Kelly, wondering if I've come to feed her.

The Highland is one of the two oldest Scottish breeds. The other being the Kylo.

They calf more then other breeds, their meat is the leanest and is the favorite of the British Monarchy who keeps a large herd.

Inspite of the stubborn streak they are extremely well tempered. Although she has ran several strangers out of the pasture.

In the above image she has just turned 14 months old and her hair has gotten much longer since then.

It spins easily and is supple with alot of strength.

Another feed me look

They do produce some wonderful meat! Had a place here in town that imported it - some type of scottish resturant. Very wonderful food, but was a tad on the expensive side and they ended up closing. Our loss.

 

Ya know...I was thinking about you the other day Ralph...my children were watching the funniest animals show and there was a young Highland calf butting heads with a black goat. Really great to watch, but had recalled your pic of Kelly and rememberd you had a black goat (I believe was the one that passed on)? Was this a video you sent in? LOL Just wanted to settle the curiousity.

 

Sorry not us, kinda wished it had been. Need to take more photos.

The meat is available according to the Highland organization but limited to only stores thats willing to ship it in. It is becoming more widely sold because its so lean.

Kelly was bought in Missouri. When we tried to load her it took four of us and a act of God to get her in a stock trailer for the ride here.

At that time she was still a calf and about waist high, sounds weird but true!

 

 

The black goat is Moe hes still around, as is Larry the salt and pepper one, and sadly Curly the big one up front passed.

 

Kelly is the size now instead of butting heads for fun she takes off and runs the goats all over the pasture. It they bother her too much she will flip them away using her horns, usually about 5 feet off the ground and a distance of 6 to 8 feet.

I was about to do chores in the barn one day and was a bit shocked to see two goats come flying out at head high then a third right behind them.

It was one of those wished I had a camera things, goats were turned upside down and twisted up into odd shapes, when they landed they got up and ran!

CAN NOT hurt a goat! :wacko:

We just had another baby girl goat the other day. It's white and curly too.

The mother doesn't have enough milk so Jenifer is feeding it by bottle and during the days is out side then in the night it sleeps in her room, between baby Rose and the goat theres ALOT of diapers being used right now!

But the goat will go out side permanently soon, they get to eating grass really quickly.

How funny. I would like to look into purchasing some of the highland stock when the project gets into full swing. Also like the angus too, hard to decide, and would have to keep them separated. Still researching on the livestock thing, so will take some time. At least I will be able to begin the angora rabbits at the new place and possibly some fowl. Not far down the road, Bison is also offered and is a good meat that is cheaper than beef.

 

Great thing is, there is an excellent butcher in town and everything is very fresh. They offer a great deal of organic along with a bit of produce. Have to see what we can get, but the options are looking great so far.

 

Good luck with the goat

I'm glad you have honest butchers up there, its good to know some are still around.

We've tried the butchers around here and after having our meat switched with other of lesser quality we gave up on those close to us.

 

The Highland cattle milk is different also, much more cream and is richer then other types.

They cross breed rather well and the offspring often retains the Highlander's dominate genes.

 

The over all price of the Highlander breed if registered as ours are is much higher also.

For instances when Kelly was 1 year old she was worth $1,100 + and at two it jumped to over $ 2,500.

 

They calf over 24 times and live much longer then most cows.

There are some down sides also, if she wants through a electric and barb wire fence not a problem taking down about 4 posts with her...Hard headed and stubborn, Helient spoiled red headed cow!

can I ask a stupid question? How can you raise an animal...like Jen is for instance...then butcher it? I'm not asking to be a jerk, I'm asking because my Dad raised pigs and I couldn't stand it...I couldn't look at, feed nor eat them. If I raised animals, I'd have to be a vegetarian. I'd cry when I had to slaughter them.

I don't think your question is out of line at all. We are all individuals and learning about each other so no I didn't think any thing of it.

Now if you belonged to PITA that would be different but I know you far better then that!

 

The only way I know of is not get attached to it.

Kelly is our pet and the center of our Highland herd. Now some of her offspring is different and they are range cattle not giving a chance to get familiar with.

But yes...even then its hard sometimes. For me it boils down too do we need the meat or not.

Meg's parents run a good size cattle operation and we get a lot of our meat form them leaving our small herd to grow.

 

I'm still not sure that answered the question nor do I think it helped much, sorry

Thanks for that answer. You have my admiration. I couldn't do it. I would die of starvation before I could slaughter and eat an animal I have raised. And like I said, if I raised animals beyond dogs, I would be a card carrying member of PETA. Some days I think I should go back to a vegetarian diet....or at least only eat things without eyes.