Scottish Highlands Hmmm

65284 · #21 06/11/11, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonelyfarmgirl

what do you mean they take out the backbone if the animal is over 3?

I have heard that commercial wholesalers will trash some steaks in a CAFO raised steer that gets a little too old, but in a grass animal, the meat does not toughen up. Our butcher does what we tell him to do.

Brain and spinal cord tissue must be discared in animals over 3 years of age. This is done to avoid Mad Cow Disease.

InvalidID · #22 06/11/11, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TroutRiver

Think about feeding them through the winter - with their growth rate it will be very hard to turn a profit, you would be better off finding a breed that is easier to manage. How much grass is on the land?

I haven't walked the whole thing yet, but from what I can tell there's about 40 or 50 acres in grass now. I think as he clears out the brush that number would get higher, but not by a whole lot.

lonelyfarmgirl · #23 06/11/11, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65284

Brain and spinal cord tissue must be discared in animals over 3 years of age. This is done to avoid Mad Cow Disease.

Really? I didn't know. We get our heads back, so we are taking the brains home. We always take our steaks boneless, and we get all the bone scraps to take home including all the spine bones. Our dogs get them.

ozark_jewels · #24 06/12/11, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InvalidID

I haven't walked the whole thing yet, but from what I can tell there's about 40 or 50 acres in grass now. I think as he clears out the brush that number would get higher, but not by a whole lot.

In that case I'd say just about any hardy beef breed would do fine. Thats quite a bit of grass. And if you are looking at making a sale to the general public, I'd go with a more recognized breed than the Highlander. Highlanders are a niche market. Wild ones will be harder to sell than tame ones. Unless you want to spend time trying to market them to individuals, I'd go with something you can sell at the sale barn.

bruce2288 · #25 06/12/11, 12:25 AM

Oregonsmoke gave some good advice. Hereford cattle are tough eat anything critters with good dispositions. If you plan of selling at a sale barn they would bring a better price than highland, at least in my area. I tell people my herd is a rainbow coalition, I have had angus, simmetal,charlois,limosin,red angus,salers,hereford and who knows what else, all browse any tree leaf they can reach they eat, cottonwood, elm, willow ect.
Any cattle without human contact will get wild. Feeding cattle on pasture a pound or two of cattle cubes sporatically will definately be worthwhile. I usually feed my cows on pasture about once a month. When they see the pickup in the pasture or I start calling they come running.
Minimal management like you are talking probably would suit buying 500lb calves and turning out in grasstime and selling in the early fall. Yearling cattle are like a bunch of teenagers and can be pretty squirrely at times so be ready. You will have to have some kind of sturdy catch pen corral for load out or treatment if needed. Let the rodeo begin. Good luck

petefarms · #26 06/12/11, 04:51 AM

In upstate NY highlands bring about one third less price than herefords or angus, but I love those highlands, just dont have any yet, but am looking into picking up a few head myself. As with any cattle let them go and they are indcredibly wild and difficult to manage. Make daily contact with them and they will be used to human contact some sort of interaction is for the best 2 or 3x a week at least.

lonelyfarmgirl · #27 06/12/11, 09:54 AM

40-50 acres of grass is plenty. That's as much as we have for our whole farm.

I wanted to point out, that we have a couple black baldies (hereford/angus cross) and they eat more than any cattle we have ever owned, and we have multiple breeds.