16/09/2025
I don’t believe I could put it as eloquently as Koolah Creek have so I will just share it .
But I wholeheartedly agree with everything stated here. Structure and confirmation are paramount. When I’m looking …
1. Structure / conformation
2. Temperament
3. Pedigree
Colour, anything else follows after these. And the pedigree isn’t what’s got a well known name or what’s fib, it’s pedigree for what will or won’t work with my existing cattle.
We need more education on this so people understand. Especially the belief that because it’s got a good pedigree and a set of🏀⚽️, it should get to keep them!
Controversial opinion: Fully Imported Bloodline (FIB) cattle are not innately superior to Purebred (P) Highland Cattle
We've seen outstanding Highlands of both P and FIB grade (and appallingly poor P & FIB as well). So much so, that we don't believe that a registration grade of FIB or P correlates with the quality of the animal, at all.
Give me a good P cow any day, over an FIB cow with feet like slippers and an udder that drags below her hocks! Early on we decided that breeding Purebred vs Fully Imported Bloodline grading was not a logical priority for our stud. The quality of some FIB cattle was part of that decision - there are FIB cows that we would never want in our fold. The physical animal in front of us is always going to be the most important, over a pedigree or the letter on the paperwork.
We see FIB versus P as a point of personal preference, almost like coat colour. If the distinction is important to an individual then that is certainly valid. Everyone is entitled to their own preference and opinion. However, the perception seems to be that FIB is inherently better than P - and that is simply not the case.
The notion of FIB being intrinsically superior is potentially very damaging to the Highland breed in Australia. Prioritising breeding FIB Highland cattle excludes the valuable genetic contribution of a large proportion of the herdbook.
There are too many FIB bulls today that seriously have no right to testicles - a bull without sound structure should be castrated, regardless of the pedigree.
Are new breeders assuming that FIB is synonymous with top quality?
Is this perception driving breeders to keep and sell more FIB bulls?
I truly think that the assumption that all FIB Highlands are premium quality and have superior genetics, has the potential to significantly damage the breed and gene pool in Australia.
The major argument for FIB is the heritage and tradition of the breed, of which I do truly appreciate the value.
But - when the physical animal is no longer an accurate representation of its ancestors and the heritage of the breed, what is the point?
Aside, I would guess that a significant number of FIB Highlands in Australia are not actually of Fully Imported Bloodlines - unless every animal in the pedigree has been parentage verified by DNA testing. These days, parentage verification is compulsory to register cattle with the Australian Highland Cattle Society, but how many FIB Highlands actually had an unregistered or crossbred highland in their pedigree? Mistakes happen, no records are perfect.
Our stud fold is fairly evenly split between P and FIB cows. When selecting a sire for one of our FIB cows, choosing a FIB bull to produce an FIB calf is relatively low on our selection criteria - below overall structural soundness, temperament, and highland breed character.
Fully Imported Bloodlines (F or FIB) is defined as being where every Highland in the pedigree can be traced back through a recognised herdbook - Scotland, America, Canada or the UK. The key point is that only herdbooks where grading up has not knowingly been allowed are included.
The irony is that the Scottish Herdbook currently registered appendix cattle, and allows their progeny to enter the Herdbook.
Whereas in Australia, many Highlands have been graded up from other base or foundation breeds (always using a P or FIB bull) - historically a female first cross 50% Highland was C grade. A C grade cow mated to a registered Highland bull could produce a B grade calf (75%), which could then produce an A grade (87.5%). The calf of an A grade cow could then be registered as Purebred in the Australian Highland Cattle Society Herdbook - at 93.75% Highland. These days a visually 'Highland type' cow of unknown or unverified pedigree can be inspected and registered as C grade, and graded up by the same process. Any descendents of a Purebred can only be Purebred, due to the grading in the pedigree - so it follows that the vast majority of Australian Purebred Highlands today are of a higher Highland percentage than 93.75%.
An example: Brianne Ruadh of Stone Ridge.
Brianne is Purebred, and is 99.99% Highland.
The show ring isn't everything, but Brianne has won classes and champion ribbons against FIB cattle at Royal and National shows, and was Interbreed Champion Small Breeds Female at the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) in 2023. The judge, Grame Hopf, has judged livestock across the world and he commented “You wouldn’t see a better Highland in Scotland and you wouldn’t see a better Highland in North America”.
Brianne's dam's side is FIB, and her sire's side has been Purebred for many generations. Her pedigree can be traced back to a foundation jersey cow in the 1980s, 10 generations back on her sire's side. This foundation cow was artificially inseminated with imported Scottish semen. Every subsequent generation was inseminated with a different Scottish bull, to grade up to Purebred.
The interesting part, is that this means that Brianne actually has MORE generations of recorded Purebred pedigree in the herdbook than some modern Highlands born and registered in the Scottish Highland Herdbook (where 'unknown' ancestors can be found just a few generations back). Likewise, she has a longer recorded pedigree than some Australian-born FIB progeny of those cattle!
Breeding FIB simply for the sake of 'FIB' opens a door to less discriminate breeding. I would choose a good P grade animal, with each mating in its pedigree carefully chosen, over an average quality FIB.
Polite discussion is very welcome. We respect everyone's right to their opinion, so please respect ours too.
Edited 19/9/25.
The following addition has been made, to provide more detail on the history of the issue, elaborate on some points and provide clarity where needed.
- The original intention for FIB status to be distinct from Purebred distinction was record-keeping, to allow easy identification of animals that were eligible for registration in overseas herdbooks (the AHCS Purebred grade would only be eligible for registration in Australia and NZ).
For the purpose of export, the distinction is valid and valuable. For a buyers who's main goal is export of genetics, imagine the disappointment of discovering that newly purchased genetics were ineligible for overseas registration!
However, I truly think that (in recent years at least), many more more people have been disappointed after paying top dollar for premium, 'superior' FIB genetics, only to discover they have been sold subpar stock.
New breeders are now being mislead that FIB is the 'best' or 'highest' grade, and innately superior to Purebred, which just isn't true. I believe that FIB has diverged far from the intended purpose, and become a marketing tool (whether this was intended or not).
The issue is misrepresentation of FIB, not the existence of the distinction on the paperwork.
The Highland breed attracts hobby farmers with very little experience assessing livestock. Very few have any interest in exporting genetics; most just want to buy 'good' cattle. FIB has been misrepresented to this market in particular.
Poor quality FIB cattle are being advertised as premium breeding stock, bull prospects, or candidates for flushing when really they should be culled.
Of course at the end of the day, the animal is the one that suffers when there are serious structural faults which eventually affect soundness (or calf survival).
In terms of the integrity of the herdbook in Australia, I am not insinuating widespread corruption. I am simply pointing out that if registrations were recorded without parent verification, how can anyone guarantee no inconsistencies?
There are many steps in the process where genuine mistakes can be made:
- Bulls jump fences.
- AI straws get mixed up.
- Cows can slip an AI calves and then conceive to a herd bull.
- Heifers can steal or swap calves.
- Errors can be made in records.
- Tattoos and tags can be misread.
Inconsistencies and registration errors have been identified and addressed before.
These points are not exclusive to the Australian herdbook. The same errors can be made by any breeder for any herdbook, including of course in the pedigree of foundation FIB genetics imported to Australia.
It is naive to assume perfect honesty and perfect record keeping in 100% of animals registered across the world. I would expect that only a small number of discrepancies exist, but when these same individual animals are being represented as superior and premium purely based on a single attribute (FIB status), then any instances where that attribute is absent is significant.
Onto the photo of Brianne and quote from the judge. It did the job and got everyone's attention! We are not implying that Brianne is better than FIB cows because she is Purebred (if that's what you took from the post you may need to try reading it again!). We aren't suggesting she is the best Highland cow the world has ever seen. The point is, her minute percentage of Jersey genetics doesn't make her a lesser Highland!
At the end of the day, the show ring is just one judge's opinion on the day. The quote is the opinion of this particular judge - who is knowledgeable, widely respected and well-versed on the Highland breed, might I add. (It was printed in The Land, if anyone needs proof).
Finally - if export and overseas herdbook eligibility is the primary issue, most Highlands being bred in Australia just are not the quality for export. FIB status won't make an animal desirable for export if it isn't an exceptional animal!
I would love for new breeders to be provided with more education to make good breeding decisions, and simply breed good, sound, functional cattle for Australia.
If export is a breeder's goal, then that is their personal decision and they can select FIB cattle based on that.
The term ‘FIB’ has become a marketing tool for commercial gain. It creates unnecessary division within the Highland breed in Australia, undermines unity among breeders, and contributes nothing to the long-term sustainability of the breed.
We don't want to do away with FIB, just the perception that choosing FIB equates to choosing superior cattle.
Our goal is to breed the best cattle we can - both P and FIB - and do our part to help others do the same.
In our opinion, excluding the Purebred half of the herd book is detrimental to that goal. Starting conversations around a topic can be the best way to prompt others to research and reach informed options.
If only a post about structural faults was as engaging as this topic - then maybe people would talk about it and research it too!
Thank you everyone who had joined the discussion so far. Being a topic that has strong opinions on both sides, we appreciate that everyone has been polite and respectful.
