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Powell teen raises petite cattlePOWELL, Wyo. (AP)--An eye for unusual animals led Hannah Hogan to build her own herd of Scottish Highland cattle. She has come to appreciate the animals, which she says are well suited for northern Wyoming. "They do well in harsh climates," she said of the shaggy, smallish cattle. Even the females sport a hefty set of horns, but she said they belie the animals' docile nature. And the cattle yield a tasty beef that is naturally lean with less cholesterol and fat than other types of beef, she said. The meat is well-marbled. A thick, shaggy coat insulates a Scottish Highland, so no thick layer of fat forms beneath the skin. Hannah's mother, Kim Feathers, said a Scottish study showed the meat was high in protein and iron. Hogan, 15, started her Scottish Highland herd in January, purchasing a bred heifer, Gracie, from a producer in western Montana. She showed that cow at the fair, and is now boarding her at the JK3 Star Ranch in Lavina, Mont., to rebreed her. Kelly and Jodeen Duryea, the ranch's owners, want to help young people get started in the Scottish Highland business and have helped her with the breeding process, she said. The cattle are known for producing smaller calves with few calving problems, she said. Highlands are "slow growers." She expects a steer she already has to finish at around 900 pounds. Hogan also owns several cattle of a line that originated when she received a bred Angus heifer through a Farm Bureau Federation program. Feathers said such programs are important for teenagers who otherwise may have little chance of starting a production ag program. "It's hard to get started in ag," Feathers said, without a large cash infusion. The Farm Bureau heifer led to an adventure. The heifer delivered its calf as expected, a few months after she received it. Then, 36 days later, a second newborn calf appeared. "It's still a mystery," Feathers said of its arrival. It turned up on a stormy night when the rest of the farm was snow-covered. They found the calf in a bloody, manure-soaked spot in the snow with no footprints around it to indicate it had been abandoned there by another cow. The nearest cows were a half-mile away, Feathers said. To deepen the mystery, genetic tests showed the calf was not related to Hogan's heifer, but also indicated that the heifer was not related to the cattle she was supposedly descended from. Hogan bottle-fed the mystery calf for a time, but her heifer eventually accepted it with her own and fed them both. "So Hannah learned a lot from the (Farm Bureau) program," Feathers said, laughing, including how to raise "twins." Hogan also has a Highland-Shorthorn mix she hopes will make weight so she can sell it at the fair. She hopes to "continue and increase the herd" as a step to an ag career. Scottish Highlands are fed differently than other breeds to finish them for slaughtering, she said. The rule of thumb is to begin finishing about 100 days before slaughter but they need "so much less grain" and are traditionally a grass-fed breed. The breed has a long history in Scotland, where Angus cattle also originated, and Britain. They are valued there for their hardiness and their meat, Hogan said. Britain's royal family keeps a meat-producing herd. Hogan's family enjoys the Scottish Highland meat. "It tasted really good," she said. "The butcher said it was the best meat he'd ever seen." 10/27/08 Date: 10/21/08
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