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Scottish Highland Cattle
Scottish Highland
Cattle are the oldest known breed of beef cattle. They are
a breed that has developed naturally over many centuries of time
rather than a breed developed by the crossing of other breeds.
They have been kept for thousands of years in the Northern
Scottish Highlands and have developed to be a very hardy breed.
Their long coat keeps them
warm in the coldest of winter climates as well as helping to
keep the biting insects off in the warmer months. They are
easy calving and their parental instincts are very good, the
bellowing of a calf in distress will draw the attention of the
herd and they will come to the assistance of the calf.
This instinctive behavior is very beneficial in areas where
predators prey on the young calves, a coyote or a wolf
attempting to make a calf an easy meal will get more than it
bargained for.
They are considered a premium
beef, slow growing and able to convert poor quality forage to
fine textured meat. The Scottish Highland is the preferred
Beef of the English Royalty, in fact they maintain a large fold
of Scottish Highland Cattle at one of the castles for their own
privately grown beef.
Scottish Highlands have been in the US
since 1884 when American cattle growers imported them into the
US to cross to their beef breeds and improve their bloodlines.
The Scottish Highland bloodlines were an important factor in a
number of popular beef breeds of today. The pure Scottish
Highland was very close to becoming non-existent in America
until recent years when they have made a huge comeback.
With today's growing market for leaner feed produced with less
grain and more grass the Highland is flourishing on many small
scale privately owned farms and ranches. The Highland is a
preferred choice for many of America's Organic Beef
growers.
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