The American Highland Cattle Association is the only globally recognized herdbook in the United States and dates back to 1948. Registration papers from this herdbook signify a great deal about the actual animal you own or are thinking of purchasing. Those papers trace the ancestry back through three generations. If you look up that registration information online, with a simple click of your mouse, you can explore each ancestor on the pedigree back another three generations. In addition to name and color you can explore relatives; the offspring produced by a grandsire or granddam on and on ad infinitum or at least as far back as our herdbook details. You also can see if any of the immediate ancestry are considered Impact or Elite Impact animals, if any were produced by artificial insemination or embryo transfer. If the pedigree provides a Canadian or Scottish import the database of these affiliated associations will provide further information on ancestry in a similar fashion.
Studying pedigrees can allow you to make breeding decisions. For example, trying to duplicate a particular animal that you like by pulling the same ancestors out of similar pedigrees. This is a common theme that is used by breeders in their own herds. When we recognize a superior animal out of one cow sired by a particular bull we may try to reproduce some facsimile of that superior creature by repeating the breeding or getting as close to that breeding as we can.
Registered Highlands allow you to maintain detailed pedigree information on your cattle with ease. They allow you to participate in breed shows and association events and permit your cattle to appeal to a broader segment of the cattle owning public. That appeal could include those families looking for a project for their child or a supplement to their income or a hobby that can develop into a passion.
Paramount to any Highland operation is the “careful selection of breeding stock” and subsequent registration of those animals with the American Highland Cattle Association (or the other Highland breed registries worldwide). If the animals are not registered, and those papers are not transferred to the new owner, that animal is effectively lost to the breed gene pool and is no more than a grade or commercial beef animal. Its lineage is lost, its link to the past is lost and in most cases, cannot be reestablished.
