In our search for hardy yet calm cattle that are also good beef producers, one breed that kept popping up in our research was the Scottish Highland. After seeing some photos in an article on the breed in a farming magazine, a family member commented that he now knew what a cow crossed with a bear would look like!
American Highlands are registered descendents of those cattle that came originally from Scotland. Very winter-hardy, these cattle grow long shaggy hair as their winter protection. This means that the extra layer of fat needed by other breeds to stay warm during the winter months is not needed by the Highland. The Highland cow has less fat but, almost paradoxically, better marbling of what fat there is so that the flavor of the beef wins hands down in taste tests. Even the Queen of England has her own private herd!
But the other factor that really sold us on the breed was their temperament. They are very docile. Our children like to go and groom our main cow, Teddi Rose, with a long-toothed grooming rake. Teddi will lower her head, slow her breathing, and lean into the rake, as if to say “ahhhhh! That’s the spot!”
At this time we are just starting our herd and we do not have any Highlands for sale. However, we hope you enjoy browsing through the photos of our breeding stock; especially our impressive bull! Please check back in 2011 for stock that will be available for sale.
CH Umbra, calved 01-04-07, is our herd bull. Son of Reserve Champion CH Shadow of Knight, we were delighted to purchase him from Robin Wolfe of Cascade Highlanders (cascadehighlanders.com) in Bend, OR.
Teddi Rose, calved 07-22-04, is our matron herd cow and is currently expecting her 4th calf in 2010. In this photo she has just calved Delta-S Velvet at our ranch. Robin Wolfe was kind enough to sell this wonderful cow to us so that Teddi could have a chance to be “head cow”.
Delta-S Velvet, calved 10-12-08, was the first Highland born on our ranch! Velvet has been handled extensively since birth by our daughter, and is very friendly. We have great hopes for her as part of our foundation stock.
CH UB Blond D, calved 6-14-07. We also purchased “Blondie” from Robin Wolfe. One of our registered heifers, Blondie should calve in 2010.
DOD S’More, calved 2-24-09, is the latest purchase for our breeding program. Dale & Susan Strawn were wonderful to work with in our purchasing of this heifer with her excellent conformation and super coloring. We have just introduced her to our herd, so we don’t expect any calves from her until 2011.
