Living the high life...

In one sense, the grass fed beef being sold at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market is as local as it gets. The shaggy animals are born and raised in the verdant Dodgeville countryside. The people who care for them in life are the same ones selling their meat on the lawn of Evangelical Lutheran Church each Thursday afternoon. 

But in another sense, this little farm’s story stretches far beyond Mount Horeb, to the rugged, windswept Scottish Highlands, to the frigid climes of Russia and to stages strutted across by some of the biggest rock stars ever. 

Reeny and Greg Reynolds keep a herd of about 60 Scottish Highland cattle on their farm, processing 12 each year. The cows, wooly, ruddy and amiable, look like they sauntered directly out of the Ice Age, their heavy brows draped with curly locks and accented by massive horns. Rockin Highlands farm is the newest addition to the Mount Horeb Farmers Market, offering an assortment of cuts, from steaks and ribs and roasts to cheeks and oxtails. 

Reeny came to the United States 17 years ago as an exchange student studying agriculture. Here, she settled down with Greg and five years ago they started raising their own beef on his family farm. Their decision to keep such a rare breed was any easy one, when they happened across a Craigslist ad for two animals. The decision to buy them was easy, too but it was not based on Reeny’s extensive training and education in the realm of agriculture. 

“We saw these two, super cute, fuzzy, mammoth-looking cows for sale,” she recalls. “That was it. We got them right away. We didn’t even have a pen yet.”

While the choice of breed was based on that most ancient selection criteria – cuteness – the decision to raise beef in the first place was more complex. It began when they read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” the 2006 book by Michael Pollan that examines the cultural and environmental ramifications of various modern food choices. 

“Before that, we used to mow 15 acres on our farm, like a typical American lawn,” she explains. “We started thinking: Do we really need to mow all this land? That triggered us to start thinking outside the box. Why don’t we grow our own food? Why don’t we switch the way we do things?”

Ever since then, this family of four – they have two children - has worked to raise beef cattle in a way that’s healthy and sustainable. In the process, they have forged a deep connection with their animals, and with the land that sustains all of them. 

“We don’t have workers,” she says. “We do everything ourselves.” 

“We’re never going to do 1,000 cows, but at least with the way we do things we can make this available to some people and give back in our small way,” adds Greg. 

They keep several bulls, and each year new calves arrive to bolster the herd. They have learned about the importance of strong fences, which Reeny says cannot be overstated, and they have gotten to know their animals. 

“They are just like monkeys, the way they come out of the woods to see us,” she says. “Every one of the cows has a name. We know all their characteristics.”

“Before we did this, I didn’t realize cattle had such deep personalities,” agrees Greg. “They really connect with you.”

There is Ewok, the affable steer, and Daisy, Sheba, Tippy and Quasar, and many more. 

It is not merely the animals to which the family is linked; it is the very land itself. Rockin Highlands Farms is located on the same patch of countryside where Greg grew up. But he hasn’t lived there his whole life. Instead, he ventured out on an assortment of adventures before coming home again to tread the same soil as those who came before him. Unable to afford college, Reynolds joined the military after high school, working with computers overseas. 

Eventually, he “got rebellious” and grew his hair long, which in the late 1980s meant he was no longer allowed to work for IBM – or pretty much any other tech company. “Once it got close to my collar, they said that was it,” he recalls. 

He entered the audio world and eventually worked with a long list of massive musicians. He toured with The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie and more. He remembers once telling Bette Midler that he planned to start farming when his life on the road winded down. At first she was surprised, but then she realized it made sense.  

One day, a Russian exchange student spotted a man painting a barn on a farm where she was feeding calves. Across a fence line, they met. They married, had children, started a farm, and ended up with a herd of cattle with hair far, far too long to work at IBM in the 1980s.  That, in a nutshell, is the story of Rocking Highlands.

It takes three years for a Scottish Highlander to reach maturity. Their hanging weight is usually a little over 500 pounds. They are grass fed throughout their lives and finished on fermented grain and soy hulls. The farm uses no growth hormones and no unnecessary antibiotics. 

“They don’t have too much fat, because they already have all that hair to keep them warm, so they don’t need much fat,” she says. 

“The butchering day is a sad day for us when it comes, but raising these animals makes us feel like we are doing something really cool,” he says. “You see them being born, and the last day is sad, but with the proceeds from the meat we sell, we will buy hay to feed the herd through the winter.” Each cut of meat that is sold feeds a human, but the proceeds also feed the rest of the herd. 

“Management is huge,” she says. “You can have a big herd but it has to be managed well.”

They recently joined the Mount Horeb Farmers Market, in addition to markets in Ridgeway and Verona. 

“We do the markets, and people can also order online,” she says.

“We had heard good things about the Mount Horeb market,” adds Greg. 

For Reeny, it’s been a long journey but a natural progression. Growing up in Russia, her outlook was bleak. “There was no hope,” she says. “In Russia there was not a lot of opportunity. For opportunity, you had to go overseas.” 

She studied in Holland and England, then arrived in the United States. Here, she saw a new world of opportunity. 

“I can do so many things here,” she says. “I think when you come from another country, you can really see the blessings here. You are blessed here.” 

Greg’s journey has been a long and winding one, too. Both of them feel lucky to have ended up where they are. 

“This isn’t a business business,” he says. “We have a business, obviously, but that’s not what drives us. What drives us is our connection to these animals and our desire to give back.”

Find them each week at the Mount Horeb Farmers Market.