Scotch Highlands

Scotch Highland Cattle

Highland Cattle roamed the highlands of Scotland from time immemorial, developing naturally as a self-sufficient, majestic animal and pure breed. They epitomize the Celtic culture: strong, hardy, tenacious and prepared to last. They are one of the oldest registered breed of cattle known but they remain virtually unchanged from their wild state. Unlike most modern cattle they are not created by combining breeds. Highland Cattle were used for beef and dairy needs, their thick hides made excellent leather and they could also be used as beasts of burden. Brought up by the North Sea coast of Scotland, they had to adapt to very harsh conditions and sparse feed. Consequently, they are a browsing breed that is much less finicky about what they eat. All domestic animals need some amount of care, that includes Highland Cattle, however, their calving ease, mothering ability and generally pleasant nature make them sought after for small farms. They were brought to the U.S. in the 1800's and a registry was started here in 1948. There are only about 5,000 head of full sized Highland Cattle in the U.S. with a strong showing in Washington and Oregon. Most owners have just a few head to help keep small acreage’s grazed and cleaned up. They really are very social and bright. Bright is not always good because that often means clever. It also means they are great to watch. They spar, play, talk and really keep your interest. When mature, usually the girl's horns go up, the boy's horns go forward and the steer’s horns go straight out to the sides. But this is from far the rule, you can find all types of horns on either sex , as you can tell from the picture on the right. From the front, the newborn calves look just like an Ewok from Star Wars! See our little "Ewok", real name of George below.	This is Holly, with her horns going down, and her heifer calf Laura, who horns are just starting to grow and are growing down also.
	The Highlands are extremely docile and easy to handle. Ours are pets and will eat out of our hands, sometimes a problems when they all want food at the same time. They are very laid back, but we always maintain our caution with them, as they are large animals with big horns. They would never intentionally harm us, butt they can get rambunctious at times, kicking up their heels and you always have to be alert in case they decide to challenge each other for the best bite of hay or the last range cube on the ground. Even when they have their calves, most will let us handle the babies to check them out. We have 15 breeding heifers and we know which ones need a little extra space for the first few days. We have two herd sires, Sandy, a white bull, and Ralph, a large black bull, who is on loan to service some Charolaois ladies at a friends farm. We most always have a steer we are fattening up for market and calves running around keeping us amused with their antics. Contact us for availability on breeding stock of regular sized and miniature sized animals.
This is Brownie, one of our miniatures and best mothers. She is very gentle and always one of the first to come to the hay.
	This is Ellie Belle and "Ewok". She has shorter hair than most of the Highlands we have, but she has great conformation and an excellent mother, as are most of the highlands. They very rarely need help birthing or nursing.
Believe it or not, this is in Giles County, winter of 2006. The boys love pushing each other around the field regardless of the weather.
	The Highlands come in many colors, with red and black being dominate. We also have dun and white ones.
Laura loves to hide under the barn during the summer heat, where it is cool and out of the way of the big cows.
	This is Sandy, our upcoming herd sire for our miniature ladies.
Rachel was a bottle baby and is my favorite cow. She always has to be hand fed her nuggets and loves to be scratched under her chin. She has to have her hoof held when she is in labor for the comfort factor. This year she had the cutest little black heifer, who we named Martha. Pictures of her will be posted later.
	Cathy was one of our first Highlands. We bought her and two others from pictures on a website from Michigan at the age of 6 months. That was in 1998.