Ardlarach Lodge

Luing Cattle Breed

History of the Luing Breed from the Luing Cattle Society Website:

"The Luing breed was famously evolved by the Cadzow brothers on the Island of Luing in Argyll off the west coast of Scotland. Admiring the outstanding complementary qualities of two great beef breeds – the Beef Shorthorn with its fleshing qualities and the Highlander with its ruggedness and hardiness, in 1947 they selected some of the best first cross Shorthorn/Highland heifers that could be procured. These heifers were bred to the Shorthorn bull Cruggleton Alastair. Two sons of this breeding were kept and mated to their half sisters: Luing Mist in 1952 and Luing Oxo in 1953. From then on, by following up this in-breeding with line-breeding, the Luing breed was firmly established and with many generations sired by Luing bulls, they proved themselves as breeding true to type. The British Government officially recognised the Luing as a breed in its own right in 1965."

The second and third generation of Cadzows now live here at Ardlarach full time. "Wee" Shane Cadzow married Tooti Cameron from Lochearnhead in 1985 and we have 3 grown up children; Kate, Archie and Jack. We farm the Island with the "Luing" prodigy of the above and run a mixture of sheep, mainly blackface ewes crossed with Lleyns and or Texel Tups. Les Robson, the farm Manager, can take most of the above credit! We also farm the surrounding islands using our own barge to transport stock to and fro. There is good deer stalking available on request, our stalker Rob Cameron has the run of many estates including ourselves. We also have two wind turbines producing for the national grid.

You can contact us, for farm business only, on cadzow@luing.net or phone us on 01852 314234 or mobile 07775 907644. 

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The Island of Luing can be seen on the Isle of Luing website.

In short, it is a wonderful place to visit. The island only measures 6 miles long and 1.5 miles across, so there is no problem for you to get all around it in one day, be it on foot or bicycle. Cullipool is the largest village on the island and it is a very picturesque setting with its white cottages. Isle of Luing has not changed very much over the centuries and when you step ashore here, you will feel as if you have stepped back in time. The lush green pasture and the abundance of wildlife make this a dream vacation for nature lovers. From here you get a commanding view of the “Isles of the Sea”, made up of Islands of Mull, Lunga, Scarba, Black Isles and Garvellachs. Colonsay and Jura can be seen in the distance.

The picts have left at least 2 Briochs (6/7th century forts) and other remnants of past lives include the ruined church of Kilchattan which was first recorded in 1589, and in use until the 17th century. The walls of the church are graffitied, presumably by children over 300 years ago, with carvings of old West Highland Galleys. The farm in the olden days was owned by the Breadalbane family and was a model farm in the mid 19 century. There was also a large slate industry which you can walk to many of the disused quarries.

If you like to see various flora and fauna, then you will think you are in heaven on Isle of Luing. This island is home to otters, hares, dolphins and seals. Our wild flowers in the spring and summer are sumptuous. Banks of primroses going onto bluebells followed by wild iris and many more in-between.

There is a wee shop in the village of Cullipool for essentials and a very buoyant fishing industry, mainly crustaceans and any amount of lobsters, scallops or prawns can be bought directly from the fishermen.