Time seemed to be running out for the most traditional of European beef breeds – Longhorns, Highlanders and Galloways – until robust, rough grazers were needed for landscape maintenance and conservation. What’s more, the meat they produce is still some of the tastiest in the world
by NORMAN DUNN
Maybe Highland cattle can’t really be termed a threatened breed, with purebred numbers nowadays well over 35,000 and rising. But there was a time, just a few decades ago, when many thought the picturesque long-haired beasts wouldn’t make it into the 21st century, outside a zoo at any rate.