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Highland Cattle were imported into Australia in the mid nineteenth century. Sir William McGregor, amongst others, imported animals to his property "Ard Coille" on Mount Macedon.
Some of these animals were shown at the Melbourne Show in the 1880s. But, as no new blood was introduced the breed died out.
The more recent history shows that two cows and a bull were imported to South Australia in the early 1950s. As no new bulls were imported, the progeny of these three animals perhaps became inbred and are now scattered all over Australia. Some of the progeny have been very successfully used as the basis of herds today.
In the 1970s Highland cattle were once more imported to Australia and at the same time a grading up program was started using imported semen.
During the 1980s their popularity grew and in 1988 the Australian Highland Cattle Society was formed. During this period more animals were imported as well as semen and embryos thus giving a sound base for today's Australian herd.
The numbers of registered Highland Cattle are rapidly increasing as is the membership of the Society. Australia's Highland herd has good mix of the top bloodlines from Scotland, Canada, America and New Zealand.
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