High demand for x Highland heifers
The original hill cow
United Auctions held their annual Autum sale of breeding cattle at the Oban Agricultural Centre on Tuesday 22 October.
The outstanding feature of the event was the unprecedented demand for first cross Highland heifer calves which saw buyers from Wales and the Isle of Skye competing with several local hill farmers to secure the best lots.
The annual consignment from Castles Estate at Dalmally topped the Cross Highland section with a pen of three outstanding, well coloured, seven-month-old calves weighing in at 275kg selling for £980. This was followed by three good red calves weighing 205kg and selling for £880.
Calves from the well-known Achnacloich fold met with a similar demand selling to a top of £920 for four seven-month-old roan calves weighing 191kg followed by a pen of three 199kg selling for £900.
The calves from Conaglen Estates in Ardgour always meet with a strong demand. Topping their consignment was a pen of four strong red calves weighting 223kg and selling for £900 followed by a pair of nice roan calves weighing in at 236kg and selling for £880.
When you consider the fact that all the aforementioned calves came of hill grazing and received little or no supplementary feeding prior to the sale is a credit to those stockmen in charge, whilst at the same time highlighting the true commercial attributes of the Highland cow.
Throughout the day a similar high demand was met for well-bred bulling X Highland bulling heifers which saw heifers from Donald MacGillivray’s Pennygown Farm on Mull selling for £1,420 and a similar consignment from Scott Brown, Woodhead selling at £1,440.
When I spoke to some of the buyers as to why they still chose, what I term as ‘the original hill cow’, their answer was longevity, temperament and the ability to be maintained at minimal cost. The only complaint was they were looking for more calves of a similar high quality.
Angus R Mackay
