I have read a lot about the Highlanders and, here in Canada, we have a pretty good gene pool of them, but they're still a specialty breed and a dairy Highlander would be rare indeed. They may not produce as much, but the return may be better than with a high producer needing supplements. The smaller cows have lower nutritional needs, on average, so you can keep them with less feed.
The second suggestion I'd have is to be open to another small breed, though again you can find smaller animals of any breed. This is a very tough get, especially if Highlanders are rare. If you can find a milking or pregnant cow (a pregnant heifer has never given birth, so hasn't been milked before), I'd spend serious money for a good animal, like a cow on the edge of the top 20-25% of the herd for good genetics. If you've milked before, you can disregard this, but it's so much nicer to handle nice cows, so make disposition a top trait when choosing. You'll want to buy a girl that is calm, an easy milker and calver, is gentle and can train you. I'd say that your best bet would be to find someone who's willing to sell a Highlander that's already being milked, or has been milked and is now dry and pregnant. She's already caused one cow to miscarry yet they wanted to keep her until she calved. The last guy I milked for had a pregnant heifer that rammed the other cows. I've found other breeds to be nicer handling, but there are always asshole cows in any breed, so you mostly need to make sure you don't get one of those.
I've had limited experience with the new Holsteins, but they're much larger and, I've found, not as easy handling as they used to be. Farms around here aren't as huge as in the States, but herds tend to start around 3-400 head and some are milking almost 700 when, 30 years ago when I was a kid, 50 milking was a pretty standard herd. I've found that Holsteins are great for producing lots of lower fat milk when fed to the max and pampered to the gills. I'm also going to assume that you've never milked before, no shame in that, but my apologies if I'm wrong. We've got a quota system here, so most milking is done with Holsteins, but I've also milked a number of other breeds, but not a Highlander. I'll preface what I say by admitting that I've never owned a cow, let alone a Highlander, but I've read about them, so I'm an internet expert.
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