- From Scotland
- Lesley Lacey
- For the last 40years I have been running
the Horncarver's business, with my husband John, on the north
shores of Loch Tay. Nestled at the foot of Highland Perthshire's
highest mountain, Ben Lawers ( Beinn-Latha-ur ).
In 1993 it was decided to establish a highland fold here, to
compliment the business, and so the Beinn-Latha-ur fold came
to be! Our foundation cows selected for highland character,breeding
and breediness, an AI programme was implemented, using the best
bulls available.
Success soon followed in the showring, and at Society sales at
Oban, a highlight being Male champion with an AI son of MacDohmnull
of Douneside in 2003, a first in our era!
I have been on the Society panel of judges for 3 years, and have
judged quite a number of shows , so it is a great honour to be
invited to be a judge of this years Virtual Show. I look forward
to seeing photos from around the world of our wonderful breed!
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- From the USA
- Pat White
- I wasn't born into a farming family and
I came to appreciate cattle, and Highland cattle in particular,
at the relatively ripe old age of 26, when we purchased our first
two registered heifer calves. At this point I was 3 years out
of veterinary college, having successfully avoided virtually
every cattle rotation that wasn't a requirement for graduation,
and I was practicing exclusively small animal medicine and surgery
(which I continue to this day) My husband Larry and I decided
to add some cattle to the pasture that was already feeding 6
horses. An accidental exposure to Highland cattle had sent us
on a 2 year trip of exploration around the US, looking at the
breed and talking to the breeders before we finally made the
life altering purchase of those first two. It was another 3 years
before we finally had our first calf on the ground. Most of the
horses were gone at that point as I became more and more enamored
with the cattle and the herd has since grew exponentially.
Thirty four years later, LEA-White Farms runs between 45-60 brood
cows, calve both in the spring and fall, and most importantly,
continue to enjoy raising the cattle and showing the cattle (as
long as I can get talented young people to do all the work; my
expertise at the end of a halter is pretty limited). Larry and
I do essentially all the work on the farm ourselves. We grow
our own hay and put it up as either dry hay or haylage. Other
than our mineral mix and the small amounts of corn and molasses
fed to the weanlings, everything else our cows consume is grown
on the farm. This past summer we had the privilege of hosting
a young woman from Sweden at our farm for 5 months and she did
all the halter-breaking of heifers for us. I discovered that
I really like it when someone else does all the work and does
a much better job than me. Kudos to Caroline!!!!
Both Larry and I have been active participants in both our national
and regional Highland Cattle associations since the late 1980's.
I have written articles on a regular basis for our AHCA quarterly
publication, the Bagpipe. These are usually well-received and
the most moving part of being associated with these cattle has
been the comments and thanks I have received from breeders (not
limited to Highlands), from all over the world, who have read
my articles and written to me in appreciation. I act as the webmaster
for our farm websites and our regional Highland association website
as well.
I don't consider myself a cattle judge, but I certainly judge
my own cattle and I know what I personally like and don't like.
It is an honor to be asked to judge the Virtual Show this year
and I look forward to it.
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