Which is a good thing as Hairy Coos attract tourists with“Selfie” sticks like a cowpat attracts flies. They are not friendly in the sense that they will come bounding up to see you wagging their tails, but they are very tolerant of tourists. These cows have attitude and are well aware that they weigh more than you so don’t expect them to move quickly when you want to get past.Īs a general rule (the exception being the ones at Ruthven barracks), they are quite placid animals. It is not uncommon to find cows reclined on the road through the village as Mary Dobson, owner of the village’s Croft Cafe, has her own fold.

Duirinish - This is a little village not far from Kyle of Lochalsh where you also find the Skye Bridge.

Kitchen Coos & Ewes - located near Newton Stewart in South West Scotland (so not at all in the Highlands) is a farm run by Neale and Janet McQuistin who welcome visitors on farm tours to meet and learn first hand about their fold of Highland Cattle.

To be honest, the cow looks totally fed up with the situation and is not particularly interested in striking a pose for a photo. The same chap also has cottoned on that a Highland Cow will make folk stop outside his wee shop, so he has borrowed one of his wife’s pet cows to act as tourist bait.

Kilchurn Castle - On the walk from the car park to the castle, you pass a small cabin that an enterprising local has set up as a small gallery to sell his landscape photographs from.

They have been breeding them here for almost 100 years so you’ve a good chance of seeing some calves and baby Highland cows are off the scale when it comes to cuteness.

Highland Coo Safaris - Staying in the same area as Ruthven Barracks, the Rothiemurchus Estate has a well established fold of Highland Cattles and they offer short guided tours where you can meet their Hairy Hielan Coo club.

It’s unusual to get this reaction, but I’ll talk more about this later. A word of warning, one of the cows here tried to charge me and I had to jump a wall to escape being prodded with a horn. It was here that they received their final order from Bonnie Prince Charlie. The barracks have a poignant place in history as the site where the Jacobite army last rallied after defeat at Culloden.

Ruthven Barracks - I can’t promise that you’ll always find Hairy coos here, but we’ve always bumped into a couple of them at these historic ruins just a mile to the east of Kingussie.

The owners of Redburn Cafe have catered for this and they sell little bags of “munchies” that will entice the resident coos to tolerate having some “selfies” taken with you.

Redburn Cafe on the A887 near Invermoristion - if you want to get up close and make friends with a Highland Cow, then it helps to offer them some snacks.Listed below are some places where you are more or less guaranteed to see Highland cattle:

This is also the location of the Burrell Collection, but at the time of writing the building that houses this art collection is closed for some major repairs. If you are in Glasgow, you will find that there are some resident old Cows in the Pollok Country Park on the southside of Glasgow. You don’t even have to go into the Highlands to find Hairy Coos. Which does beg the question, does a farmer “Herd up his Highland cows” or does he “Fold up his Highland Coos”? Now, I don’t mean they are roaming across the Highlands in massive numbers like Buffalo migrations on the American prairies, but you will find “folds” of Highland cattle all over the country.įor some reason the official collective noun for Highland cattle is a “fold” and not a “herd”. So let's start with the most frequently asked question, and the answer is… all over Scotland. So it’s time to fix that with answers to the Top 10 questions we get asked about Highland Cows 1. In all the years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve never written anything about that most iconic of Scottish creatures the Highland Cow. 'Where to see Highland Cows and other Hairy Coo Questions!'

Highland cattle facts