[Animals 101] How To Breed & Care For Highland Cattle

Welcome to your next "Animal 101" lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! This time, we're taking a closer look at Highland cattle. We'll show you how to house and feed them, breed your herd, and sell your cattle. Let's start!

Tip! Highland cattle are all about breeding. They don't produce milk, so your main goal is to keep them healthy, make room for offspring, and grow your herd.

Housing Options

You can keep Highland cattle in different types of housing. They differ in price, capacity, and the additional products they support.

Cow Pasture: The cheapest option. You need to provide feed and water. It is suitable for breeding, but does not produce manure or slurry.
Cow Barn: Requires feed, but no manual water delivery. Highland cattle kept here can produce slurry and, if you provide straw, manure.
Cow Barn With Feeding Robot: The most automated option. Supply the required ingredients and the robot mixes and distributes TMR for you.

If your barn does not include a feeding robot, you can prepare TMR yourself with a mixer wagon.

Feeding Options

Good feeding keeps your Highland cattle healthy and allows them to reproduce:

TMR: 100% productivity
Hay: 80% productivity
Silage: 80% productivity
Grass: 40% productivity

Tip! Meadow can replace grass delivered by you as long as it's available. Check the animal tab in the menu to make sure there is enough supply. For maximum productivity you still have to provide other feed.

TMR consists of straw, hay, silage, and mineral feed. You can produce hay and silage yourself or buy suitable bales in the shop. Mineral feed is available in the "Pallets" section.

Want to learn more about producing silage? Check out this tutorial.

How to get water: If your pasture requires water, deliver it with a compatible tank trailer. Fill it from a water tank placed through the construction menu or from a suitable river or lake. Natural water sources are free; water from a placed tank costs money.

Breeding Highland Cattle

Highland cattle can reproduce when all three requirements are met:

they are at least 18 months old,
their health is at 100%, and
there is free space for another animal.

Feed your cattle regularly and keep some capacity available if you want your herd to grow.

What You Need For Highland Cattle

You won't need every machine shown above. Your equipment depends mainly on the housing and feeding method you choose.

Basic equipment:

Tractor with a front loader and loading equipment: Useful for handling bales, pallets, and other resources.
Mixer wagon: Required if you want to prepare TMR yourself. You don't need one when using a barn with a feeding robot.
Straw blower: Used to distribute straw in compatible barns if you want to produce manure.
Water tank: Required only if your chosen pasture needs manual water delivery.
Slurry tank: Used to transport or spread slurry.
Manure spreader: Used to transport manure or spread it on your fields.
Manure heap: Required to store manure from a compatible barn. Place it near the barn.
Liquid manure tank: Useful if the barn's built-in slurry storage is not large enough.

Optional: Transporting cattle yourself

Use a compatible animal trailer if you want to transport cattle yourself instead of paying for direct delivery.
Look for the cow icon to make sure a trailer supports cattle.
Larger trailers may require a truck or dolly. Check the displayed "Combinations" before buying.

Tip! If you prefer direct delivery, you can skip the animal trailer entirely and pay the delivery fee instead.

Let’s Get To Work!

Step 1: Buy Highland cattle

Choose the age of the animals you want to buy.
Buy them directly at the barn or transport them yourself.
Keep some housing capacity free if you want them to reproduce.

Tip! Younger cattle need more time before they can reproduce. Animals must be at least 18 months old.

Step 2: Feed the cattle

Check the animal screen regularly to see whether your cattle have enough feed and, when required, water. For maximum productivity, use TMR. If you have a barn with a feeding robot, unload straw, hay, silage, and mineral feed at the designated areas. The robot takes the ingredients it needs, mixes the TMR, and distributes it automatically.

Want to prepare TMR yourself with a mixer wagon? We'll show you how!

Step 3: Produce manure and slurry

Manure: Provide straw in a compatible barn and place a manure heap nearby.
Slurry: Compatible barns collect slurry automatically in their built-in storage.
More slurry storage: Add additional compatible storage if the barn's capacity is not enough.
Using both: Spread manure and slurry on your fields as fertilizer or transport them to a suitable selling point.

A pasture intended only for breeding does not produce manure or slurry.

Step 4: Breed and sell your cattle

Once your Highland cattle meet the breeding requirements described above, your herd can begin to grow. Sell animals when you want to earn money or make room for the next generation.