Those of us who raise Scottish Highland cattle are well aware of the traits that make them an ideal breed.
Pittsburgher Highlands are raised on 100% pasture and never confined to cramped and dirty buildings or feedlots. Grass feeding is also nature’s way of producing healthy and happy cattle. The British royal family maintains a herd of Highlands for their own use at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. This has made them ideal for small scale operations in regions like western Pennsylvania, marked with steep hillsides, deep valleys, reclaimed surface mines and generally non-tillable land. It has been said often that the Scots-Irish who settled much of the Appalachian region of America were attracted, among other things, to the terrain and climatic conditions similar to their native lands in northern Ireland and Scotland. Perfect conditions for such hardy people and such hardy cattle! Further, Highland cattle are inclined to graze on a variety of forages (even weeds and brush) often ignored by other breeds.
Highlands are a natural fit for an all-forage diet, as they efficiently utilize available grasses and survive nicely on an all-grass diet. Their development in the cold and damp mountainous areas of northwest Scotland resulted in a natural selection process that produced a genetically thrifty and hardy breed of cattle. Scottish Highland cattle have changed little since their evolution in the 1600s.
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