From Show Cow to Homestead Hero: The Story of Hannah the Scottish Highland Cow

Summary

Hi, I’m Carol from Prairie’s Edge Organic Dairy and in this episode of the Small Dairy Podcast, I’m sharing my experience of keeping a Scottish Highland cow as a family or homestead cow. When my cow Daisy was producing five gallons of milk a day and I started selling raw milk, I needed more supply for my customers. Instead of buying another cow, I milked a full-blooded registered Highland cow named Hannah. We pulled her off the pasture along with her calf and brought her to the barn to see how she would milk. Hannah had been a show cow in her younger days and was already halter-broken, so we just slapped a halter on her and started milking her. She did beautifully, giving me about a gallon and a half to two gallons of milk a day, which we shared with her calf.

Hannah was such a smart cow, learning quickly that whoever gets to the barn first gets milked and treated first. I milked her for about six to seven months, until she weaned me and her calf. Her milk tasted delicious, and I highly recommend keeping Highland cows as a family cow. Currently, I don’t milk any full-blooded Highlanders because they don’t work well in our pit parlor. However, I do have Jersey Highland crosses that are dehorned and make great family cows. They don’t produce as much milk as a dairy cow, but they taste just as good with a higher percentage of butterfat. They have a hairy coat, so hair in the milk is a possibility. And if you keep a Highland cow with horns, you need to be comfortable with that.

Highland cows make great mothers and are excellent for fostering or being a nurse cow. They calve easily, and their calves are adorable with their long hair and cute little heads. Overall, I highly recommend keeping a Scottish Highland cow as a family or homestead cow, as long as you’re comfortable with their characteristics.

#HighlanderCows #FamilyCow #OrganicDairy

Timestamps

[00:00:00] Keeping Scottish Highland Cows for Milk Production

[00:05:33] Highlanders: The Perfect Family Cow and Pet