Highland Cattle
Where tradition, our heritage, and passion come together
A love formed while exploring our heritage in the Highlands of Scotland…
When Tom and Lizzie went to spend a few weeks exploring their ancestral heritage in Scotland back in 2017, they fell in love with the docile “hairy coos” that dotted the raw and majestic pastures of the Highlands. Their stoic posture, calm and friendly demeanors, shaggy hair, variety of colors, and history immediately drew Tom and Lizzie in.
Fast forward to 2023, when they began to restore the farm and envision what livestock they wanted to dot their own open pastures nestled in Vermont’s Highlands, they knew that this ancient breed was just the right addition. Highland cows are rugged, resilient, and have been bred for centuries to adapt to and handle the dramatic, harsh weather patterns of northern Vermont. In fact, Highland cattle are the oldest registered breed, dating back to the 6th Century. Their temperaments and the joy that they bring were an added bonus.
All that being said, Tom and Lizzie didn’t know the first thing about raising livestock. Neither had any farming experience, just a desire to learn and a passion to bring these animals to their corner of the NEK.
After doing some research, they connected with Janet and Ray Shatney of Shat Acres, in Plainville, VT. They have the oldest and largest fold of Highland cattle in the United States. The Wemyss family went to stay at their farm for a long weekend, immersing themselves in the experience of raising Highland cattle and absorbing as much information as possible from Janet and Ray.
The Shatneys became invaluable mentors, friends, and resources for Tom and Lizzie, and helped usher them into their journey as farmers.
About our fold…
We currently have a fold of 20 cattle that consist of:
our registered Highland bull, Alastair
our cows: Aoife, Aila (HHCA registered), Katherine, Ember, Roisin, and Enid
our heifers: Maeve, Lola, Celia, Clare, Fern, Maggie, Brigid
our steers: Rowan, Eoin
our 2025 calves: Hugh, Dougal, Lachlan, Seamus
Our cattle live on 20 acres of expansive, open pasture with access to high quality hay utilizing rotational grazing practices. We believe in providing our cattle with long, stress-free, happy lives filled with love, care, and respect. We interact with them daily through brushing, talking to them, giving head scratches, and fig, apple or alfalfa treats. We’ve come to know and love each of their own unique personalities and demeanors.
Our Breeding Stock
We breed our cows that are of age through natural service with our registered Highland Bull, Alastair. We had a great 2025 calving season with our cows: Aoife, Aila, Katherine, and Ember.
Alastair is black and the cows range in coloring from red to yellow. Their demeanors are sweet, docile, and friendly. This should result in some beautiful calves!
All of our calves will be halter trained, chute and head gate trained, used to being handled by and interacting with humans, and fully-weaned before they are ready to join new homes when they are about 8-9 months old.
Due to the amount of care, love, and attention that we pour into our animals, we have a simple but thorough application process for those who wish to purchase a calf.
NOTE: We will be preparing our current bull calves for weaning in the next few months and they will be available to join your farm as either a bull or a steer.
Our Meat
Highland beef is some of the tastiest, healthiest beef on the market. They are slow growers, taking a long time to grow to size (about 3 years as opposed to 14-15 months with typical beef). In that time, the meat becomes deliciously marbled and tender in taste due to the open pasture grazing and low stress environment. It also happens to be beef that is the lowest in fat and cholesterol but high in protein and iron.
We believe in treating our cows with the utmost reverence, care, and respect knowing that some of their lives will be returned to us in the form of nourishment. We believe that the energy and love we pour into our animals impacts the quality of the beef just as much as the hay they consume and the pasture they graze in.
Our beef is respectfully processed on-farm, reducing stress levels of the animal at time of processing. When stress levels are low in cattle, particularly at time of processing, it results in not only higher animal welfare but also higher quality of meat. The meat is then taken to a separate facility to be professionally butchered and packaged according to the customer’s cut preferences.
While our Highland program is predominantly focused on building healthy breeding stock, there is a natural cycle in which some of our well-loved and well-treated cattle will join our meat program. We are currently filling our waitlist for quarter or half cow shares for when that moment arises. You might have to be a bit patient, but we promise it will be worth the wait.