Bird Creek Ranch Highland Cattle

Characteristics / Meat Quality / Herd Management / Breeding / Products

Our cattle are bred and raised to traditional Highland standards.  Highland cattle are an old  breed with a colorful history.  Their breed characteristics are closely linked to their heritage.

Because they are cost effective producers of low cholesterol, high quality beef, they are a breed whose time has come.

Unique and beautiful, they are what we call "easy keepers" in the way of herd management and breeding.  Even so, they produce quality products.

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• Fine breeding stock (See our newest calf list!)
• Natural Highland beef
• Highland horns and skulls
• Luxurious Highland throws

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History

Originally there were two distinct classes of Highlands. The slightly smaller and usually black Kyloe lived on the islands off the west coast of northern Scotland. Some believe that the name comes from the fact the cattle swam across the kyloes or straits that separated the islands from the mainland. A larger animal generally reddish in color lived in the remote Highlands of Scotland. Today both are considered Highlands. In addition to the original colors, yellow, dun, white, brindle and silver are also considered acceptable colors.

The cattle are such an old breed, and so widespread across Scotland that no one person can be credited with having started the breed. The first Highland herd book was established in 1884.

In the early 1900¹s, American cattlemen from the western U.S. recognized the natural qualities of the Highland animal and began importing them. The earliest recorded importation was made by S. F. Biddle. Three carloads of heifers and bulls were unloaded in Wyoming and trailed to the Powder River. Another group of animals was imported to Montana and these were the first on the U. S. Registry. They were registered by Baxter Berry of Belvidere, SD.

The American Highland Cattle Association maintains the register of the Association, holds annual conventions, publishes a newsletter, and in general promotes the breed. Highlands first came to the Bird Creek Ranch in 1963 when a small group was kept for a time. Registered Highlands have been part of the Bird Creek Ranch landscape since 1997.

 

Breed Characteristics

• Maintained distinct breed characteristics over the centuries.
• Commercially viable breed, forming the backbone for the cattle industry in Scotland.
• Full-size beef animals with cows weighing about 1000 pounds at breeding and bulls weighing about 1800 pounds.
• Have docile and inquisitive personalities, even-tempered, easily halter broken.
• Marked by sweeping horns and long, shaggy hair.
• Thick hide can be split up to six times in producing fine leather.
• Hardy and quite disease resisant.
• Browsers that graze a variety of plants (including weeds such as Canadian thistle and spotted knapweed), efficiently utilizing their pastures.

 

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Quality of Meat

• Known for quality of the lean, premium beef.
• Naturally low in cholesterol, some tests indicate lower than bison or chicken.
• Lean, tender, flavorful beef with little outside waste fat.
• Graded in the top of their respective classes at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO, for over 25 years.
• Recognized as the finest beef in the British Isles, serving as the beef animal of choice for the British Royal family.

 

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• Raised on native grass, browse, and hay.
• Require few feed supplements or expensive grains to maintain their condition.
• Thrive in a large range of climactic conditions.  Here at Bird Creek Ranch, our temperatures range from -60 degrees Fahrenheit to 105 degrees fahrenheit.  High winds and blowing snow do not bother these cattle.
• Able to clear a brushy area with speed and efficiency.  Breeders report their Highlands clearing out spotted knapweed, keying on Canadian thistle, and grazing grass in fields heavily infested with leafy spurge.
• Disease resistant because of long forelocks that shield the eyes from blowing snow and insects.
• Alert, mild mannered, and do not stress easily.  Hyper animals are not a breek standard and are culled.
• Easily maintained in barbed-wire fences.

  
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Breeding

• Low birth-weight calves enable unassisted birthing in pastures.
• Bulls successfully used for breeding yearling heifers of heavier beef breeds.
• Excellent, attentive mothers able to protect calves from active coyote population.  Other producers report Highland cows not losing calves to wolf, bear,  or lion predation.
• Active and alert calves nurse within minutes after birth.
• Strong milk producers--enough to raise a quality calf, but do not have udders that require extra care.
• Cows can produce into their twenties.
• Crossbreeding produces offspring with optimal hybrid vigor.

  
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