History
Galloway, which has given its name to this breed of black or dun polled cattle, was an ancient regality or lordship lying in the south-west of Scotland. 'Galloway' is derived from the words Gallovid, or Gaul and the Gauls were the first to inhabit this part of Scotland.
 Photo courtesy of Erray Farm, www.erray.co.uk |
This ancient breed of cattle were said to be dark, smooth-polled, wavy-haired with undercoats like beaver's fur and for centuries they went unnamed, referred to only as the black cattle of Galloway. From this coastal environment of winds and damp cold, combined with an undulating terrain of moors, granitic hills, heathery mountain ranges and fertile glens emerged the Galloway breed of cattle.
Much has been written of the history of British cattle since the middle of the 18th Century, the period immediately before that is almost without a record but there are points in which historians do agree upon.
The Galloway breed of cattle became important during the Scoto-Saxon period, and the breeders of Galloway enjoyed the export of cheese and hides. Later the cattle were sold in considerable numbers to English farmers who sent them to Smithfield market after a fattening period on English grass. It is said that the Galloway breed was never crossed with the other breeds. It is not known where the polled character was acquired by the Galloway breed because in its beginning many of the cattle were horned. However, many writers during the last part of the 1700's and early 1800's mentioned polled Galloway cattle, and the breeders decided they liked the polled characteristic and started selecting their cattle for the character. Most of the early cattle in the Galloway district were black, but red, brown, brindles, and cattle with white markings were not uncommon.
In 1851, a fire at the Highland Agricultural Museum at Edinburgh destroyed all the historical records and pedigrees of the Galloway collected prior to that time. Eleven years later (1862), a Polled Herd Book was published and it included the Galloway, Aberdeen, and Angus breeds. In 1878 the Galloway Cattle Society of Great Britain initiated its own volume of pedigrees. The first exportation of Galloways to North America came in 1853 to the Graham brothers of Toronto, Canada. From then on the Galloway was exported to America and to the rest of the world due to its great qualities.
The Galloway has produced the Belted Galloway and more recently the White Galloway and even the Poll Hereford.
Characteristics
Galloway's are mainly black with a brownish tinge, they are also bred in dun and black or dun belted, the latter being a recessive gene strain of red and white. They have a long, soft wavy coat which serves a dual purpose, the coarse outer coat sheds wind and rain, while the soft, fur-like under coat provides insulation and waterproofing.
Galloways are all hornless or polled although some writers say that formerly they were mixed, some being horned and others polled.
The breed is very docile and couragous, it has been said that they will team up and attack predators to prevent attacks on their calves. Even when there are just a few Galloways in a field of sheep, they will act the same making it safer for the sheep.
The Galloway is a maternal breed. The cows are easy calvers, while the calves themselves are hardy, vigourous and have a 'will to live' that gets them up and nursing quickly. The Galloway is long-lived, with many cows producing regularly into their teens and beyond.
 Photo courtesy of Erray Farm,www.erray.co.uk |
They are a medium sized breed with a mature bull weighing from 1700 to 2300 pounds with an average being 1800 pounds and a mature cow generally weighing from 1000 to 1500 pounds with the average being around 1250 pounds. Calf birth weights average from 75-80 pounds.
In confirmation the Galloway will be found to c
arry its meat from behind the shoulder along the back to the tail, through the buttock and deep into t
