highland cattle

[hillbilly1234]

what do you think of highland cattle just for a hobby and to butcher for your own use, and to sell a little of the meat it is suppose to be better tasting then angus.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Highlands are perfect hobby cattle-I'm not sure if they taste better than Angus that is more of an animal to animal issue than breed to breed. There is even some money to be made if at harvest you part them out-tanned hides, mounted horns sell well in the right places. They make good lead steers also.

 

[ChrisB]

I've always thought Highlands were kind of cool looking. And they are great at cleaning up brush. Some friends of mine had them for a few years but they sold them because they didn't like the meat compared to traditional beef breeds.

I would buy some highland beef from somebody who raises them and see if you actually like it first. If you do maybe you can buy some of their stock and ask them how they finish them out.

 

[townfarmer]

Highland beef definately has a unique taste compared to mainstream breeds of cattle. It is very lean meat. Due to the thick undercoat and shaggy outercoat they don't need to put down as much fat for insulation from the cold. The other factor is they are slow growing and take a lot longer to finish meaning you normally end up consuming an older animal than if you were raising a mainstream breed.
I wouldn't say they taste better than Angus (or other breeds) but do taste different.

Andrew

 

[Victoria]

Highlands are pretty much the perfect cow for a hobby. Low maintenance animals. They don't eat much, if you breed to another pure Highland the chance of calving difficulties is slim to none and they are easily trained to respond well to their owner.
As far as meat - well it's healthy. I wouldn't say it is better than Angus. As someone else said it is very lean, not my thing, a little too tough. However, you can market it as being really lean and healthy.

 

[dun]

Highlands are pretty much the perfect cow for a hobby. Low maintenance animals. They don't eat much, if you breed to another pure Highland the chance of calving difficulties is slim to none and they are easily trained to respond well to their owner.
As far as meat - well it's healthy. I wouldn't say it is better than Angus. As someone else said it is very lean, not my thing, a little too tough. However, you can market it as being really lean and healthy.

The best part is the calves look like little tiny Ewoks

 

[Victoria]

Highlands are pretty much the perfect cow for a hobby. Low maintenance animals. They don't eat much, if you breed to another pure Highland the chance of calving difficulties is slim to none and they are easily trained to respond well to their owner.
As far as meat - well it's healthy. I wouldn't say it is better than Angus. As someone else said it is very lean, not my thing, a little too tough. However, you can market it as being really lean and healthy.

The best part is the calves look like little tiny Ewoks

Very true! They are the cutest little calves.

 

[pdfangus]

I have a neighbor who raises a few and sells some beef.
i have never tasted the beef as i had my own.
I have ai bred some of his cows - unfortunatley the semen he got was no good as was eventually revealed by test.
I have helped him work his cattle.
I found them to be a little hot and wiling to shake a horn at me. He thought it was becasue I was a stranger. may have been the case as they were a little less skittish with him but still not calm.

trying to put an animals with four feet of horns through an alley and headgate was an adventure in itself. They learned how to turn their heads and navigate it but the man on the headgate had to be good.

 

[snickers]

I hate the headgate job, its not bad for the cow's/calves but when the bull comes through his neck seems to big and I am always afraid i wont get it shut on him. we have the automatic but prefer hand catch.

 

[pdfangus]

Yeah....
I have WW and I do not even try to catch a bull over two years old in the headgate. get him in the chute and put a pipe behind him and if I need his head I just halter. Most of my bulls are pretty calm tho.

 

[MistyMorning]

They sure do have some of the cutest calves by far. I have several highland cross here and love the smaller size as the butcher beef customers I have want smaller cuts of beef and more lean beef. Other customers prefer the more traditional size and taste of beef (me included with this bunch) I have found they can sometimes be hard to handle because they are too tame. The last two who were AI'd, one went in the shoot backwards and the other just got inseminated tied up to a post because she had been synced and was a little stubborn. Otherwise as someone else posted, one of them is the boss cow and she does a real fine job of it.

 

[townfarmer]

Highlands are pretty much the perfect cow for a hobby. Low maintenance animals. They don't eat much, if you breed to another pure Highland the chance of calving difficulties is slim to none and they are easily trained to respond well to their owner.
As far as meat - well it's healthy. I wouldn't say it is better than Angus. As someone else said it is very lean, not my thing, a little too tough. However, you can market it as being really lean and healthy.

The best part is the calves look like little tiny Ewoks

here are a few of our ewoks:

Andrew

 

[townfarmer]

More highland calves

Andrew

 

[Victoria]

Thanks for the pics Andrew, I miss having Highland calves.

 

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

I had Highland Cattle for awhile when we first moved to the new farm along with a few Galloways, Longhorns and a few mixed breeds. I will say that the Highland beef was a little finer grained and pretty lean compared to the Angus cattle that we grow now. You may have to make a few adjustments. The bull I had could climb like a billy goat and he took those horns of his and tore the sheath right off the Angus bull that was penned with him. You need a little wider squeeze chute to accomodate the horns and we bought a tombstone bale feeder so that they wouldn't get their heads caught. The calves were cute though.

 

[canoetrpr]

We went back and forth between Highlands and Galloways. As far as looks go, I don't think there are cooler looking cattle than Highlands - especially the calves. We ended up going with Galloways because:

- Nearly the same amount of hardiness to winter
- Finish faster for beef
- Lack of horns is less of a hassle going through a chute etc. You also don't get docked quite as much if you have to ever sell to a stockyard.

 

[glacierridge]

Highlands are pretty much the perfect cow for a hobby. Low maintenance animals. They don't eat much, if you breed to another pure Highland the chance of calving difficulties is slim to none and they are easily trained to respond well to their owner.
As far as meat - well it's healthy. I wouldn't say it is better than Angus. As someone else said it is very lean, not my thing, a little too tough. However, you can market it as being really lean and healthy.

The best part is the calves look like little tiny Ewoks

I know this is an old thread, but this is SO TRUE!!! LOL!