Temperament first, then structure, then everything else. Colour comes last, however tempting it is.
Most first-time buyers choose on colour and a photograph. That is understandable. Highlands are photogenic, and a red heifer standing in long grass sells itself. But colour is the thing you stop noticing within a month. Temperament is the thing you notice every day for the next fifteen to twenty years.
Here is the order we would use instead.
Can the animal be approached, moved, drafted and loaded? That is the practical test. A beast that cannot be handled is not a pet, and with a metre of horn on its head it becomes a genuine safety question in a small yard.
Ask what handling the animal has actually had, not what the breed is generally like. Highlands have a deserved reputation for being placid, but reputation does not handle a cow. Daily contact does. There is a large difference between a heifer walked past twice a week in a forty-acre paddock and one that has been through the yards, stood for a scratch and been drafted a dozen times before weaning.
Worth asking: has she been yarded? Will she come to a bucket? Has she been on a float before? Has anyone other than the breeder handled her? Then watch how she reacts when her own owner walks into the paddock. If she lifts her head and comes over, that tells you more than any photo.
Our cattle are handled daily and worked through the yards as part of normal routine. Halter work we take animal by animal — some take to it quickly, some never much care for it — and we will tell you plainly where a particular beast is up to rather than promising the same thing across the board.
Legs and feet carry everything else. A structurally poor animal costs you in vet bills, hoof work and disappointment long before it costs you a ribbon.
Bright eye, clean coat, no scouring, no coughing, no nasal or eye discharge. A Highland in mid-summer looks very different to the same animal in July because it sheds its undercoat, so do not read a patchy August coat as illness.
Ask about the vaccination program — most Australian herds run 5-in-1 or 7-in-1 — and when the animal was last drenched and with what. A breeder who monitors worm burden with faecal egg counts rather than drenching to a calendar is usually thinking about the rest of it properly too. Ask whether the herd has had any pestivirus, Johne's or lice issues, and ask for the vendor declaration. A seller who is comfortable with those questions is the seller you want. None of this is veterinary advice, and your own vet is the right person to interpret a specific animal for you.
Registration status, recorded sire and dam, a working NLIS tag, and a National Vendor Declaration to travel with the animal. You will need a Property Identification Code for your own land before the beast arrives. Ask when the society transfer will be lodged and who pays for it — this is a common place for things to quietly not happen. See our articles on registered versus appendix and on PIC and NLIS paperwork.
Last. Genuinely last. Red, black, dun, yellow, brindle, silver and white all come out of the same gene pool, and a colour that carries a premium this year may not in five. You will look at this animal every day for fifteen years and you will stop noticing its colour within a month. You will never stop noticing whether it lets you near it.
Go slowly. Stand at the fence for ten minutes before you walk in. Ask the breeder which animal they would not sell you and why — the answer tells you what they actually value. Ask which one they would pick for you, given what you have described about your place. If you are unsure, do not buy that day. A good breeder will hold an animal while you think, and the ones who push you to decide on the spot are telling you something.
Take someone with you if you can, ideally someone who has run cattle. Two sets of eyes on a set of feet is worth the drive.
Book transport before you commit to a date. Highlands are wide and horned, and not every carrier is set up for them. Andrew's Specialized Livestock (0448 423 977) and Horse Transport Australia (facebook.com/horsetransportaus) both handle horned cattle and travel long distances. Have your yards, water and fencing sorted before the truck arrives, not after.
Buy the animal you can handle, standing on feet that will last, with paperwork that says what you think it says. Then enjoy the colour, because by then it is a bonus rather than the reason.