He prefers not to sell his stock south of Massachusetts. He also believes that Highlanders do best at higher elevations. But the main problem, most Highland enthusiasts agree, is lack of promotion. It is amusing to think of these red, brindle, black, yellow and white shaggies as a snob bovine. In fact they derive from the most basic blue-collar roots.
Circumstantial evidence indicates that the breed descends from the bovines of central Asia.
The long reddish hair, solid conformation and stocky legs are traits shared by the now extinct auroch, the bison, yak, and musk ox of that region. He theorises that primitive drovers moved the precursors of the Scotch Highland breed across the Tarim Basin and then easterly to the fertile grazing ground around the Black Sea. Following ancient trade routes, the cattle gradually were driven north into Scandinavia across the Danish peninsula. From there they island-hopped westward into the territory of Scotland. In support of this interesting thesis he offers some convincing evidence that links Highland and Shetland ponies to their ancestors in the Mongolian tarpan and the related Przewalksi's horse, all of which share, with bisons and yaks, the shoulder stripes associated with their central Asian origins.