Highland Cattle

Why Scottish Highland Cows?

  • Beef Quality, lean and tender
  • Docile and Friendly
  • A hardy breed
  • Intelligent and Trainable
  • Highland milk is rich and possesses a high butterfat content
  • Absolutely Adorable

Beef Quality

Scottish Highland Cows provide excellent beef quality. Bottom line: It is high in the good stuff, low in the bad, while being tender and juicy.

Their thick shaggy hair offers excellent insulation resulting in leaner meat than other cows that rely on subcutaneous fat.  

They are slow to mature.  This creates well marbled, low fat and cholesterol levels while maintaining rich protein and iron.

Studies in the U.S. have shown that Highland beef is 38% lower in fat content and 4% lower in cholesterol than steaks from local supermarkets.

When prepared well the meat is tender and flavorful.  However, there is an adjustment to be made in cooking since it is much more lean than other beef cattle breeds.

Scottish Highland Research

“The University of Missouri in collaboration with AHCA and the Highland Cattle Foundation, studied Highland beef quality. Samples were tested from a diverse array of operations representing all feeding systems and regions of the country. They reported: “Tenderness can make or break the repeat purchase. Our data has shown that Highland beef is very tender according to shear force values.” Results are in agreement from a study by Charles Bruce at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.”  From the American Highland Cattle Association

A little known fact about Highland breeders is that they don’t call their herd a herd.  It is called a Fold of Highland cattle because, in the olden days in winter the cattle were brought together at night in open shelters made of stone, called Folds, to protect them from the weather and wolves.