There is one bull test station for Highland cattle out of 10 such stations in Québec. In order to improve the gene pool of the Highland breed and to enhance the quality of our herds, a bull test station was set up in 1996 by the Association québécoise des éleveurs de bovins Highland. This station receives on average 20 bulls of which about 50% are approved by the governmental agencies as being of superior genetic quality.

The bulls are kept under the same conditions and receive the same feed for 6 months. Their daily increase in weight, the general build of the animals, their limbs, muscles, fertility, etc. provide the standards by which the best subjects are selected.

Over several past years in Québec some herds of Highland cattle have been monitored for their performance from birth to weaning under the PATBQ (Québec Survey of Slaughter Animals Program). Since 2000 some breeders have chosen to participate in the supervised version of the PATBQ (Québec Survey of Slaughter Animals Program) in which some data have been confirmed by an AST (technical support agent) from the PATLQ (Québec Survey of Dairy Animals Program).