For quite a while now we have said we would like to get into a beef breed, but didn’t want to be like everyone else.

We always liked the highlands, ever since the year we got married and saw them at the  Royal Adelaide Show.

Lots of people we know had gone out of dairying and into beef,

mainly into short haired varities, which is fine don’t get me wrong, but we just wanted something different and so Highland’s it was.

I had to be sure of course that semen was available from our AI centre as we didn't want a bull,

contacte AI centre Check, semen available check , lets get some Highl;ands.

Over the past 3 years we had read more and more about them,

looked at breeders websites, and spoke to people but never took the plunge into buying some until now.

At the time of taking this photo the girls had been home only a couple of weeks.

They are settling in well and are quietening down nicely.

But I still kept thinking, it will be a while until we mate them,

maybe I will look for a cow that is either in calf and we can mate now or is already mated.

So I looked at a couple of websites that I had added to my favourites and made a few calls.

We contacted Trevor and Robyn Perry of Mac-Ladanae, went to have a look and left very happy.

We went with the intention of picking up one cow with a calf at foot for now, just something to go on with and keep us busy until later when we mated the young ones, well. Tip no 1 don’t take 10 y.o. little girls cause they are more indecisive that 35 y.o. girls. And then there’s the men, who see one when they walk in and aren’t leaving without it.

So what did we get? Well, we bought 2 cows with calves at foot, which the kids plan to show somewhere this year and don’t really care where it is to be honest as long as they get to show them. And one heifer (to keep Stephen happy!)

This is our brindle cow Catrina od Mac~Ladanae,

not too hapopy cause we took her baby away but she will get there I am sure.

This is the Dun cow Koonunga Storm of Mac~Ladanae,

also not too impressed that her baby is gone.

And the grand prize (According to Stephen) his yellow heifer Lewsey of Mac~Ladanae.

Like I said the calves have settled in great and the kids too.

We have always shown dairy cattle so our children are used to showing calves and cows.

The calf below is out of Catrina . She will be Samuel's.

He has called her "Annie Belle"

We have tied them up ready and training because the kids are determined to have them ready to show.

We picked them up on Wednesday and took these photos on Friday so this in itself shows how docile the nature of these animals are.

They are happy to be walked and fed and loved and patted and so on and so on.

This calf is out of Storm.

She will be Emmeline's, and is called "Dayzee" These photo's were taken on the Sunday after we got them home.

She wasn't spooked at all by the crutches and went straight up for a pat, just another display of their doscile nature.

Emmeline will be on crutches for a few weeks yet, so she will have to trust all of us to train this one for her.

But there's no keeping her away from the cows so she will still try help do what she can so the calf knows who she is I ma sure.