Scottish Highlands Hmmm

[InvalidID]

So a friend and I were talking this morning about cattle. I'm fixing to get a few (the missus just surprised me with some jersey bottle calves) beefs and put this small pasture to use.
So my buddy owns a lot (300 acres-ish) of the hillside around me. We were talking about highlands and just letting them roam around the hillside and fatten up.

So a few questions:

How well do these animals do in a fairly natural environment?

Will the fatten up ok just wandering around a small mountain? It's all trees and brush here, very green.

Is the meat good?

Anyone raise them and like them? Dislikes?

Does anyone here sell or know where to get calves in SW Washington area?

How much are they going for?

There are going to be tons of things I don't think to ask so I'd ask folks that know to just chime in with anything you think is useful. We're not ready to run out and buy a herd yet, but the land is here and the idea SEEMS like a good one.

[trbizwiz]

I doubt any beef bred will get overly "fat" on "pretty natural" forage. I guess Buffalo fatten in natural environment, but they also leave for greener pastures if theres is lacking anything they need, in the wild at least. Some sort of managed rotation or feed supplement and or pasture improvement will be required. seasonal annuals to meet energy and protein needs would go a long way. I just planted some test plotts of pearl millet and sudan grass. I want to see which better fits my management style. Hopefully it is sudan grass at half the cost. But our summers here are hot and dry, I have plenty of fescue to feed, but energy is low in dormant fescue. So I want to plant a sugar type grass for summer maintence. I am not finishing any beef this year so I have the luxery of testing grasses. But next year Ill be finishing several. I plan on taking 28 to 30 months to finish my beef. Ill have beef to finish every year after this year.
BUt I guess to precisely answer your question, you asked about fattening a beef. I take fattening a beef to mean you are shooting for USDA prime. If you just want to grow beef steers adn dont mind lean beef, the wandering technique should be fine. I would not spend a ton on a fancy breed if you arent going to manage the herd.

[InvalidID]

Originally Posted by trbizwiz

I doubt any beef bred will get overly "fat" on "pretty natural" forage. I guess Buffalo fatten in natural environment, but they also leave for greener pastures if theres is lacking anything they need, in the wild at least. Some sort of managed rotation or feed supplement and or pasture improvement will be required. seasonal annuals to meet energy and protein needs would go a long way. I just planted some test plotts of pearl millet and sudan grass. I want to see which better fits my management style. Hopefully it is sudan grass at half the cost. But our summers here are hot and dry, I have plenty of fescue to feed, but energy is low in dormant fescue. So I want to plant a sugar type grass for summer maintence. I am not finishing any beef this year so I have the luxery of testing grasses. But next year Ill be finishing several. I plan on taking 28 to 30 months to finish my beef. Ill have beef to finish every year after this year.
BUt I guess to precisely answer your question, you asked about fattening a beef. I take fattening a beef to mean you are shooting for USDA prime. If you just want to grow beef steers adn dont mind lean beef, the wandering technique should be fine. I would not spend a ton on a fancy breed if you arent going to manage the herd.

The beefs I want will be on decent pasture. We've been getting it ready before we put anything on it and I think we're just about there.

The Highland wandering cattle are a new project. I know those were bred to survive harsh winters in the Scottish mountains so I'm wondering if they'd do better here inthe SW Washington foot hills.

[oregon woodsmok]

"Harsh" is relative term. Weather in Scotland is pretty mild. Cattle are out and not babied, but they are on grass pasture, not out on the moors. Lots of grass in Scotland because it rains a lot.

I think Scotland is very much like the Willamette Valley.

Unless you market well and sell privately, Highland cattle take a very bad hit on price at the auctions and stockyards. The buyers don't like anything different. Locker beef sales should be a different story. Beef should be very good when raised on nothing but grass.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

You will be happy with them if you are willing to wait and if you do not expect to make any money selling them at auction. There are quite a few people here that have them, self included. They are a medium sized, very hardy, old old breed. They do well left alone and do well in close contact with people. They grow slower, mature slower and taste awesome.

[Gabriel]

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok

Beef should be very good when raised on nothing but grass.

The best beef I've ever had was grass fed/finished. The worst beef I've ever had was grass fed/finished. It can be done, but it's not as easy as "turning them out, then butchering", unless you're seriously understocked. Highlands grow quite slowly, so unless you just love the look or have a niche market already planned, why not save time and get something a little beefier?

[InvalidID]

I don't mind letting them grow out. I'm in no hurry to get them fattened up. I would however need to be able to turn a profit on them. Even if it meant I had to have them butchered and sold as sides and quarters, which is fine.

[InvalidID]

The hills aren't all pasture it's largely trees and such up here. I'm looking for something that can wander the hills and be pretty self sufficient. Under stocking wouldn't be a problem as we're not looking to put 100 head up here. More like 20-30 for 300 acres of timberland.

I know I could go with goats, but the guy that owns the land isn't interested in goats at all.

I was under the impression Highlands were able to live in areas other cattle wouldn't like as much. I've seen folks run cattle in forest land before but they have a huge acreage with a high acre:cattle ratio. We thought Highlands were the best at this.

[Brooks WV]

Might find some useful information on my "Highland Pricing" thread.

BTW, I like the profile picture. We be far better off if he were President.

[arcticow]

When I was raising Highlands in AK, they had access to a lot of spruce and birch woods with lots of understory plants. Also had goats and sheep in the same woods. Highlands would browse, but not that well, goats or hair sheep would be a better choice, if they must turn a profit, IMHO.

[InvalidID]

I hadn't thought about sheep. I'm not a fan of lamb so it skipped my mind... Sheep are a lot of work though, and I'm not sure of the profit margin on them. Something for the sheep forum I suppose.

[Gabriel]

It sounds like you just want to turn them out and forget about them for a while, which means sheep are out. They're walking coyote bait. According to my math, there is more potential profit in sheep... if you have a ready market for lamb. Most americans have never eaten it and won't pay a fair price though.

[lakeportfarms]

Highlands browse quite well. We have a mature apple orchard that has every small branch and leaf nipped right at the height of the fully extended tongue of our tallest Highland. I think they would work very well from what you describe, and little care is required other than water and mineral.

That said, they still should have some pasture available to them.

[65284]

I've been around several Highland cattle, in on the farm and in sale barn situations, and except for those that had been worked with a lot, they ranged from very skittish to down right wild.

Any breed of cattle can be skittish/hard to handle, but Highlands seem to be more so than most. And then there are those horns.........it's all too easy to be injured, or worse, by livestock, so why add to the risk by having to deal with long horns?

I would discourage any inexperienced person from keeping Highlands in the manner you describe. I know it's your intention to just let the roam in a semi-wild state, but believe me, at some point you or someone else, will have to interact with them, and it won't be pleasant.

Just my opinion which is worth nothing.

[arcticow]

If you are set on Highlands: 1. They can be dehorned like other cattle. 2. Any cattle let run and handled only a couple times a year will be wild. 3. They are smarter than most breeds, and tend to be "one-person" cattle. I milked mine twice a day, they could be handled w/o a halter and the only horn injury was to a shirt sleeve. BUT I worked them daily, they were not cowboyed, and were handled just like any other cattle. I have seen full-blooded Herefords handled the way you picture that would jump a 6-foot fence. All a bout the handler, not the breed. Unless there is a LOT of forage besides browse in those hills, no cattle will fatten running on just what is there. JMO.

[oregon woodsmok]

Actually, if you want to turn cattle out and never look at them until harvest, drive out to Eastern Oregon and buy a load of purebred Hereford range cattle. They can take care of themselves with no input from humans.

Goats will kill all those trees, which would probably not make your friend happy. Sheep will also kill trees by stripping the bark off of the trunk.

[Rocktown Gal]

I have Highland Cattle and I will say this...there is no way I would turn my cattle out and not have any kind of association with them at all. All of my cattle have their horns and that is why I picked this breed to raise. I love the horns. But I am also aware of where the cattle are when I am down with them. The breed is skittish...I feed my cattle All Stock a couple times a week or go down and hand feed them bread...my Highlands love bread...this keeps them use to me and they are not as skittish as when I first brought them home. The ones that I have raised since they were very young come to me with no problem...the others are still getting use to me being down there and do hold back when it is hand bread feeding time...but are getting better. You need those cattle to know who you are...what if one was sick and needed attention and you could not catch it due to it being just left out in the field...and to add to that...any babies and you can have a whole lot of cattle come down on you. We also feed hay in the winter months when there is no grass. I do not know you area so I can not say if you can just let them feed on pasture or not...but the interaction you will need.


Also, the meat is good and yes they do grow slower then other breeds. Here if they go over 3 years then the backbone is taken out and you get no steaks that have bones. Not sure if it is like that everywhere or not. I let mine go over 3 before I butcher.

Highland Cattle are a grand breed...but please do not turn them loose and leave them.

Good Luck!

[ozark_jewels]

We used to own Highlands and they would not just fatten up on brush. They required pasture too. In fact, our Jerseys browse as well as the Highlanders. I have nothing against Highlanders, but from your description of the acreage you have, I doubt they will be ready to butcher on just what they can find. The beef is very good. Very comparable to Jersey in my families opinion, and we LOVE Jersey beef.

[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?

[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.