Highland cattle come from the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles, where they're known as "Hielan' coos." They're often called the world's oldest registered cattle breed, and the Highland Cattle Society, founded in 1884, keeps the breed's herd book. Centuries of cold weather, poor forage, rough terrain, and long mountain winters shaped them, along with a calm, steady temperament.
Our Highland herd is the foundation of our grazing system. They lead the rotation, clear the tall, tough growth the other animals won't eat, and handle our coldest winters without elaborate shelter.
What Makes Highland Cattle Different?
A few traits set Highlands apart:
Browse Capacity
Calving Ease
Hardiness
How Highlands Lead Our Rotation
Our Highlands go first. They graze a paddock for 2 to 5 days, eating the longest, oldest, toughest forage, the growth they're built for and the other animals avoid.
Then the others follow:
- Sheep follow 3 to 5 days later, trimming new growth and disrupting parasite cycles.
- Hens follow the ruminants in mobile coops, scratching apart manure pats and eating fly larvae.
- Pigs go last, and only into paddocks that need their rooting work.
Then the paddock rests, usually 50 to 75 days, and longer in slow-growing seasons, so it can fully recover before any animals return. That rest is what lets the rotation build soil, deepen roots, increase plant diversity, and keep the animals healthy without routine antibiotics.
Welfare and Certifications
Every Highland at Teaberry is raised in accordance with our farm's 3 certifications:
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Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World
Continuous outdoor access, pasture plan, humane handling, specific lambing and space minimums, audited annually.
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USDA Organic
No synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers in the feed system or on pastures. No routine antibiotics or hormones.
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Regenerative Organic Certified®
Standards for soil health, animal welfare (including the Five Freedoms), and social fairness, audited every year.
We don't sell Highland beef, and our Highlands aren't for sale right now. The rest of the grazing sequence depends on them. We will offer live Highlands from our herd in the future, so sign up for Field Notes to hear first.
Calm Temperament, Daily Handling
A note for visitors and anyone thinking about raising Highlands: their calm temperament is one of the breed's best traits, and it has to be kept up. Regular human contact, low-stress handling, and steady routines keep Highlands calm. Rough handling can make them as difficult as any breed.
We hand-walk our herd, halter-train heifers and calves, and use low-stress handling for every daily and seasonal task. That gives us a herd we can move, sort, doctor, and work with up close, which is safer for the cattle and for the people caring for them.
