03/10/2026
I’m pinching myself so much for what is only one of many firsts for Marshall Highland fold !! 💛
Every now and then I stop and think about what this means for our fold’s future, which is pretty exciting.
All highland births are like an adrenaline rush, as you never know what will hit the ground. Our highlands have already accomplished so much this year. The variety of genetics has never looked so promising for our small fold in the deep South. It’s our responsibility to uphold the breed standards, make more connections beyond NZ and constantly improve the fold’s adaptability to fit our long term goals.
I’ve kept this selection a secret for the past year, as there’s nothing better than surprising you all with our first new bloodline. With carefully selected genetics coming directly from the UK all the way to NZ, is something I never thought would happen at this early stage.
October 2nd was already full of celebration with Blye of Marshall not only turning 3, but had also given birth to her first calf earlier that same day. Together with new sire Coirneal Mor of Strathburn they have produced a mighty bright yellow heifer.
After heaps of thought of combining names, I’ve decided on:
‘Blyneal of Marshall’.
To brake it down, ‘Bly’ in Gaelic means bright, yellow and sunshine, while ‘Neal’ means passionate and champion. Symbolically translating as the Golden Champion.
This also links back to Coirneal’s pedigree, his sire is Ruaridh 1st of Ubhaidh has a strong presence across the world for being recently crowned ‘Highland Bull of the decade’ at the Royal Highland Show’ in Edinburgh. Such an incredible achievement and an honour to have this calibre of genetics now in our fold.
Blyneal is doing remarkably well alongside her first time parents. There was no mucking around with this wee lass, quickly on her feet, standing well and had no issue latching on, just the way we like it.
So that’s 3 yellow heifers; Morain, Moribel and now Blyneal all sired by our 3 seperate sire bulls. Counting down the days until our other 4 make an appearance. Happy days !! 🤩
