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Post by NellyDee on Jul 5, 2016 16:24:48 GMT
These cattle were on seen on the Cowal Peninsular. Been through Breeds of cattle site and cannot find them. Initially I thought they were Highlanders, which I adore, but then realised they do not have horns. I would hate to think this was a herd of Highlanders that had had their horns removed.
 Cattle by Helen Skelton, on Flickr
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Post by alf1951 on Jul 5, 2016 17:47:13 GMT
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Post by shirl100 on Jul 5, 2016 17:56:29 GMT
I know nothing about cattle but could they be young Highland and the horns just haven't grown yet - I don't know when horns do start to grow but we have some lovely Highland near us and the young ones don't have horns yet. Added - I did find an advert from someone wanting some Highland yearling bullocks - de horned so you might be right. Also here is an article about why it's done www.bairnsley.com/Dehorning%20Highlands.htm |
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Post by NellyDee on Jul 6, 2016 8:26:42 GMT
Thanks Shirl, interesting I did not know that. I found a lot of the comment on your link Alf not so good. There are lots of Highlanders around here and a very large herd that I drive past/through once a week when going shopping. I take my hat off to the farmer as they are so well looked after. I have always found Highlanders to be very docile, when walking the hills or in this case driving through the herd, in fact last week there were two mums feeding their young in the middle of the road, the rest of the herd milling around. We waited a good 20 minutes, then Daughter got out the car and went up and asked them to move, after looking at her for a bit it was almost "oh aright then" and they move, just enough to let the car through.
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Post by Cotham Marble on Jul 7, 2016 9:18:06 GMT
There are several UK breeds that do not grow horns (term is 'polled'), presumably as a result of selective breeding. I couldn't recognise one from the other so can't give you a certain ID but there are several Scottish breeds including Galloways and Belted Galloways that have thickish coatsand no horns. So it's possible the animals in your photo may not have been dehorned. Horns are a cost to an animal and it wouldn't be surprising if cattle living in harder climates where nutrients were limited and predator threat lower, and where demonstrable mate competition was expensive, had evolved to do without horns.
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