SUSAN Elder has run a Highland cattle fold for the past 27 years.
It was in her blood, with her dad running “Durness”, Mittagong, for three years, before she took over, following his death in December 1986.
Running Highland cattle has challenges – along with niche markets comes a need for modified yards due to the breed’s distinctive horns.
“We had a pipe race so we were able to bend the pipes at shoulder height and weld it back so the width of the race at the horns was wider, but the rest of race remains the a standard width,” she said.
“With our crush we took the measurements of the horns and made it so it was wide enough so they could walk through without any stress.”
She said for the safety of the operator, it was imperative to have these changes made and they could largely be done inexpensively.
A lot of what she has learnt about the breed has come through trial and error.
These days Ms Elder runs a small beef business, selling packaged beef to suit pre-arranged local orders.
“I have an autumn and spring calving, which sees about 15 calves each time,” Ms Elder said.
She also tries to keep her colours “clean”, by joining black to black, red to red and white to white.
See the full story in next week’s Farming Small Areas magazine.
