Highland cattle first took over my life in 1996. When a decision needed to be made as to what to put on the new property, it was a simple choice as to the breed of cattle. With Scottish heritage, and the breed being well known for low maintenance and meat quality, it was a no brainer.
Over the years, through careful selection, we aim to put together the finest fold of Fully Imported Bloodline (FIB) Highland cattle in Australia (What is FIB?). This all started with building up numbers slowly by purchasing FIB, foundation females from selected folds around the country. Our initial criteria of structural soundness and breed character gave us an excellent stepping stone into the breed. Since then, artificial insemination (AI) has been used extensively (see ‘Artficial Insemination’ article), and more recently embryo transfer (ET) (see ‘Embryo Transfer’ article). I believe that this has allowed the use of the finest bloodlines throughout the world and still maintain genetic diversity. (Our goals in breeding)
The move to our current 52 hectare property happened in 2012. (Where are we?) We also lease land from neighbours and nearby properties so that we can carry more Highlands and embryo recipients (& Highland Ponies, of course). With a modest average annual rainfall of 600mm (24 inches) and rich soils, our capacity is around 20 breeding females with a total of 50-60 animals. This certainly means I am well understocked through spring but allows us to cope better through the tough times without as much reliance on fodder.
We have been using Regenerative Grazing techniques since 2019, which involves cell grazing with single electric polywire and moving the cattle every 2-4 days. Paddocks are rested for 6-12 months between grazing. This is a low (or no) input system, so we do not use tilling or fertilisers and minimal chemicals for weed control. Besides the local kangaroos not obeying rotational grazing rules, regenerative grazing allows more ground cover (less bare patches), increases top soil and produces a diversified mix of plants that tend towards perennials with a deeper root structure.