The best highland cow gifts are the ones that let someone see their favourite shaggy face every day, and a print does exactly that. It is affordable, it never needs feeding, and there is a coo for every taste, from bright painted portraits to calm pencil drawings and a calf for the nursery. All of our highland cow prints start from £16. Below you will find our favourite ideas, a few facts to share with the coo fan in your life, and an honest answer to whether these animals are as friendly as they look.
What Makes Good Highland Cow Gifts?
Plenty of highland cow fans already have the mug, the tea towel and the socks. Far fewer have something special for the wall. A print is a bigger gesture than a novelty gift without costing much more, and it stays on display for years rather than sitting at the back of a cupboard.
The trick is matching the coo to the person. Someone with a bold, colourful home will love a painted portrait in coral and teal. A friend with a calm, neutral flat will prefer a soft cream coo or a simple black and white drawing. New parents, Scotland lovers and anyone with a good sense of humour all have a print that suits them too.
Highland Cow Art for Every Room
A coo works in more rooms than you might expect. Warm, painted coos sit happily above a sofa or a kitchen worktop, the darker drawings suit a hallway or a study, and the calves are made for a nursery. If you are choosing highland cow decor for someone else, think about the colours already in their home: sage, terracotta and oak go with the warmer coos, while white walls and black accents suit the drawings.
8 Coo Print Ideas for Every Home
Every print below starts from £16 in A4, and each one comes in nine sizes from 13 x 18cm up to 50 x 70cm.
1. A colourful coo for a bright home
For the friend who loves colour, Bonny the Coo peers out from under a fringe of coral and dusty pink, with streaks of teal and rust through her coat on a pale sage background. Lachlan the Coo is looser and more abstract, built from bold sweeps of rust, orange and teal on warm cream. For cooler tones, Isla the Coo is painted in cobalt blue and violet, standing in golden grass.
2. A soft, neutral coo
Not everyone wants a bright wall. Snow Coo is a creamy white highland cow with a pink nose and long brown horns on pale grey, and Morag the Coo is a gentle watercolour in rust, honey and grey, with loose washes and drips fading into white paper. Both are easy to place in a calm bedroom or living room.
3. Black and white for a modern home
Angus the Coo is the dramatic one: a silver grey coo lit from one side against deep black. Hamish the Coo is a fine pencil drawing that fades into white, and Dougal the Coo is a dark ink wash shape with misty edges on warm cream. Any of the three suits a hallway, a study or a home with black accents.
4. A glen scene for the Scotland lover
If the person you are buying for misses the hills, pick a coo with a view. Glen Rest shows a coo lying in long grass below pine trees and a snowy peak, in forest green and cream. Navy Glen has a coo standing among thistles, with rolling hills and a river behind, in navy and cream. They are drawn in the same bold, two colour style, so they make a good pair.
5. A bold orange statement
Rusty the Coo is a big shaggy face in bright rust orange, drawn in a carved print style with a clean cream border. It is a cheerful pick for a kitchen or a boot room, and it is hard to walk past without smiling.
6. A calf for a new baby
Highland calves make lovely new baby and nursery gifts. Wee Calf is a fluffy ginger calf sitting among peach and white wildflowers, and Mother and Calf shows a ginger coo with her cream calf at her side in golden grass, which also makes a thoughtful gift for a new mum. Both prints sit in our nursery wall art collection, and our nursery wall art ideas page has tips on hanging them.
7. A funny coo for the bathroom
For a housewarming or a friend with a sense of humour, Shower Peek has a ginger coo with a soaking wet fringe peering round a blue and cream striped shower curtain, as if you have walked in at the wrong moment. You will find it alongside other cheeky loo prints in our funny bathroom prints.
8. Let them choose their own coo
Not sure which coo they would pick? Our wall art gift card lets them choose their own print and size, and it is delivered by email.
6 Facts About Highland Cows
A few things to write in the card, or to share while the print goes up on the wall.
- "Coo" is simply Scots for cow. That is why the breed is so often called the hairy coo.
- A group of highland cattle is known as a fold. Breeders still use the word today.
- It is one of the oldest registered cattle breeds in the world. Its herd book was first published in 1885.
- That famous coat comes in two layers. A soft, downy undercoat keeps them warm, with a long top coat over it to keep out the rain, and the thick coat means they need less body fat to stay warm than many other breeds.
- Not every coo is ginger. Red is the classic colour, but they also come in yellow, brindle, dun, white and black.
- Cows and bulls both have horns. A bull's horns are usually thicker and point more forward, while a cow's are often longer and curve upwards.
Are Highland Cows Friendly?
Highland cattle are generally calm, easy going animals, which is a big part of their charm. They are still large farm animals with long horns, though, and mothers can be wary when they have calves. If you meet them on a walk or a trip to Scotland, enjoy them from a distance, do not feed them or try to stroke them, keep dogs out of fields where there are young animals, and follow any signs the farmer has put up. A print on the wall is the closest most of us should get to that fringe.
Highland Cow Gift FAQs
Which highland cow print is best for a child's room?
Wee Calf and Mother and Calf are the softest and gentlest of the range, and they suit a nursery or a child's bedroom. If your little one prefers real highland cow pictures to cartoons, these two look the most lifelike.
What size should I choose for a gift?
A4 and A3 are popular gift sizes, and prints start from £16. If you know where it will hang, the larger sizes up to 50 x 70cm work well above a sofa or a bed.
Do the prints come with a frame?
Our highland cow prints are sold unframed, on premium matte paper, and they fit standard ready made frames, so the person you are buying for can choose a frame that suits their home.
Can I send the print straight to them?
Yes. Tick "Mark as gift" in the basket and we leave the invoice out, so the print can go straight to them.
How long does delivery take?
Prints are made to order and usually dispatched within 1 to 2 days, and UK orders typically arrive in 3 to 6 days. UK delivery is free on orders over £50, and for Christmas we recommend ordering by early December.
Highland cow gifts do not need to be big, just right for the person. Pick the coo that matches their home and their sense of humour, and it will make them smile every time they walk past. Browse all our highland cow wall art and find a coo for everyone on your list.
