A Scottish Highland Cow Is Not a Yak!

When I used to live in the rugged mountains of Colorado, I had a Scottish Highland Cow for a neighbor.

I lived in the middle-of-nowhere in a town with one traffic light. Of course, my house was way out of “town,” up in a thick evergreen forest that got burned to the ground one year – but that’s a different story.

Down the red dirt road, past half-abandoned trailers and log homes that blended in with the forest, lived the Scottish Highland Cow. I didn’t always know that he was a Scottish Highland Cow. I used to call him a Yak. But a neighbor kindly informed me that it was indeed not a yak (no matter how fun that is to say) but a cow.

He was an orange mangy beast with knobbly horns on his head and a look of utter boredom on his face. His shaggy hair was left uncombed. He stood still under the evergreens, and I don’t remember ever seeing him move. I suppose he looked like a cow somewhere under his enormous coat of orange hair, but I always thought of him as a yak – you know, the kind of yak that the Yeti keeps in the Himalayas. But this was the Rocky Mountains, and I don’t believe the Yeti knows how to travel by sea.

Some things I've learned about Highland Cattle:

• They are indeed from Scotland, originating in the Highlands and western islands.

• Highlanders have existed for hundreds of years.

• They are the oldest registered breed of cattle.

• Highland cattle have been exported to many places around the world.

• They were bred from black and reddish cows.

• They can be colored black as well as orange.

• They are hardy, long-living, and... nutritious.

• A Highland cattle herd is called a “fold.”

• Both female and male Highlanders have horns.

• Highland cows enjoy harsh conditions.

• They are smarter than other cows.

Why a Highland Cow Is Not a Yak:

• Yaks are used to play polo; Cows are not.
• Yaks are used to aid in uphill skiing; Cows are not.
• “Yak” is fun to say; “Cow” is not.
• Yak secretion is used in Nepalese medicine; Cow secretion (as far as I know) is not.
• Yaks are not orange; Cows are sometimes.