The breed comes from the northwest of Scotland and the Hebrides, where it has developed the characteristics attributed to it through natural selection over the centuries - the small and relatively light Highland cattle are considered good-natured, robust and long-lived, they are suitable for year-round outdoor farming even on soils unsuitable for heavy cattle (suckler cow farming), calves easily and a lot, even without human help. They produce medium-creamy milk and low-cholesterol meat.
Originally there were two breeds, the normally black and slightly smaller Kyloe, which lived on the islands of northwest Scotland, and a more reddish and slightly larger breed from the remote Highlands. Through breeding, both breeds became one and acquired the red-brown color that is predominant today. The official names for the color spectrum of the long-haired coat are: red, yellow and black and - less frequently - brindle, gray-brown (dun) and white.
The long and very symmetrical horns are usually shaped differently depending on the sex. In bulls, they typically have a strong, horizontally curved forward shape. In cows, the horns are usually significantly longer and curved upwards.
The breed is particularly suitable for extensive pasture management and is often used in grazing projects. When handling the animals, respect for the long horns is required. "Leadability" on the halter must be trained and maintained, as must driving in pens.
Today, the breed is bred in many countries around the world. The first Highland cattle were imported to Germany in 1975, and they have been used in the United States since the end of the 19th century.
So-called small Highlands arise either deliberately from selective breeding or as a by-product of covering too early or very poor feed, as a comparison with breeding on the Hebrides and historical documents show.