Scottish cattle now a familiar sight in Clinton
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These animals are real, and they have a long and distinguished lineage.
“I had gone to visit my brother near Denver, and his son was in the City of Denver pipe band,” Becky Adams said.
Highland games were taking place nearby, and they went to see him compete with his band. Becky was born a McIntosh.
“We were looking at displays and listening to Scottish singers, and they had a bunch of Scottish animals,” Becky said. “And, the most gorgeous cow and calf we had ever seen.”
Dean and Becky had just bought their farm, located on the south edge of Clinton.
“And, we said, ‘that’s what we want out here,” Becky said.
With a recently-arrived calf, the Adams now have 14 head of Highland cattle.
The Adams recently received The Lee Wolfgang Recognition Award during the Heartland Highland Cattle Association (HHCA) convention. Wolfgang was a founder of the association in 1994. The HHCA was recognized fully by the national association in 1999.
“The award is for promotion and education about the breed,” Becky said.
The Wolfgang award is the highest award given by the HHCA. Wolfgang and his family were some of the first people Dean and Becky met in the association when they began raising Highland cattle. The Wolfgang’s were based in southwest Missouri.
The HHCA is headquartered in Tunas, Mo. The organization is geared toward Highland beef producers, while the American Highland Cattle Association focuses more on farmers producing primarily show cattle.
The first Highland cattle herd book dates to 1885, but they are known to have been traded as early as the 1720s. The breed developed in the Scottish Highlands and Outer Hebrides and are able to tolerate cold nearly as well as arctic-dwelling caribou and reindeer.
