The extreme climate of the western Highlands and Islands of Scotland mean the Highland breed is exceptionally hardy, with a short stocky frame, double coat and the ability to thrive under the harsh environmental conditions and on the low forage quality of the Scottish Highlands.
The heavy double coat, important for insulating against the climate, results in Highland cattle producing less subcutaneous but more intramuscular fat. This results in more even fat distribution through the muscle and marbling in the meat, even on low input forage.
Highland beef takes time, and over this time, it develops a tremendous amount of flavour that can never be matched by commercial beef, which is from cattle who are typically butchered at less than half this age, and after having spent several weeks or months in confinement in a feedlot being fed a grain-rich diet.
We are committed to animal welfare and believe that a more natural, stress-free environment provides our cattle with the best quality life. This means our Highlands are 100% pasture raised on grass and forage, providing plenty of feed variety and lots of exercise which further enhances flavour and has been shown to produce healthier beef.
A 1997 study conducted on Guaranteed Pure Highland Beef by the Scottish Agricultural College found that Highland beef was lower in fat and cholesterol than other beef tested (1). Research also suggests that there are additional nutritional benefits to pasture raised beef.
Providing access to forage is essential for promoting more beneficial fatty acid profiles, with pasture-raised/grass fed beef having much higher percentages of total omega-3 and long chain fatty acids (EPA & DHA) compared to conventional beef (2, 3). Omega-3 fatty acids are associated with several health benefits, such as the prevention of heart disease and stroke (3).
Highlands produce more than just exceptional beef, and in the interest of carcass utilisation, the hide can be turned into an exquisite rug while the horns are used to manufacture several traditional objects.
- McCance, Robert Alexander; Widdowson, Elsie M. (Elsie May); Holland, B; Paul, A. A. McCance and Widdowson’s The composition of foods; Great Britain. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Royal Society of Chemistry
- Davis, H., Magistrali, A., Butler, G., & Stergiadis, S. (2022). Nutritional Benefits from Fatty Acids in Organic and Grass-Fed Beef. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 11(5), 646. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11050646
- Daley, C. A., Abbott, A., Doyle, P. S., Nader, G. A., & Larson, S. (2010). A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef. Nutrition journal, 9, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-9-10
“There was, however, one steak that I could not get out of my head: that red slice of Scottish loin from the bank of the river Earn, barely marbled, silky even when raw, its fat the colour of butter. Angus Mackay’s Highland rib eye was the most flavourful steak I’d ever eaten. It was also the juiciest steak I’d ever eaten, and the tenderest, too”.
Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef
“It’s meat that tastes like the moors: lush and rocky and peppered with wild heather.”
Savour Magazine
“Angus MacKay’s rib eye – a life changing steak”.
Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef
