Lets breed a little highland into them?

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

Ive always wanted to, i guess its fun to think of.

 

[shortyjock89]

LOL! Lautner has a 1/2 Highland bull. Super hairy, but doesnt seem to pass it on......

 

[Telos]

Apparently they come in Black too?

 

[Telos]

Maybe that's a Galloway?

 

[shortyjock89]

I thought there were black Highlands too.  Galloway's have good hair, but they actually look like beef cattle (the good ones anyhow). Eye Candy's momma is one of the finest cows around according to quite a few folks.

 

[HAB]

Galloways are polled, and larger framed than Highlands, with same hardiness and longevity.

 

[yuppiecowboy]

Been done. Ever heard of a Luing?

 

[Mark H]

The Luing certainly was not bred for the show ring it is tough as nails cow developed for forage based cow calf operations in the Western Isles of Scotland.  They are 3/4 shorthorn and 1/4 Highland.  They are a smaller framed, maternal breed that designed for low inputs.  Longevity is a strong point-it is not unusual for cows to be productive into their 20's!  In the UK they are crossed with Simmentals to produce a moderate framed heavy milking cow.  They are also as  easy calving as a longhorn in my experience.  Iain Aiken owns a few of these: http://www.luingcattle.com/
In the UK they are breeding a more framey more muscled animal check out: http://www.genusbreeding.co.uk/documents/upload/Dynamite_colour_pedigree_flyer.pdf.  Iain does not like these more growthy cattle they get away from the strengths of the breed.
Oh yes, they do have plenty of hair...

 

[Telos]

Hey, this may be some good outcross genetics. http://www.luingcattle.com/farm.html

 

[Cowfarmer65]

The Highlands definitely are hardy. One drawback for me is, they're manhunters when they calve, for about 2 weeks and then it's back to the docile laa-tee-da attitude.  My brother had a dun highland cow. He used his Shorty bull on them.......Hairy, hardy and good eatin'.
I fitted a Galloway x Limo cross steer years ago.........nicest hair I've ever worked on....2" long and popped like you wouldn't believe.

 

[CAB]

I think that the black one may be Black Welsh.

I also think that there is another bull being promoted out of the Dam of  Eye Candy.

 

[justintime]

I agree about the black animal being a Black Welsh. There are still a few of them around in Western Canada. They did not catch on very well, but I have seen some good ones. Same thing with the Luing cattle.  When I was in Scotland, I saw some extremely good Luings, and there were some very good ones shown at the Royal Highland show.

The Bristish Luing Association is one of the most progressive breeds in Britain in that they are spending their money fine tuning breed type. When I was there I talked with a guy who had been hired by the Luing Association to inspect every registered Luing cow in Britain and grade it on udder quality and teat shape and size. The ones I saw had pretty impeccable udders, but they are not satisfied and want every female to be graded so that any faults can be corrected. They also keep very accurate records on reproductive performance of all cows in the breed. If a cow goes too long without having a calf reported to the Association, they check it out to see what the problems are. I thought this was interesting, when you consider that here in N America, you could go three lifetimes without hearing from a breed association if you keep your fees paid and current.

When Sandy Cross, Rothney Farms, Calgary,AB was alive, he imported a sizable number of Luing cattle. His herd was probably one of the largest Luing herds in Canada and the US. He imported them in the height of the European breeds coming in, so his Luings never got noticed much. I saw some neat Luing cows at Rothney, when Sandy was winding down his cattle operations. I could write a few chapters on my rememberances of Sandy Cross and his great ranch. The last time I visited Sandy, he was really concerned that the city of Calgary would eventually eat up his beloved Rothney Farm. Shortly after my last visit, Sandy donated 50 square miles of his ranch to the Province of Alberta as a heritage site and a game preserve, with an agreement that it had to remain as such for 120 years. That was not many years ago, and today, the city of Calgary is building around 3 sides of the great Rothney Farm.It will not be long until it is completely surrounded by the city.  Sandy was right in that his ranch would have been covered by pavement and houses in short order, had he not done this. I have no idea how much his ranch would have been worth to sell, but I am thinking it could have been sold for hundreds of millions.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

2000 lb frame 4 bull-gotta be a meat wagon- maybe a luing might be the next Proud Jazz-I bet they grade well-some time ago in Denver the highest grading steers in history (at that juncture) were shorthorn-highland cross. The whitebred shorthorn breed (near extinction-is now seeing somewhat of a resurgence-used to cross on Galloways O0

 

[Mark H]

The picture TELOS posted is a Black Highland cow NOT a Welsh Black. 
To see what a Welsh Black or a Galloway bull looks like check out Randy Kaiser's web site: http://www.kaiserscelticcattle.com/ and his upcoming bull sale catalog: http://www.kaiserscelticcattle.com/kaiser2010.pdf.  Note that Galloways are polled; the vast majority of Welsh Black are horned.  Given the performance expectations of the  clubby market and the hair on these cattle they should fit in for many people on this board.

 

[HAB]

2000 lb frame 4 bull-gotta be a meat wagon- maybe a luing might be the next Proud Jazz-I bet they grade well-some time ago in Denver the highest grading steers in history (at that juncture) were shorthorn-highland cross. The whitebred shorthorn breed (near extinction-is now seeing somewhat of a resurgence-used to cross on Galloways O0

Crossing them on Black Galloways to produce "Blues", or on White Galloways?