TC Highlands Farm Tour

My family recently took a visit to TC Highlands Farm in Pleasureville, Kentucky to visit with some friendly highland cattle. 

At TC Highlands Farm, we had a choice of half hour or hour sessions, and went with the hour visit. We decided we wanted to spend a little more time with the cattle, feed them treats, brush them, hear all about them, have plenty of time to take pictures with them, and make the hour drive out to the farm worth our visit.

The hour sessions were for people over 12 years of age in groups of up to five. There are other sessions offered for kids ages 8 and up with different lengths of time and sizes of groups.

After booking our session through Facebook, we were sent a confirmation email with more details and the exact address of the farm in Shelby County. We pulled up to the barn about 15 minutes before our session and could see visitors out with the Highlands in a fenced in field not too far away.

We switched our sneakers for boots, grabbed the treats we had brought for the cows, and headed out toward the field. You must wear closed toed shoes, but if you’ve ever walked through a cow field, you’ll know why boots are preferred. Hint: cow pies are not for eating).

TC Highlands Farm started off as a family that was helping care for their neighbor’s cattle and decided they wanted some friendly cattle of their own. They researched and decided on the Highland, which is a Scottish breed of rustic cattle. Highlands have long horns and shaggy coats – they have a double coat of hair that is the longest of any cattle breed. Highlands are also good natured as we found out during our visit.

TC Highlands Farm quickly grew into a small business of visitors spending time with the Highland cattle. The farm owners both have full time jobs, and the Highlands are on their property, not a large commercial farm property.

Visiting hours are mainly on the weekends for a limited number of sessions. Visiting sessions are also not held when the weather is too hot for the cows or too cold for the humans. There are no public bathrooms, food, or drink for visitors. They have a small table of TC Highlands merchandise to purchase, but other than that, you bring what you need, or stop on the way to the farm (there is a gas station just a few minutes away for bathroom needs).

When we arrived at TC Highlands Farm, we were allowed to go into the fenced in area where they had three heifers and two calves. None were full grown yet – the heifers were about three years old and the calves were seven months old. All were female (both male and female Highland cattle grow horns). All will continue to get bigger. The calves were roaming around free most of our visit, but stuck near to the visitors for brushing and treats, while the heifers were tied up to the fence because they would prefer to wonder away from the guests and have visitors chasing around after them. All of the cattle enjoyed the brushing and treats. The farm provides combs for brushing and had a couple treat varieties for visitors.

We brought some cut up fruit with us for the cattle. The heifers and calves LOVED the slices of apple we brought for them, and they enjoyed the horse treats the farm had available. The calves at TC Highlands Farm followed me around trying to eat all of the treats in my bag until the apples were gone. The Highlands love pumpkin and watermelon rinds, apples, pears, carrots, squash, and donuts. (We learned they do NOT like bananas). They also like the same treats that horses like – you can pick up those types of packaged treats at feed stores. I highly recommend bringing treats with you. We did pass a Dollar General on our way that sold bags of apples and donuts if want to grab some treats on your way to the farm, but you need to cut up the apples before feeding them to the cattle.

The Highland cattle have no top teeth, so they take food more gently than any other animal I have ever fed. However, they are also a bit more slobbery taking food from you than any other animal I have ever fed – there is a towel and wet wipes if you need them. I recommend wearing clothes that can get messy when visiting TC Highlands Farm.

The TC Highlands Farm owners were friendly, the cows were friendly, we learned a lot about their breed, learned about their life on the farm, and had a great time brushing, feeding, and taking pictures with the cattle.

It is important to the TC Highlands Farm owners to make sure people know not all Highland cattle are as well behaved as the ones we got to spend time with in the field. Out of all twenty of their Highland cattle, only these five were really appropriate for visitors. We really enjoyed our time at TC Highlands Farm and look forward to visiting again.

Looking for another farm tour? Here’s an idea! Black Horse Manor.