Almost £1,000 was raised at a charity auction held as part of an open day to stimulate interest in Highland Cattle.
The cash will be shared by Maggie’s, the cancer care centre in Inverness, and the North of Scotland Highland Cattle Club, which organised Saturday’s event.
Club spokesman Gordon McConachie said the day had been successful, drawing upwards of 130 visitors to Dingwall and Highland Marts’ headquarters at Humberston, Dingwall.
“There were some non-Highland Cattle folk there, but whether we have persuaded them has yet to be seen,” he said.
There were 40 Highlanders on display. These included yearlings, two- and three-year-olds and cows with pure calves and cross calves at foot. Highland cows with Salers cross calves at foot, as well as a cross Highlander with a Limousin-sired bull calf, attracted some keen interest.
There were dehorned yearling steers and heifers on show to highlight the attributes of the breed as a commercial beast. Also on display were pure steers and Shorthorn cross Highland steers.
Talks were a feature of the day. Speyside vet Andrew Rafferty went over what he looked for when he inspected Highland bulls.
Mark Blakey, a cattle buyer with meat processor Dovecot Park, encouraged Highland breeders to be more commercial in their outlook, especially with bull calves. These had the potential to deliver cash to a fold if they were castrated and then finished as a steer instead of hoping every one of them could be sold as a pedigree bull.
Mr Blakey said that, by feeding the steers, breeders could make £1,000 a head when they reached 30 months old and ready for slaughter. He has just bought Dovecot Park’s annual consignment of 400 Highland steers, all of which are being finished on a set diet for retailer Waitrose. Their beef will be sold in its stores over the festive season.
Mr McConachie and his father, Jim, who run the Culfoich fold of Highlanders at Culfoichmore, near Grantown, select out poorer bulls and finish them for beef. They are fed silage through their first winter and then receive feed during the second. Over the last six weeks, they are fed a finishing diet so they grade better at slaughter.
Mr McConachie said breeders were often at fault themselves for poor-doing beasts by not feeding them. “They think they can grow on nothing and then wonder why, when they are two years old, they’re not at 300kg,” he said. “Yes, Highlanders are cheap to keep, but with a wee bit of feed they can be finished commercially.”
Stewart Hendry, of Forestry Commission Scotland, spoke about the organisation’s Highland fold and how the animals in it were used for conservation purposes through helping stimulate woodland and wild plant development just through their trampling over the ground.
There was also a carcase-cutting display by Aberfoyle butcher Jonathan Honeyman. He showed how those in those in his profession could add considerable value to a side of Highland Cattle beef.