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Hamish

Hamish Duncan McCallum Sandiland Stewart is a 11-year-old Scottish Highland steer. He’s a big boy and weighs in at about 2,000 pounds – give or take a few pounds. He came to live on Thistle Do Farm after a local farmer announced his retirement from raising Highland cattle with his son. Knowing how much Hamish’s soon-to-be daddy loved Scotland, the farmer offered to let 10-month-old Hamish move to the farm. The offer was accepted without hesitation and Hamish learned how to be a cow while his new daddy learned how to take care of one.

For a little over four years, Hamish was the sole Highland cow on the farm. When he started wandering off at night in search of someone to keep him company and play with however, we knew that needed to change.

Kyloe

Kyloe Balloch Sandiland is the second Scottish Highland steer of Thistle Do Farm. He came to live with us about 4 years after Hamish, who needed a little brother to keep him company and keep him out of trouble. He’s just a few months younger than Hamish though he’s much smaller in size. Born a runt, Kyloe is similar in size to the Highland cows of Scotland from 700 or 1800 years ago.

Being a runt caused Kyloe some problems at his first home. The other cows picked on him, pushing him off his hay, his grain and sometimes off his feet. When we went to bring him home, two people were literally able to pick him up and put him into the trailer. He only weighed about 250 pounds or so at the time. Now happy and content, Kyloe weighs a healthy 1,100 pounds. And in case you’re wondering, Kyloe is Scot-Gaelic for cow.

His curiosity makes him the most likely of all the critters to find trouble…and he’s the most likely to find his way out of it too. If you’ve watched the videos on our Hamish & Kyloe Facebook page, you know why we say, “Don’t do it, Kyloe!”