Page # ###.##._#--., .,--- --.-- BREEDING THE SCOTCH HIGHLAND CATTLE LESTER AND LINDA THOMPSON OF WEATHERHILL FARM Written by June Grayson Photographed by Richard Grayson Weatherhi!l Farm, Rice Lake, Wisconsin, is a !ong way from Balmoral Cast!e, Braemar, Scot!and. But when Lester and Linda Thompson !ook out of the windows of their Wisconsin farm home their view is very simi!ar to what Queen E!izabeth sees from the windows of her summer home in Scot!and - a herd of Scotch High!and catt!e grazing on the surrounding hi!!s. The British Roya! fami!y, reported!y, keeps a !arge herd of High|and catt!e at Ba1mora! and even f!ies some tasty cuts of beef to the Queen when she trave!s outside of the British Is!es. High!and beef commands premium prices as the finest beef avai!able in England and Scot1and. The Thompson fami!y hasn't trave!ed much yet and their herd is rather smal! - on!y 12 cows, one bu!!, and severa! new-born , -"., ###= . calves. But they produce enough breeding stock to upgrade their own herd and they sell to other breeders. And they s!aughter enough catt!e yearly to stock their ### freezer and those of their Rice Lake neighbors who have !earned of the virtues of the Highland cattle. But you don't need to be Scotch to appreciate the High!and breed. Indeed, Dr. Thompson is a Danish farm boy from South Dakota. He graduated from Augustana Co!!ege, Rock Is1and, I!!inois, and the University of Chicago Schoo! of-Medicine. He spent two years in the Public Hea!th Service on a Navajo Indian reservation and comp!eted a two-year residency in Fami!y Practice at Denver Genera!, the University of Co!orado. For the !ast thirteen years he has been a specia!ist in Fami!y Practice at the Indianhead Medica! Group of Rice Lake. "I didn't decide to become a doctor unti! I majored.in chemistry and bio!ogy in co!!ege. But sc!ence seemed so impersona!. Entering medicine seemed to me to be a way to adapt science to humane goa!s," exp!ains Dr. Thompson. "That is a!so why I went into fami!y practice - so that I cou!d dea! most direct!y with peop!e in my work." Newspapers are fu!! of the detai!s of the American farmers' flight from the farms. But Dr. Thompson and his fami!y i!!ustrate another trend: the back-to-the-sma!!-farm movement for wholesome fami!y life and a side!ine business. When the#bought the forty acres a few mi!es northwest of Rice Lake and on!y ten minutes from Dr. Thompson's office, there were no bui!dings on it. First they bui!t their new home GEL, SHC, page 3 and decorated it with the Amish signs from Linda's chi!dhood home near Gettysburg, Pa. The barns came next. They bought one piece of farm machinery at a time - the tractor, p!anters, haywagon, and manure spreader - to raise their own corn, oats, buckwheat, rye, and hay. The Thompsons didn't p!an to raise Scotch High1and catt!e unti! they saw an artic!e about the exotic breed in the April, 1982, issue of Blair and Ketchum's COUNTRY JOURNAL. "We thought if we were going to have catt!e coming over the top of our hil!s, they might as we!! be interesting-!ooking ones," exp!ains Dr. Thompson. High!and catt!e are "interesting-!ooking", a!! right. You might even describe them as cute and cudd!y. They resemb!e their re!atives, the bison, yak, and musk ox, seen in zoos'more than they do the common American commercia! catt!e breeds. Historians theorize that the ancestors of the Scotch Highland originated in centra! Asia, trave1ed northward from Tibet to the B!ack Sea, and then across ancient trade routes in island-hopping to northern Scot!and. Centuries of unremitting environmenta! pressures purified this isolated breed in the harsh c1imate of the North At!antic. Only the most efficient browsers survived on the sparse forage. On!y the most vigorous mothers bred and produced the next generation. The High!ands are not on!y the o!dest known pure breed of cattle but also the o!dest registered breed, the first herd GEL, SHC, page 4 book being estab!ished in Scot1and in 1884. American cattlemen imported the High1ands extensive!y in the Nineteenth century to improve the b!ood!ines of the American catt!e industry. The American Scotch High!and Breeders' Association was formed on August 30, 1987. Its purposes are to co1!ect, verify, preserve, and pub!ish pedigrees as we!! as to promote interest in the breed. The Thompsons started with one bu!! and four heifers. All of their catt!e are pedigreed and registered stock. Dr. Thompson says, "Highlands do very we!! in northwestern Wisconsin. They don't need she!ter un!ess the weather gets very bad and then they can come into the barns." Still, stories abound of how High!ands endure and even thrive outside in the terrible northern b!izzards whi!e catt!e of other breeds wi!l perish. Their doub!e shaggy coat provides exce!!ent insu!ation. Because of this outside insulation, Scotch High!and beef is meat that is !ean, we!! marb!ed, and f!avorfu!, with !itt!e outside waste fat - and !ow cho!estero! content. It had to happen. Lite beer, !ite chips, and now !ite beef! "Since our herd roams free in the pastures it wou!d be hard to te!! when the cows come into heat. That is why we keep a bu!!. High!ands do it a!! themse!ves, breed readi!y and calve easi!y. The cows are devoted and protective mothers," exp!ains Dr. Thompson. "You shou!d on!y go into the catt!e business if you GEL, SHC, paqe # enjoy it personally," Dr. Thompson thinks. "Even though we do a!! of the work ourse!ves, so far we have !ost money. Yet you have to expect that if you start with registered anima!s and bui!d up your own herd. From now on, we should show a year!y profit. But you can never make enough to live on with on!y 40 acres." Besides the catt!e, Weatherhi!! Farm boasts of three Thompson sons (#evin, 13, Ricky 10, and Jesse, 7), 27 chickens, one horse, one rabbit, severa! ring-necked doves, two cats, and two dogs. "We think this is a good life for our sons. They a!! have their responsibi!ities," Dr. Thompson says. "Kevin even shows our catt!e at the county fair." "Raising catt!e does tie you down," continues Dr. Thompson. This may interfere with p!ans for future fami!y travel. In fact, Dr. Thompson wou!d !ike to vo!unteer for short-term medi- #ca! mission work if he can arrange it. Just so they can a!ways return to Weatherhi!! Farm. ####### #age #. Sidebar #1 HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BEEF JERKY Beef jerky can be found in the ubiquitous p!astic packages at a!! the check-out counters. HOmemade beef jerky sustained the American pioneers and the mining prospectors as they conquered the Wild West. The jerky was easy to carry and supplied concentrated food va!ue. Now it is a hot export item from the United States to the Oriental countries where it is considered a de!icacy and where bee# is Scarce and expensive. T#m"##!#####:#om#anheei0s#k#csko;b#ske; Cu:len#:h#i.ewi:h#::,in in:#l#n#:hin#,ip#.no mo,e:han #.i"ch:hick #on:hin.#cupso,s##ca wi:hi# ;#sspoonEA#11##,11c;s1;snul.m#np'pp',1'oa,o,e,b..f#,ip.sad;o.sua;11#c11 cos;ed P1ac# wi,",sck#"bakln#.###i #.,#"*##,ip.o#,sck;o;..c1,.b"'""' ove:lsp.8#k#1n a v#,y.1o#ov##(!#0#:n 1?##)ove;ai#1;;.10;o12 h#u,# S;;;,c #ni.heJj#.kya::oom:empe,#:u,einai::i#h:c.,n:aine,l;all#:hashee,,,en#."eJ b#efjc:ky #illkeepind##ni:ely. 1 # ... #.Nei!Hulbert is a breeder of Sco#h |!igh!and catt!e from Auburn, Ca!ifornia. This is his recipe reprinted from THE BAGPIPE, the official journal of the AMerican Scotch High!and Breeders' Association. I ca!!ed him today (6-13-87) and #ot his verba! permission to use the recipe if we give him attribution!! Page / SIDEBAR #2 For more information about Scotch High!and catt!e, check out the exhibitions of "exotic" catt!e breeds at your !oca! county or state fair this summer. Or attend this year's 1987 Nationa! Show and Meeting in B!oomsber#, PA, October 16-19, 1987. There wi!! be continuing education courses throughout the four days. The show and sa!e wi!l be he1d on Saturday, October 17th, from 2-5 pm. For further information, contact: Hugh Wi!son, President, Northeast Scotch Highland Breeder's Association, RR 3, Box 181 A, Sunbury, Pa. 17801. To subscribe to THE BAGPIPE, the offic!a! pub!ication of the Scotch High!and Breeders Association, write to F. Hogate, POB 81, Remer, MN 56672. If any "Scottish Games" are he!d in your area, they may a!so incorporate a show of the Scotch High!and catt!e. Three Scottish Games are schedu!ed this summer in Co!orado, for instance, and a!! wi!! inc!ude a show of High!and catt!e. For further information, write Jim Durward, Scottish High!and Fest, Estes Park, Co!orado 80517. Scheduled for September 11, 12, 13, 1987. ##### . .. . SIDEBAR #3, COUNTRY TERMS FOR THE CITY BRED According to the Enclyclopedia Britannica: A ma!e is first a bu!l ca!f and if !eft intact becomes a bu1!. If castrated, he becomes a steer, and in about two or three years g###s into an ox. The female is first a heifer ca!f, growing into a heifer, and then becomes a cow.