Crossing to other beef breeds produces superior animals that retain many of the Highland's excellent characteristics.
 

Because they enhance existing herds and perform so well, Highland bulls are in demand for crossbreeding
with Herefords, Angus, Shorthorn or Charolas as well as some dairy breeds. Their offspring are most rugged; grow and gain faster.
Yearling heifers mated to a Highland bull and calved, as a two-year-old will have little or no trouble calving.
 

Highland crossbred calves have sold at top market prices consistently.

Your Beef Operation's future might depend on a breed from the past. . .

Can you afford to pay high grain prices, while beef prices are at an all time low?   Grain prices are now being set based on the world market.  Prices will continue to rise.  Only the Scottish Highlander can produce a quality beef product on a 'Scot's' budget; therefore, beef producers must consider an animal that has the ability to be finished on grass.  Highland cattle have the largest ribeye in the industry:   19.24 cm (source-Western National Stock Show, 1999).

• Questions that all beef producers need to consider in order to survive the current market trends of increasing costs of production coupled with the declining cattle prices:
  • Are you losing calves or having to assist with too many births?
  • Are your cattle producing choice or prime carcasses while passing the grading grid?
  • Do you need to reduce carcass wastage?
  • Do you have eye cancer or pinkeye in your herd?
  • Are your bulls long-lived, safe and easy to handle?
  • 1996 and '97 were two of the coldest winters of the century in the northern United States.  Are your cattle genetically built to withstand the terrible cold?

   

• The Scottish Highlands have produced the perfect animal for today's beef market.  An animal which is safe and easy to handle.  An animal which produces calves unassisted perhaps for over 18 years.  An animal which has the best tasting, most tender red meat in the beef industry. 

• The harsh climate of the Scottish Highlands have produced an animal which has the genetic potency to pass on its traits in cross-breeding programs.  This has been proven by the Stroh family's winning record at the National Western Stock show's carcass grading contests.  Their 3-way crosses, utilizing Highland genetics, have won or placed in the carcass grading contests over and over again in Denver.

• The time for Highland cattle is now.  Like never before, this breed offers every trait the beef producer needs:
  • low input costs
  • increased outputs
  • improved profit margins
  • improved carcass qualities
  • fewer calving problems

   

  Crossbreeding with Highland Cattle

  As Brood Cows

   In Scotland, Highlands have traditionally been crossed with the Whitebred Shorthorn. The crossbred females were retained as "hill cattle" and bred to either Hereford or Angus bulls, but this choice has now widened to include the continental breeds.

  The Highland cross female is of moderate size, hardy with a long productive life and, when mated to a fast growing sire, produces a very saleable calf while keeping cow maintenance costs to a minimum.

  At the Range Livestock Substation, Manyberries, Alberta*, it was demonstrated that Highlands cross well with Hereford. First-cross steer calves exceeded the Hereford in growth rate and equalled them in carcass characteristics.

  First-cross Highland-Hereford cows were hardy, excellent mothers, and from yearlings up had high conception rates. They were among the best of all breeds and crosses produced at Manybrerries, weaning a high percentage calf crop (number of calves weaned per cows exposed to bull). It was experienced at Manyberries that when they got a Highland cow bred, they were almost sure to get a weaned calf from her.

  *Experiments performed by John E. Lawson, CDA Research Station, Lethbridge, Alberta.

   

  The Highland
  Influence

  With the Highland's long history as a pure breed there is little doubt that it has been used, over time, to add an injection of hardiness to other breeds. This influence has been documented as far away as the mountains of central France where Highlands were crossed with the native Salers breed.

  The most recent use of Highlands is with the Luing cattle, developed by the Cadzow Brothers of Scotland. The breed contains 5/8 shorthorn and 3/8 Highland blood. Luing is the first new British breed developed in over 100 years.

   

  Carcass Merits

  Highland meat is fine grained and well marbled.

  Considering the small number of Highland cattle that have entered carcass competitions, the results are impressive. For example, the Stroh family of Colorado have won Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion, in at least one category of the "Hanging Beef Carcass" contest at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, for 22 out of the 25 years they entered.

  Highlands and their crosses have the ability to produce a quality meat product without the excessive external fat of other breeds.

  Producers who wish to utilize roughland pastures to produce the lean, healthy beef that is presently in such high demand by consumers, should breed Highlands.

Above information gathered from the following web pages:
 

• Cowdrey's Scottish Highland Cattle
• Blue Ox Farms
• Canadian Highland Cattle Society



Back to home page