Home | Philosophy | Management | Articles | Sires Breeding Stock For Sale | Stock Wanted | Meat Prices NOTES ON THE MANAGEMENT OF OUR HIGHLAND CATTLE The goal of our breeding program is to produce unpampered cattle that are extremely functional...whose meat can be marketed off grass, browse or hay to the consumer. Our own federal beef label permits us to market our beef directly to the consumer, enabling us to continuously monitor consumer acceptance of our grass fed beef. Our cattle have been performance tested since 1971 to promote:
Every exposed female must wean a superior calf every twelve months to remain in the breeding herd. All cattle, regardless of age, are raised exclusively on native grass, browse and hay. We are very critical in our evaluation of feet and udders. Our position is that an owner should never have to trim a hoof or milk out a brood cow. Good feet and udders are a result of sound breeding to promote these functional traits. In appraising our yearling weights, keep in mind that from weaning, all calves are fed and gain exclusively on native grass, browse and mediocre grass/clover hay. After twenty-four years of evaluating winter feeding programs, we are convinced this is the best management technique to identify functional yearling animals and keep input costs to a minimum. Although Highlanders are slow to mature under this regimen, our bulls are ready for moderate service at fifteen months, are aggressive breeders, and are of above average fertility at this age. Similarly, our heifers exhibit superior fertility and are bred to calve as two or three year olds. We participate in the North Dakota Beef Cow Herd Analysis Program known as CHAPS which correlates our performance data compiled from our farm records. Home | Philosophy | Management | Articles | Sires Breeding Stock For Sale | Stock Wanted | Meat Prices |