[Pasture Farm]

Last month i looked at buying a few more Lley lambs for my stock, we looked at over 200 of this years lambs the stock manager asked us if we would like to look round the farm 

His Highland cattle just blew my good lady away  He had two young steers for sale weaned off mother end of Jan next year after much deliberation we have decided to buy them 

I now have around 6 weeks to educate myself on Cattle keeping  any sugestions on where to start will be greatly recieved. Im thinking should i barn them at first can i keep them on a four acre paddock with my Tups or do they need to be on their own.

Just so much to learn    is there a cattle diary similar to the way i keep my sheep
Any guidance would be a great help

[shep53]

They should live and eat with your rams  no problem, don't keep them inside for to long unless its a very open shed ,highlanders have a very thick coat and are better out, ours were weaned sept de-horned and castrated treated with a pour on for worms/lice/ticks/fluke and are out on the hill for the winter ,no more treatment  until spring when pour on repeated. compared to sheep bullocks are a doddle

[Pasture Farm]

Many thanx Shep     im loving it already

[princesspiggy]

cattle need longer sward than sheep so wud depend how much grass is there.

[landroverroy]

 The beauty of highland cattle also is that their digestive system is 30% more eficient than most other (improved) breeds. So if you are short of forage later in the year, you can winter them quite successfully on straw and a feed block.

[princesspiggy]

ours were weaned sept de-horned and castrated

Shep -why did u have to dehorn them? are they not quieter behaviour-wise if they are castrated? also do their horns not grow smaller (like a goats) if they are castrated?
thanx

[shep53]

Yes when castrated they are quieter and yes their horns are not quite as strong but still over a foot long and pointy. Highlanders have a very strong pecking order, useing horns to dominate,no horns make all equal much less scarred, you can then put them in a shed if needed also their value is greatly increased as more people are willing to buy them

[princesspiggy]

what age r they dehorned ? is it as a calf with that paste stuff?
iv heard quite a bit that highlands are quite aggressive, thats why we chose shetlands but their horns are still sharp and u do have to be really careful.
i do like highlanders tho - from a distance ..lol
good luck PF 

[shep53]

Most highlanders are dehorned at 6-8 mth's this is so that the best can keep their horns  to become bulls . As a breed they are very quiet and aggression is rare ( except to each other ) all animals are calm if handled quietly from birth with a calm mother

[princesspiggy]

so bulls need their horns, is that a breed society thing?
i have a gorgeous photo book of highlanders, eye candy ...lol
thanx 

[SallyintNorth]

Just a note on the disbudding paste - BH won't use it and our vet backs him up.  Apparently it's really difficult to completely and only cover the horn bud with only and exactly enough paste to burn it off permanently - and not spill over onto the surrounding flesh and/or keep going and penetrate into the sinuses below... ugh.


I have only ever been close to one Highland - he was a steer and more about him in a mo.  What we hear about Highlands and aggression is that the mothers are extremely protective of their calves and can be extremely dangerous in those circumstances - not cattle you would keep on a public footpath!


Back to the Highland steer; he was a pet on an organic beef and arable farm I worked on.  The main herd was purebred Aberdeen Angus, consisting of 66 cows, their followers and 3 bulls.  I helped them on TB test day.  All the cattle were routinely run out through the race and crush every time they came in, so were all really calm and used to following each other through there.  After the Angus herd, the Highland steer then had to be roped and tied, which the owner said he would do as it was his steer and he knew him.  (They couldn't use the race and crush as it wasn't designed for Highland horns.)  There followed a dance in which the steer gently and slowly dodged the rope and his owner, while the owner described balletic figures attempting to get a rope over one of those metre-long horns.  Eventually the boy was roped, tied, his lumps measured - no reaction, thank goodness - and freed.  The 66 cows, all their followers and the three bulls had taken about an hour and three-quarters.  The single Highland steer took a further hour and ten minutes!. 

[shep53]

Highland cows and bulls have horns and the shape of the horns is important, horizontal to the side with turned up ends. SALLY i have seen dangerous cows at calving of many breeds  even dairy breeds, i think highlanders horns look intimadating

[Fronhaul]

I had a friend who kept Highlands alongside their rather large dairy herd.  They didn't dehorn at all.  They also spent a great deal of time taming their Highlands.  Sadly as a consequence one over friendly heifer broke her arm entirely by accident.  My friend went off to judge a show and when she returned she discovered her husband had sent the lot to market.  Very sad but Highlands don't make the best of pets.

And I suspect there isn't a breed that doesn't occasionally have a dangerous cow at calving.  We certainly had one among the South Devons who became so dangerous that we culled her.  And most of our yellow elephants were amongst the most gentle cattle you could ever hope to work with.

[princesspiggy]

our yellow elephants

 

[robert waddell]

they are all just animals does not matter how well handled they are  YOU have be very vigilant it is when you become complacent that accidents and fatality's occur