Highland cattle calves

click photo to enlarge
I like to think that I take an interest in most things, and, with the exception of TV, celebrity and "social meeja" culture, I'm sure I do, knowing a little about a lot. But inevitably, if your net is cast wide in this way, the sum total of your knowledge about some subjects is only sufficient to fill the back of the proverbial postage stamp.

I was thinking about this recently when my mind settled on what I know about cattle. Being brought up in the Yorkshire Dales my early knowledge about farm animals inevitably centred on sheep. However, dairy and beef cattle were reasonably common in the valleys and on the valley sides, so Friesians, Holsteins, Herefords, Jerseys, Anguses etc were quite familiar to me as a child. But, over the years, I've noticed a change in the distribution and variety of cattle across the country. The Limousin breed is now massively popular everywhere and is inter-bred with other varieties. In Lincolnshire the Lincoln Reds have always survived but are currently, so I'm told, enjoying something of a renaissance. In the Dales unusual types are now more commonly seen, especially the hardy upland breeds introduced for conservation reasons. I've noticed Blue Greys and Belted Galloways and there seems to have been quite an increase in Highland Cattle (which I've also seen in Lincolnshire). The latter breed is also deemed suitable for hilly and mountainous areas for environmental reasons, managing on poorer fare than most other cattle, but its spread in lowland areas too must be due to demand for the beef it produces.

Today's photograph of two Highland Cattle calves was taken on the hills above Settle in the Dales. I'm not generally a photographer of "cute" subjects but this one, I think, qualifies for that title, as most young animals do. The cute quotient is turned up a notch by the way they are standing side by side, seeming to pose for the camera. A nearly three year old boy, looking at this shot on the screen of my camera, identified the calves as dogs. It's easy to understand his confusion. Since we are talking about knowledge I'll end with a recent addition to my fairly meagre total concerning cattle: a herd of Highland Cattle is more properly described as a "fold". Who would have thought it?

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 37.1mm (100mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

500th PhotoReflect Post

click photo to enlarge
I'd like to have marked this, the 500th PhotoReflect post, with a stunning image of an interesting subject portrayed in high-impact colour, with an innovative composition - a shot that makes people go, "Wow!" But I've run out of those, so here's a photograph of some cows instead!

I've always felt that if cows liked music then Friesians would be into strong commercial pop - Blondie, the Petshop Boys and the like; that Jerseys and Guernseys would prefer ballads by Shirley Bassey or Dean Martin; and Highland cattle (like those in today's offering) would be fans of early heavy metal. I can just picture the shaggy beasts, heads down, locks swaying, a trance-like look in their fringe-covered eyes, as they get into the groove of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" or Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love".

Is it coincidence that cattle bred in the Highlands and Islands of western Scotland should have handle-bar horns, long ginger hair and prefer the thundering drums and wailing guitars of rock to the fiddles and accordions of Scottish folk music? Probably not. It's said that dogs and their masters grow to look alike, so why shouldn't a land settled by the Vikings and with more than a hint of ginger in the hair of its population produce red-headed cattle with big horns? It seems perfectly natural to me! What isn't so natural, however, is that I should find these cattle that were bred for the rugged land and cold, wet climate of Scotland on the flat Lincolnshire Fens. But there they were, late in the afternoon, by the River Welland near Surfleet Seas End, and very willing to strike a pose for me. Perhaps beneath my photographer persona they detected a kindred spirit with a partiality for loud electric music!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 128mm (256mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On