I have to work with Highland cattle at work, but they are very seldom handled and, as a consequence, are more like wild animals than domestic cows.
Kept this way they can be very dangerous, especially with calves at foot. They tend to react as a herd to any perceived danger to their calves, and must be treated with much respect. A newly calved cow will be protected by all the other cows in the herd.
They have trouble seeing with all that facial hair, and can be very reactive in close confines. We have a handling system which was designed for them, with a head yoke, which helps, but they are very fast with their heads/horns and can easily cause injury if handled by inexperienced persons. At times they have to be haltered for such things as tests and bolus administration, and at such times they can get very het up.
I always work very quietly with them, but they have this habit of swirling round in the pens, getting their horns locked in the process, and are often difficult to move through the race effectively. Like wild oxen, they always have the calves within the protective ring of flesh and horns. We had a chap helping us once who was very quick off the mark and inclined to dart around harassing them, and they would just crash through fences and flatten gates if not allowed to see their way............you can't put too much pressure on them when moving them around.
Last week they had to come in for the bull to be drawn off as he was going on a working holiday to another fold. Despite the fact that nothing had changed since their last time in, they were very reluctant to go into the holding pen. The bull was nearest to me, with the cows behind him so they had to go in first. As they moved away from him, the bull turned and leapt right through the rylock and rail fence into a pony paddock, wrecking the fence in the process, then wouldn't take his eyes off me long enough to see his way out of the gate I'd opened for him.
I pushed the cows up the race, leaving the pen free for the bull, and went through the gap in the fence to turn him toward the gate but, as he raised his head and swung his quarters away from me, I got the feeling he was too dangerous to approach in the open. I stood off and let him have a look and he drew back to the cows and entered the pen. However, when I opened the gate to go into the pen to move him into the next area where I could load him into the trailer, I knew he was not for complying.
My boss had appeared on the scene by now and enquired why I was outside the pen trying to encourage him to move. By now I had a hazel stick in my hand and, as I climbed onto the gate to tap his nose with it, he dropped his head and charged me. He was incredibly quick as he covered the eight or ten feet between us, blowing and snorting and, as I jumped off the gate, his horns came right through the gaps, coming to within a few inches of my groin/lower torso as he rattled the gate with his head.
As he backed up, thinking he may have another go, I cracked him on the skull with the stick and he turned and ran right up the race, so he knew where he was going right from the start.
He is a young bull, and has been handled before by dint of a ring in his nose, but he has reverted to his wild state through lack of handling. It's now very difficult to get hold of the ring as he is so quick with his head.
Another aspect is their behaviour with young calves. The very young calves lie prone and often hidden in a clump of nettles, or alongside a fence, and the cows can be quite a distance away from them at times. It's often many days before you'll actually see them being suckled as the cows seem to feed them in the early morning and late in the day, ignoring them between times. Go in to inspect the calf, though, and it will 'clap' like a deer calf, relying on its ability to remain undetected. Great care is needed then as the mother and other adult females will be quickly making in toward you like Spanish bulls spoiling for a fight.
I have worked with cattle for many years, dairy and beef, without any incident, but these Highlanders are very different. They can be very placid and easily handled if they are started off right and frequently worked with, but they can be extremely dangerous otherwise.
I have no wish to put anyone off keeping heilan coos, but I feel it's important for novices to know the potential dangers.