Highland Cattle are an ancient Scottish breed, originally from the Western Highlands and Isles. Written records go back to the eighteenth century.  With their distinctive coat of long coarse outer hair and dense but very soft short undercoat, they are extremely hardy, and can cope with very cold conditions.  My cattle have access to an indoor shelter all through the winter but never choose to go inside!

This breed is not suited for intensive farming.   Highlanders are immune to many pests and diseases that plague other breeds.  And Highland cattle are the greenest of all breeds, too.  Their grazing habits actually benefit wildlife and biodiversity.  They thrive on rough grazing, helping maintain a balance with less competitive grasses and flowers.

A herd of Highland cattle is called a ‘fold.’  This comes from olden times when at night livestock were driven into a stone enclosure, a fold. This procedure was called ‘folding the cattle’.

“The wee glen abounding in cuckoos, in which rushes
And mountain down will grow
There cattle will be found in folds, and fair maidens
Tending the new-born calves, and blowing upon
Them with their breath.”      
(translated from Gaelic, The Poetry of Badenoch)

That is not quite what goes on at Auchnagathle!  My cattle do have a very good temperament and are easy going.  They calve outside in the field and the mothers are very protective of their new born calves.