BEEF MONTH: Adair County teen falls in love with Highlands

A shaggy forelock, sweeping horns and a woolly coat make a Highland calf hard to miss in a fair barn filled with more familiar show cattle.

Jovie Denney and her grandmother, Gina Denney of Adair, own a breed of cattle most people recognize but do not often see on area show circuits or at county fairs.

In 2020, the Denneys began seeing photos of Highland cattle on social media. Both thought the animals were cute and wanted to learn more. Their search led them to a breeder in the Panora area, who helped them find a Highland bottle calf.

“It worked out good because I was hoping to show a bottle calf that year. He had another older bull calf and a heifer calf he had just weaned that he sent along as companions for my bottle calf,” said Jovie Denney, an Earlham High School student who lives outside Dexter. “I named him Bear and the others were already named Sable and Vader.”

Jovie showed Sable and Bear at the Adair County Fair that first year, and she and her grandmother quickly fell in love with their newfound cattle. Bear now represents the Highland breed at the Iowa State Fair’s Avenue of Breeds. Sable and Vader have since gone on to new homes.

Highland cattle are rustic animals that originated in Scotland. They are known for their long horns and long, double-layered, woolly coats, which help give them their distinctive look. The first record of Highland cattle in the United States dates to 1890.

In popular culture, Highland cattle gained more attention after the 2017 movie “Ferdinand.”

Mature Highland bulls can weigh as much as 1,800 pounds, while heifers can weigh up to 1,100 pounds, though they are generally considered smaller than more mainstream breeds. Highlands also tend to have longer lifespans than some other breeds, living as long as 20 years.

A normal day working with Highlands includes feeding and watering them, then taking them to the wash rack to rinse and blow dry their thick coats to help them stay cool on hot summer days. They are shampooed once a week.

“We work with our Highlands pretty much the same way as my previous show cattle, but we don’t have to clip them as much as other breeds when we show them. Some people do clip them a lot like commercial cattle, but we choose not to,” Jovie said, referring to the process of trimming and sculpting the animal’s hair.

“Characteristics I’ve noticed about Highlands are that they’re generally docile and calm,” she continued. “People are often concerned about their horns, but their horns help them regulate heat in their bodies. They primarily use them for scratching and cleaning up underbrush in wooded areas. They do like to throw hay around with them too.”

One of Jovie’s proudest moments in the show ring came when she showed Bear for the first time and was named champion bottle calf in her age group.

Another highlight came last year when Ellie, Jovie’s heifer, was shown by someone else at the North Central Highland Cattle Association Show in Austin, Minnesota. Ellie was named reserve champion senior heifer calf in the junior show.

“Being the only one that shows Highlands at the Adair County Fair means that I never really have any competition with my breeding heifers because they’re in their own class,” Jovie said.

This will be Jovie’s fourth year showing Highlands at the Adair County Fair. She is currently working with three heifers.

“In addition to the Adair County Fair, we hope to show our heifers at the Iowa State Fair in the American Highland Cattle Association show this summer, and also at the NCHCA show again in September,” Jovie said.