Tell me about Scottish Highland cattle.

[guesscrazy]

Any facts and opinions welcome.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

They are hairy :lol2:

 

[dun]

They are hairy :lol2:

And have horns

 

[jerry27150]

they are long horned hairy gentle cattle, cows ave weight is 900 lbs. stand cold weather really well & are not bothered as much by flies b/c of the hair. supposed to real good for freezer beef. do not try to keep them in a barn as they will get pneumonia from sweating. my old man crossed them with his crossbred herd of angus /hereford cows & had some great calves

 

[dun]

You might want to contact these folks. Yaers ago when we were pretty big into oxen I used to chat with Joyce a good deal. http://www.heifercreek.com/

 

[TheBullLady]

We had a cross years ago when we lived in Illinois. Moderate framed, and hairy, I wouldn't recommend them unless you're in a cooler climate. I suspect you would be "docked" at the auction barn as well, so you might want to consider feeding them out yourself.

 

[townfarmer]

I'm not an expert on the breed but have owned a few over the last 4 years. We currently have 10 cows. Most of what you read on web pages about them is true: Unique appearance, hardy, good foragers, disease resistant, excellent mothers etc. As long as you're realistic and realize they'll never compete with conventional beef breeds for growth and weight for age. I have a lot of relatives who are full time cattlemen. They think highland cattle are a joke and they're always telling me to sell the hairy yaks and buy some real cattle. They'll grow slowly and if you take them to the saleyards you'll get smashed. That said you can still make a few bucks from them if you sell beef direct to the consumer. There are some highland breeders here who also make income from their hides and horns as well. What they won't tell you on breed webpages is some of the problems. The biggest problem is that most people who buy them and breed them don't know anything about cattle (like me). Compounding this is they're fairly rare which means nearly every animal is allowed to breed. You'll see a lot of animals with poor feet and structure being as breeding stock. Like every breed there are also breeders that sell exceptional animals.

We love them but we're not into cattle to make money. It's a lifestyle thing for us.

Andrew

 

[Jalopy]

I do not have any highland cattle. However I have a neighbor that does and he gets along well as far as I know. One caution he has is to calve in cooler weather. Because it takes a while to get the calf dried if it is warm weather the flies will lay eggs in the wet hair and then the larvae will burrow into the muscles and leave open sores that continue the cycle. He had this happen once when a bred cow he bought calved in June. He does merchandise his as grass fed beef. And he gets it sold. Everyone has different tastes I guess. As for docility I think they are like other breeds of cattle there are strains that work okay and some that work just okay with their normal handlers but get upset when a new person arrives. With 5' horn span you need to give them plenty of room when you are working them. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[guesscrazy]

I just want to raise these cows for our extended familys clean beef.And I have a lot of kids and grandkids that stay with us.They could learn something about cattle.

 

[canoetrpr]

I've looked into Highlands and like their look a lot. I think I have decided on Galloways instead. They are almost as hardy from what I have researched, heavy coat for our winter climate here, naturally polled and gentle. I'm told they do well grass finished. I'm also told they finish earlier - 20-24 months etc.

Highlands still have the neater look in my opinion. The one herd of Highlands I visited were considerably more tame than the few of Galloways I have visited. This probably says nothing about the breed at all - probably just that the Highland herd was handled a lot more than the Galloways.

One of the Galloway breeders I visited has only black Galloways and says that his cattle are not docked at the sale barn. He says that a lot of folks think they are Angus and sometimes he cuts the long locks of the calves on their forehead before sending them to the barn .

I think that either would make good cattle for a hobby operation. I think I have settled on Galloways though for mine.

 

[ToddFarmsInc]

... They'll grow slowly and if you take them to the saleyards you'll get smashed. That said you can still make a few bucks from them if you sell beef direct to the consumer. There are some highland breeders here who also make income from their hides and horns as well. ...

Yep. Seems like a lot of work to me.

I have a neighbor who raises them, and by processing the meat himself and selling it to the customer in a neat little package is about the only way he can get rid of the animals.

"Regular" Cattle breeds are much easier to dispose of, just dump them off at the local sale barn.

 

[hillrancher]

I bought 4 prs at an acution in Mo. 4 years ago had the road blocked everyday some one looking at them. They do not like hot weather. Bred them back to a angus calved them and sold again. Were gentle and not wild in the coral. Don't need anymore.