Scottish Highland Cattle

In 1997 we purchased Celidith (pronounced ‘Cayley’!) a registered blue dunn cow, from Homewood Farm.	Above is her daughter from 1997, Iona, a lovely black heifer, also from Homewood Farm.

This is her latest daughter, Lilly of Perigord a beautiful red heifer.

Annie's son, Babe, a blond bull calf is our local espace artist. In fact he tasted all the goodies from the garden before anyone of us had the chance!

We wish Angus, father of Babe, the very best at his new home.

Exciting News! our Blue Dunn cow, Mayfield Ceilidth has been artificially insemenated! We are VERY proud to have used semen from the magnificent white bull Drover Hill Exclusive! This is our first AI attempt so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Good Luck Caley!

Getting started in Highlands:

It all began for me (Luke) in sixth grade. A classmate told me about a long haired cow he had seen a picture of. I couldn't believe that such an animal existed. Finally he brought the picture in. I was amazed and fell in love with these majestic cattle.

Well that was many long years ago. I filed that memory somewhere, but never lost it. Just about four years ago we purchased our first house. I think most people are excited with their first home, but I looked at our 2 and a half acres of pasture and saw animal oppertunity! I could finally get some of the animals I had always wanted. We had been raising quail for our freezer for a few years. It seemed an easy transition to buy a couple sheep to raise our own lamb. In our search for sheep we came across a neighbor who managed a livestock warehouse. Fortunately we didn't buy sheep from such a place, but he told us that if we were looking he often came across almost anything we could want. I remembered the highland cattle in the pictures of my childhood. He said he didn't see many, but a few each year came through. It must be remembered at this time just how naïve we were about livestock warehouses.

About a month later he called telling me he had two red highland heifers. They need "fattening up but were vet checked and healthy". So into our lives walked Annie (named for a friend from Glascow) and Flossie. I recently looked at picture of these two when they first arrived, and I gasped. It is truly criminal to let any animal get to such poor condition. But then, these were my first cows and we didn't know just how bad off they were. But we got lucky, with lots of food and regular worming they responded wonderfully. Annie was always gentle and friendly, even outgoing. Flossie was also friendly but more headstrong. There was and still is a wonderful thrill I feel looking out and seeing beautiful highland cattle in my fields.

Sometime later my dentist told me he had highlands and his red cow had a black bull calf. A black highland! An idea I had never considered. But at the time he was keeping the calf. So back I went to the neighbor who ran the warehouse. It was less than a month when he called he had almost twenty highland calves, including black, dunn and red. I went down and picked out a handsome black bull calf. We dubbed him Angus. He did not have Annie's sweetness, but was a gentleman.

A year and a half later we moved to a 25 acre farm in New Hampshire. We got more sheep. We got a beautiful Jersey cow. We got goats and are now making some fine cheeses. The cattle were growing into a very picturesque group. I was sad that they could never be registered, I was not even able to find out where they came from.

One day while looking through a Dept. of Agriculture bulletin I saw an add for A "blue dunn" highland cow with a black heifer calf at her side. Already in love more than ever with highlands, I was very intrigued. After a very nice conversation with Lorry Brian, of Homewood Farm we bought our first registered highlands; Mayfield Celidith and her beautiful daughter Homewood Iona.

We joined the NECHA and the American Highland Association. We went to the NECHA show and sale in 1997 at the big E in Springfield Mass. I literally had to sit on my hands during the auction. There were so many beautiful animals!

This spring brought our first calves. This was a wonderful exciting time. Two red bull calves and one fantastic red heifer (out of Celidith of course). After re-checking thedates carefully it turned out that "Lily" Ceilidth's calf was sired by the Brian's bull Roseacre Keddy. It was a happy day sending in her registration application. We quickly came to the conclusion that we had too many cattle and too little grass. We had to sell some animals. I really wanted to end up with a completely registered herd. These guys were just too beautiful and good natured to send to beef. I was very surprised how many people called offering great pet homes for our bull and cows. We sold Angus and Annie to the best of pet homes. I am happy to see them go to such a fine home, but it was a sad day for me nonetheless. A few weeks later Flossie and her calf also went to a great pet home. We now have three registered highlands. We are planning a move to California in a couple years and pasture for these girls is the foremost consideration. Yes we will bring them across the country. When we are settled there I hope to get a registered bull and maybe one more cow.

After our first introduction to highland cattle we have never looked back. They are a constant source of joy, beauty and pride. Someday I would like to get into showing, but I have no experience with real training or showing. But we will see!

We'd have a hundred if we had more land - that is to say pasture.