Horns: what to know before you buy a horned Highland

Highland horns are magnificent and they are the reason a lot of people fall in love with the breed. They are also working equipment. The animal uses them for feeding, scratching, reaching into things and sorting out who stands where, and they change several practical decisions on your property.

None of that is an argument against them. It is an argument for thinking them through before the float arrives rather than afterwards.

How horns grow

Both bulls and cows carry them, and the shapes differ. Cow horns typically rise and sweep forward and upward, often with a fine curve at the tips. Bull horns tend to come out more horizontally, heavier and thicker through the base, curving forward and down.

They keep growing throughout the animal's life. A mature cow's horn spread can be substantial — well over a metre tip to tip is not unusual — so anything you build to fit a two-year-old will not fit her at eight.

Horns are living tissue with blood supply and nerve inside the bony core. A broken horn bleeds a great deal and hurts. It happens occasionally, usually in a gateway or a feeder, and it is a vet job rather than something to manage yourself.

What horns change

• Feeders and gates. Anything an animal puts its head through needs sizing for horns, or it will get stuck. This is the most common cause of injury and panic, and a stuck animal will fight until something gives. Avoid narrow V-shaped openings and anything a horn can hook.
• Yards and the crush. A standard cattle crush and head bail is built for polled or dehorned stock. Highland yards need wider races, wider gateways and a head bail that will actually accept the head. Retrofitting after an injury is a common and avoidable expense.
• Handling. A horned animal turning its head has a wide sweep. It is rarely aggressive; it is frequently unaware of where the tips are. Stand where a turn cannot catch you, and never put yourself between horns and a solid fence.
• Transport. Float and crate dimensions matter more than for a polled animal, and so does how many you load. A reputable livestock carrier will know this already — Andrew's Specialized Livestock (0448 423 977) and Horse Transport Australia (facebook.com/horsetransportaus) both handle horned stock.
• Mixing. Horned and polled animals can run together, but the horned animal has the advantage at a feeder. Feed in a way that gives everyone access rather than one point everything competes at.
• Rugs, covers and tight spaces. Anything involving squeezing an animal through a gap needs measuring twice.

Are they dangerous?

A well-handled Highland is a calm animal, and the horns are not the risk — fear is.

An animal that trusts you keeps its head still while you work around it. An animal that does not is unpredictable, and horns amplify unpredictability rather than causing it. The same startled swing from a polled cow is a bump; from a horned one it can open a jacket.

This is why daily handling matters so much with this breed. It is not about being able to lead them about. It is that a settled animal is a safe animal to stand next to, and an unsettled one is not, regardless of what is on its head.

Cows with young calves are the exception worth respecting. A quiet Highland cow will defend a calf, and she has the equipment to do it. Give her room in the first week and do not walk between her and the calf.

Living with them well

• Walk the fence line and the yards looking for anything a horn could catch — wire loops, star picket caps, gate latches, the corner of a feeder.
• Build gateways wider than you think you need. Wide gateways fix more problems than any other single change.
• Move stock at a walk. Most horn injuries happen when animals rush a narrow point together.
• Check the tips occasionally. They can grow toward the face in some animals, which needs attention before it becomes a problem.
• Teach visitors, particularly children, not to stand directly in front of an animal's head.

Should you buy polled instead?

If you have small children, tight existing yards you cannot change, or you are honestly a bit nervous, polled is a legitimate and sensible choice and we will not think less of you for it. Read our piece on polled Highlands.

If you want the horns — and most people who want Highlands do — then set the place up for them first. Wide gates, safe feeders, a crush that fits, and animals that are used to people. Do that and the horns stop being a consideration at all. They just become the reason you keep looking at your own paddock.