Can I afford Highland cattle?

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GANGGREEN

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I've got a decent 6 acre pasture set aside and would like to get a small herd started. I recognize that Highland cattle aren't going to be overly profitable as a beef breed and, quite honestly, I'm more interested in the animals for my enjoyment than any future monetary rewards. That said, I don't want to take a real beating on the animals either. Potentially I'd like to be able to make the critters pay for themselves in the long run.

I don't know much about Highlands other than the fact that they're said to be good quality meat, they're rather unusual/rare and that I really like the way they look in a pasture. I went to a Highland breeder's website and saw some prices for animals and they appeared to be quite high, considerably more than what I'd be willing to pay for a few bred cows/heifers.

I suspect that the Highland breeders are doing their best to keep registered animals of a high quality, doubt that there are many "grade" animals out there. Does anyone know what I should realistically expect to pay for young bred heifers/cows, steers or young bulls of this breed. Is it just foolish to get into Highland cows unless I have an unlimited stream of money? Curious what you all think.
 
At yesterdays auction a herd of Highlanders was sold out. Cows calves and yearlings. Bred cows sold for $323, yearlings .55 lbs and calves .75 cents lbs. Shop around, don't pay to much for them. Other than ornaments there is very little demand.
 
Wow, would have loved to be at that auction and would have gladly payed those prices. In fact, I would have felt a little bit guilty for stealing the animals at that price. Just a little though.

If anyone has any other actual or anecdotal thoughts on what Highland critters are bringing, I'd be very interested.
 
Here Highlands are dirt cheap. Interesting the difference down there.
Once you get a Highland they are cheap keepers. They don't eat much and will eat pretty much anything. They have very few calving problems. In 50 years of having them around here we have had one pull - that was one that was bred Charolais. They are good beginner cows as far as disposition goes. They are a little shy but respond well to one person if you spend the time with them.
There are a lot of factors to your question which I can't answer not knowing your area but you will need to answer:
1) How many cows can realistically be raised on your 6 acres?
2) If you bought quality (probably expensive) cows from this breeder would they let you sell the calves as purebreds in their sales? You may be able to recoup the price on the cows and then make more than sending them to auction if the market is there.
3) Do you have any fences, chutes etc set up or is that money out of your pocket as well?
4) What would a Highland calf sell for at auction? Would you be better off doing cross breds - having the Highland cows to look at but breeding them to a different breed bull. We have used Red Angus, Hereford and Charolais bulls on Highland cows with good results. The price up here is higher than a pure Highland. You get docked for hair coat but not as much.
5) Are you willing to sell the meat privately? Highland meat can be good for people who want smaller portions with less fat.

My suggestion is to talk to your breeder, find a vet in your area and talk to him (they can be a great source of unbiased comments if they are good) and talk to an auction market representative. Maybe even a butcher.
They are nice cattle to just sit and look at. Here they can pay for themselves, just not much profit. Can't tell you for sure about your area. Good luck!
 
Victoria, thanks for your thoughts and I'm cautiously optimistic that I had a misconception about what the intitial cost for the animals would be. In answer to your questions, I have fences and run in shed up, pasture split into two paddocks and water available for the animals. I'd have to work something out for chutes, etc. but it would be minimal.

I don't live in a big beef area and don't intend to sell animals at the auctions, would be far more inclined to sell the few I'd have available to friends, family and local word of mouth sales. The website/breeder that I referred to isn't in this area anyway, I was just pointing out the ridiculous prices that I saw posted on their website. I have an email into a more local breeder and will call them if I don't receive any response soon. My local breeder advertises pretty heavily in some of the hobby farms magazines and I suspect they have a pretty good marketing scheme but have no idea what they get for the animals yet.

Thanks again for the thoughts.

TNMaster, I'm well aware that you don't know my financial situation. I simply asked what the going price was. One poster suggested that they were "dirt cheap" in their area and another gave specifics about a recent auction. Do you know what they bring in your area or did you just want to pick on me?
 
We raised some Highlands for a few years several years ago. We also have several friends who raise them. Thinking about getting a few more just because I like them. They're easy to keep. They eat about anything, just like goats. Very gentle. Downside, you need to find a niche for them. Sell the beef, sell offspring to other Highlands breeders. I have one friend who uses them in a crossbred operation. I think that would be the only way to sell them at the sale barn, and not take a huge hit.
 
Thanks 6M, I just got ahold of our local breeder by phone and their prices seem much more reasonable than the one breeder whose website I saw. Still a little more than you might pay for critters at the sale barn but probably not unreasonable considering that there aren't a lot of them around here. I'll probably be making a trip up to look at their animals over the next week or two and deciding then.
 
Good Luck GANGGREEN, We also raise highland and highland crosses. We are a small operation with a niche market. We have a waiting list for our beef at this point. Lots of people want the lower fat. Keep in mind they do taste different from regular beef, a lot leaner so your customers need to be aware of that. The horns also can make you some $.

mnmtracnching wish I could have been at that auction! No more room here though. I think those prices are pretty cheap, but they must have been docked for the horns and hair thing. GANGGREEN I really think it depends on if you are going purebred, registered or with crosses on the prices kinda like any other beef cattle.

They are a pretty easy breed to work with, calm, easy birthing, eat anything and smaller for handeling purposes.

Good Luck!
 
Some things you might want to consider.

If you sell the cattle when finished and ready to kill, you will need room to raise them. This means keeping the calf until it is 15 months old so what you will have is a momma and two claves. So for every momma you need room for three head.
You will also have to keep heifers separated from bulls so that means another pasture. You will need to wean calves for 60 days in yet another pasture. So now, we have four pastures. One for momma and young calf. One for bulls. One for heifer calves and one for bull calves. You could make steers of the bull calves and run them in with the heifers and the bull could stay with the mommas. I guess you could make it on two pastures.
If you AI your cows you won't need a bull except to clean up. So on 6 acres that might handle two cows with calves on 4 acres with the two yearling calves on 2 acres.

The trouble with AI on a very small herd is heat detection. With just two cows, you will miss heat cycles and have trouble breeding. Your best bet would be to rent a bull.

If you want Highland cattle I think you should talk with your local breeder and buy two bred cows and work out a deal to borrow or rent a bull for two months every year. He may even let you sell your calves in his sale every year.
I am just guessing as I raise Angus cattle but you should be able to get a 3-year-old bred cow for $1500 to $2000.

You will also need a trailer to move the cattle. Take one to the vet or take one to the kill house whatever. You will need access to a cattle trailer.
You will need a good source for hay and a place to store it. If you use round bails you will need a tractor to move them but with just 6 acres, I would feed square bails. You will need a barn to hold about 4 to 500 bails. And at $4 each that is $2000 a year just for hay to produce two $400 calves. You do the math.
You will have to have a place to restrain the ciders' for shots and whatever.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.
 
There are a few Highlanders at the sale here every other week or so. They are not a real popular breed of cattle so there just isn't a lot of them around. The ones that come in sell cheap. Most of the cows, bred or not, go for butcher cow price. The feeders go for somewhere between 0.50 to 0.75 cents a pound. The top quality animals from a breeder may cost a pretty penny but reasonably good animals can be found for a very affordable price.
 
GANGGREEN":1a32n0id said:
I'm more interested in the animals for my enjoyment than any future monetary rewards. That said, I don't want to take a real beating on the animals either. Potentially I'd like to be able to make the critters pay for themselves in the long run.

If I was to start again just for pleasure they would be my breed of choice.

We used to drive an hour north of here just to watch a highland herd that was kept on a hillside. Certain scenes took me right back to Scotland, or imagining some prehistoric scene with wooley mammoths.

Lean meat , easy calving, easy keeping, small frame and it's looking like if you took your time buying, low start up. The fellow who ran that herd had a booming custom meat business then, running on the health benefits of the meat. If you run it right, you should get away with free meat every year and be happy with that.

I should ask though, have you calculated your feed requirements? 6 acres isn't a lot of ground for more that a couple pairs.
 
Thanks for all the thoughts and insights folks, it's certainly appreciated.

ALX, have to admit that I haven't taken a very pragmatic, well-thought out approach to all this because if I lose a few bucks doing it, I'll chalk it up to the school of hard knocks. I do have other land that can be hayed and I have a source for some reasonable feed if I decide to grain them so I won't have to purchase all my feed. If I end up with free meat for myself, my wife and our two kids, I'll be overjoyed.
 
GANGGREEN":2yoy91j9 said:
If I end up with free meat for myself, my wife and our two kids, I'll be overjoyed.

Only thing I can see that will keep you from that goal is buying them sick, or they get sick. So maintaining the same health protocols as a commercial herd ( vaccs,deworming etc..) would be recommended.

We could have some long talks about graining them, I personally would only use that as a "get by" tactic with this breed.

Good Luck !
 
ALX.":1gf3kwlk said:
GANGGREEN":1gf3kwlk said:
If I end up with free meat for myself, my wife and our two kids, I'll be overjoyed.

Only thing I can see that will keep you from that goal is buying them sick, or they get sick. So maintaining the same health protocols as a commercial herd ( vaccs,deworming etc..) would be recommended.

We could have some long talks about graining them, I personally would only use that as a "get by" tactic with this breed.

Good Luck !

Cattle need grass or hay at all times. just grain without grass and hay won't work very long.
 
I'm actually very interested in the topic of graining Highlanders to finish them as well. I recognize that many folks are of the belief that they finish on grass very well without the addition of grain to their diet. I like a tender, marbled cut of meat and would be inclined to add some grain anyway during the last 60-90 days but I'm not married to that plan, I'd be very curious what some of you who have raised Highland cattle before have done with them.
 
GANGGREEN":hs6jwzex said:
I'm actually very interested in the topic of graining Highlanders to finish them as well. I recognize that many folks are of the belief that they finish on grass very well without the addition of grain to their diet. I like a tender, marbled cut of meat and would be inclined to add some grain anyway during the last 60-90 days but I'm not married to that plan, I'd be very curious what some of you who have raised Highland cattle before have done with them.

Graining to finish is fine.
If you want the best in tender, marbled cut of meat I recomend Angus.
 
GANGGREEN":1qr66m75 said:
Victoria, thanks for your thoughts and I'm cautiously optimistic that I had a misconception about what the intitial cost for the animals would be. In answer to your questions, I have fences and run in shed up, pasture split into two paddocks and water available for the animals. I'd have to work something out for chutes, etc. but it would be minimal.

I don't live in a big beef area and don't intend to sell animals at the auctions, would be far more inclined to sell the few I'd have available to friends, family and local word of mouth sales. The website/breeder that I referred to isn't in this area anyway, I was just pointing out the ridiculous prices that I saw posted on their website. I have an email into a more local breeder and will call them if I don't receive any response soon. My local breeder advertises pretty heavily in some of the hobby farms magazines and I suspect they have a pretty good marketing scheme but have no idea what they get for the animals yet.

Thanks again for the thoughts.

TNMaster, I'm well aware that you don't know my financial situation. I simply asked what the going price was. One poster suggested that they were "dirt cheap" in their area and another gave specifics about a recent auction. Do you know what they bring in your area or did you just want to pick on me?

Hope your trip goes well to see the cows. The sale barn isn't the place to go if you are just starting out and want a couple of quiet cows to work with. A breeder that lets you look at the cows, pick colour and enjoy yourself (that's why your doing this) will be worth the extra price, as long as they aren't ridiculous for cost of course.
One thought with a chute. We've never used a proper squeeze chute with the Highlands, too hard with the horns. Just use an alleyway, put a post behind them and then rope the horns and tie them if necessary.
Let us know if you get them. They are beautiful cows, definitely nice to look at. Long lasting too, I have a 17 year old who will be calving any day now.
 
Another couple of problems we ran into. We couldn't run the Highlands through our chute. Since they were gentle, we did a lot of the work on them in the alleyway. The other problem, some small butchers won't deal with cattle with large horns. Since you're not doing it as a primary source of income, unless they all die, it would be hard to lose money. You may not make much, but you should at least break even. It usually isn't hard to find a few buyers for home raised beef. They will also marble. They won't have a lot of external fat because of their hair. Look out for purely hobby breeders. There are breeders out there who are approaching them like any other cattle operation. Bunches of years ago, Highlands were bred down in size to make them more appealing to the hobby crowd. Traditionally, Highlands should be similar in size to other English breeds.
 

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