging ability and able to thrive on coarse feed
- able to finish on either grass or grain
- excellent maternal characteristics
- longevity – cows are expected to raise 12 or more calves, and 20-year-old producing cows are not unusual
- outstanding fertility
- hardy and fully winterized; heavy-coated; no pampering required
- easily handled
- moderate size, inexpensive feeders, efficient feed converters
- easy calvers to virtually any breed – no Caesarians in the entire breed history!
- exceptional mothers: Luing cows typically wean 50% of their own bodyweight
- efficient producers of top quality marbled meat suitable for any market but especially organic or holistic meat businesses

DISADVANTAGES OF THE LUING
- not suited to warm climates
- heavy hair coat in winter which some markets may discount
- a small percentage of Canadian Luings are horned and a larger percentage may carry horn genes
- colour is most often solid red, but roans, yellows and (rarely) whites do occur. There are no black Luings.
- Moderately fast growth characteristcs – not extremely fast. (The Canadian Luing is really about the economic value of reliable function, efficient reproduction, longevity, low inputs, and the production of first-class herd replacements; it was never selected for terminal characteristics.)

CONTACT:

Jeff Longard
Rural Route #1
Winfield AB Canada
T0C 2X0
Phone: (780) 682 3805