About The Differences...

I am 24 and just finishing the last semester of a four year degree in animal science at Washington State University. Because I have raised highland cattle and also have some knowledge of the economics of the beef industry, I may be able to answer some of your questions.

About the differences... It is my experience that the highland cattle are easier to raise than most beef breeds due to their cold tolerance, ease of calving, and efficient conversion of poor forage into marketable product. It is more complex (difficult) to make money with the breed because you can not just take a highland down to the sale yard and expect to achieve market price. Highlands  will probably never be able to compete directly in the commercial market. The biggest downfall of the highland breed in my opinion is their slow growth. This combined with physical characteristics that do not fit in a feedlot make them undesirable to commercial cattlemen. Fortunately, it sounds like you are more interested in the niche market side of things. That is where the highland breed excels. 

 The two most profitable ways to market highland cattle are as high quality beef or purebred breeding stock. If you are interested in selling natural/organic beef, Highland cattle will be more profitable than most breeds for this purpose. This is particularly true if you live in a cold area with rough forage and little shelter. Under these conditions the highland cattle will produce more calves per cow herd and incur less maintenance costs while doing it.  More calves means more beef, even considering the smaller size at harvest. You stand to make money through this efficiency and the quality of the meat which allows for a higher price. These steers will finish well on good grass/legume pasture during the spring or with the addition of supplemental grain. In either case you want the steers to gain at least 2lbs/day.  My preference is Highland beef finished for at least 60 days on high quality pasture and grain. How you choose to finish of course depends on what niche customers you are targeting. The grass fed highland carcass is known to be extra lean while possessing great beef flavor, while the grain fed carcass is well marbled with little wasted exterior fat. Diversified marketing is sometimes the most profitable approach. Another advantage over commercial cattle is the added value you can achieve by selling hides and horns/skulls. Not every steer will give you a marketable hide or skull but many will and these can often be sold for nearly half of the carcass value!

 If you like the idea of selling purebred seed stock, you should be prepared to invest heavily in quality genetics and promotion of your stock. This enterprise can be quite profitable in the long run but often takes time to get off the ground. It also takes a good deal of natural savvy and education to be able to make genetic improvement in the cattle. My family's purebred business was mostly a hobby initially, but after about ten years we figured a few things out and developed a pretty good set of cattle mostly through trial and error. That is the hard way to do it. If you are a smart business person you can make money with breeding stock within about 5 years. For the most part, you would be starting from scratch building your customer base. I know people in the US who also sell stock for crossbreeding. It is hard to break into that market, but if you can show commercial cattlemen that your Highland genetics will increase calving percentages (particularly with heifers), decrease production costs, improve carcass quality and provide hybrid vigor, you might find a few takers. Mostly what I see is highland bulls being used as "heiferbulls" on commercial operations.

  I hope you find this helpful. Sorry it is so long... I am passionate about the subject and tend to get a bit carried away. : )

 If you have any more questions I would be happy to answer them.

  Jake Larson