March 2024-June 2024 Highland House guests. I intended to post each month but time got away from me. I’ll try to do better!Highland House Farm Stay has been recognized as in the Top 1% of all AirBnb’s in the US and a Guest Favorite, based on our visitor’s reviews!

Twenty years ago we preserved the hide from a red Highland steer. We wanted to show the difference between a pure Highland and a Highland/ShorthonX.

This hide is from a roan Xbred steer. It took 17 months to complete the tanning, which needed to be sent to Pennsylvania from Vermont. The hair is very soft and the hide is thinner than that of the pure Highland. We are pleased with how it turned out.

The voice on the other end was Peter, aka Farmer Pete as he calls himself, since summering some of our cattle at his beautiful property on the upper side of Berlin Pond for the last half dozen years.

I assumed the worst—had the cattle had gotten out and were gone, had a dog chased them, had one been hit by a car, had Peter gotten hurt while combing one of the animals?

“What’s going on?” I asked with trepidation.

“I like to call these cattle the teddy bears of the farm.” The reason Janet Steward can’t get enough of Scottish Highlands. Watch FarmHer Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET on RFD-TV.

“You pace off the next post while I drive these posts in.”

This morning, we added a new alleyway to ensure all summer paddocks can open into access to shade. Intensive Regenerative Agriculture cell grazing requires a lot of fencing up front, but once the infrastructure is in place, the soil, the cattle, and the soul are all nourished by the high quality and quantity of grass produced.

We never got to find out. Hoping to get away for 24 hours to belatedly celebrate Valentines Day, our March and April birthdays, the Moocall attached to Shat Acres Brandy Brooklyn’s tail beeped a message of increased activity at 2:44 am.

What would you do? Knowing we would not be able to sleep worrying about whether Brooklyn calving or needed any assistance, we threw everything together and rushed to the car for the drive home.

One Month from Today! The Mid-Atlantic Highland Association will hold its online Breeders Sale with AHCA Registered Bulls, Heifers, Cows and Semen available. Shat Acres Cinnamon Tobermory is consigned to this exciting sale. To help Tobey and the other outstanding Highlands find their perfect forever home, register at CowBuyer.com to bid.

The day started with “We don’t have to worry about when Caylea is going to calve. Look out the window.” It was 5:45 am, and a small brown bundle lay curled and wet in the calving pen. Grabbing the iodine and the Vitamin E shot we rushed up to the barn. Scooping up the calf, Ray quickly carried it to the barn with momma Caylea in hot pursuit. Nothing wrong with that calf’s lungs! He blatted loudly and profusely all the way to the barn. Not all of our cows would let her calf be removed and carried to the barn without being aggressive to the baby thief, but Caylea is not your ordinary cow.

Is this what Spring-Cleaning looks like at your place? Highland twin steers Rob and Roy think the tractor bucket is just there to scratch off winter hair.

Rob and Roy are rocking a tractor that weighs over 10,000 lbs. , but are gentle enough to take a baby carrot from your fingers.

“That calf is a real go-getter,” I said as the calf started vigorously nursing on momma.

Rewind for the rest of the story. First, we had to go get the 'go- getter'.

At 6:30 am, while at the computer answering an inquiry about Highland Cattle my cell phone rang. “Get up here quick. There’s a new calf.”

With new calves born 4/3, 4/4, 4/5, 4/7 and 4/10 I told Ray that according to my breeding dates we should have a couple of days (and hopefully nights) without a new arrival.

So much for that.

I know Eve is not due until the 7th but she is usually a bit early, and there is a storm coming,” I said. Ray probably was not thrilled with having to trek down into the pasture and halter Eve, but off we went with comb and halter. I often think of ideas, but it is Ray who actually has to do the work to execute them. Eve was led her up to the barn and closed into a pen with fresh straw. It was 6 pm.

On a Cow/Calf farm the most important product—the only product—is our calf. Contrary to a dairy farm, where milk is the product and the calf a necessary by-product, birthing and raising a healthy calf is what we work for all year. Whether that calf will be sold for breeding stock or food, we breed, feed, and care for our momma cow every day to try to ensure she can successfully birth and raise a healthy offspring. The loss of a calf is devastating--emotionally as well as economically.

Did you ever know someone who seemed a bit shy about coming forward to make your acquaintance? Someone who you thought might like to be friends, but they just didn't seem to know how? Someone truly beautiful, who did not even know just how lovely they were? Who, after you made the first move, seemed so grateful for your attention that you were soon fast and everlasting friends?

The Easter Bonny and Little Percy Rabbit hopping over to wish you Happy Spring!

Shat Acres Bonny Maliah and Shat Acres Cinnamon Perseus are all ears, listening for Big Bunny to show up with a basket of treats--or better yet, a comb!

Saying Good-bye to Gentle Giant #45079

Shat Acres Cinnamon Bear 4/10/07-1/1/20

Friend, Champion, Sire of Champions

Behind every great Calf, there is a great Cow.

And sometimes, behind every great Cow, there is a great Vet.

Some of you might remember reading about Shat Acres Brandy Brooklyn and the life-threatening injury she endured. In October 2020 when Brooklyn was a year old, she got tangled in an electrified speed fence.

Here are some of our recent visitors to Highland House Farm Stay. Baby Bonny is always ready and willing to untie boots while getting loved on. Rob and Roy, our four year old twin steers are always ready to delight and amaze guests by gently taking apple and carrot treats from their hands. Rob and Roy weigh a ton each, with horn spans of 65”.

When my cell phone rings, I am usually working at the computer, answering emails, doing bookkeeping, paying bills, or some other sedimentary and unexciting but necessary farm tasks. When Ray asks if I will come to the barn, I never know what I will find. I grudgingly leave what I know I have to do but am always glad that I did. Getting out into the fresh air--no matter how cold or nasty--making the trek up to the barn and being with the Highlands, reminds me why I do what I have to do to keep our farm sustainable.

Have you ever been to Branson, MO?

Ray and I will be flown to Branson as the presenters at the Heartland Highland Cattle Association annual meeting. We are so honored to have been invited and will be speaking to attendees about two important farming topics.

The snow-covered Highlands shows how well their double layer of hair insulates their bodies, keeping them warm and toasty inside. Although it might look like they are cold, the snow does not melt on their bodies because body heat is not being lost. Highlands need this double layer of hair to hold the heat in, with the only area of heat loss the bare skin on their nose. Highlands are unique among bovines, tolerating extreme weather due to this double layer of hair.