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scottish highland cows

Every cow has a purpose but.I watched my uncle go broke due to his infatuation with highland cow's.In times of record high calf prices he never got a slice of the pie.The calves are born very small and grow very slow you would be lucky if you could get them bred by the time they are 2 years old.I have 29 of his 1/2 blood highlander x exotic cows and they raise good calves and the calves are only a 1/4 highlander.If they are for a hobby they are fine if your going to try and make them work on a large scale you had better be a good salesman because you will have to market them privately if you want to make any money.At a salebarn here you could buy those highlander bred cows and hfrs for $200 to $300 a head.

My uncle say's the meat is great but my parents bought one from him and butcher'd it my mom say's it taste like venison.My Dad like's venison so he does'nt mind.These were grass finished and myself I don't like grass finished beef I prefer grain fed as most people do.

The sure did a good job of killing the brush on his place so maybe that's their purpose.
 
We had some Highland cattle on this ranch from before I came here in 1957, of and on until we butchered the last of a few purebred steers we bought, maybe in the '70's.

We thought the beef was the very best. Almost entirely grass fed. The last we butchered were very old, at least 7, as we were growing out the horns. And grow they did! We had several heads mounted and hides tanned for rugs.

Believing we would have to make all the meat into hamburger, at that age, we were amazed when the meat inspector at the plant said he believed it would make good steaks and roasts. And we thoroughly enjoyed that meat. It was sort of dark and not so much like venison as like mature grass feed beef. We have also butchered Longhorns of similar age and found that to be the situation with that breed, also.

Friends commented that "this tastes like REAL beef"!

Ours came from the Baxter Berry ranch at Belvidere, SD, long ago sold out of the family. He imported many Highlanders from Scotland, believing the breed to be a natural fit for his rugged Badlands ranch, and he was right. However, Denny is right that they never became 'popular' in this area. Some didn't like the long haircoat, especially in muddy feedlots! Some didn't like the 'motherly' attitude of the cows, While those from the Berry ranch may not have been really tall, they were very long and well muscled and quite heavy.

We really miss having them around.

mrj
 
Like any other breed, they are suited to certain situations better than others. They are an ideal breed for grass-based programs because they can convert poor forage and not much of it, into lean, tender beef without the need for expensive grains or grain by-products. But Denny is 100% right, they take longer to do it, as any animal does on grass alone.

You can't expect them to get fat on a grain diet at the age of 14-16 months like other breeds. They just simply ain't built that way. But if you want them to do more with less, they can't be beat as a tough grazing cow.
 

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