Belted Galloway Cattle
Belted Galloways are a native Scottish breed of cattle, historically described as a dual purpose cow, producing good beef and lots of milk. The white belt round the belly is a defining feature which makes them striking to look at. They are a relatively small breed, slow growing, and are naturally polled (they do not grow horns)
We chose Belties to have on our farm because they are a native breed, hardy in the winter, easy to calve and tasty to eat. With their striking white belt I describe them as my “zebras”, even though they only have one stripe! Over the years they have lived up to their reputation. From one day to the next they look after themselves. They are spring calvers and wth plenty of a good milk the calves grow quickly.
We regularly have breeding stock, of which all are pedigreed, quiet and easy to handle. We always have homebred heifers and castrates for sale.
The vast majority are black and white but there is a recognised “red” colour and “dun” colour. The Belted Galloway Society which regulates the pedigreeing of Belted Galloways recognises any shape of belt as long as it is complete all the way round.
We have had a pedigree herd of Belted Galloways since 1995 when we bought our first cows with calves at foot from a rare breeds sale at Thainstone Mart. The next month we went to the Belted Galloway sale at Castle Douglas and bought our first bull, Park Victory.
Our belties are quiet and handled often. The young heifers spend their first summer ‘on holiday’ on a friends croft in the west of Scotland! The rest spend the whole year on our hill farm.
Our herd has grown since with Park Victory being replaced by Balcorrach Athol and then Huntfield Herman and then Polbae Livingstone. Now Staffords Alexander (Sire:Esk Vally Glorious - Dam: Solway Vented) runs with our breeding cows. We’ve had our most recent bull, Staffords Alexander since 2017, so all our calves since then are his progeny.
We also breed our own 'Heltie's', our Highland and Belted Galloway cross!
Based in the highlands of Scotland we are in a 4 year T.B testing area. The herd is tested yearly for BVD and has negative status.
Our castrated males are sent to slaughter when they are over 30 months old. We are lucky to have a local slaughter house which means we do not have to travel them too far. Some of the beef, once butchered comes back to us where we sell it from the farm, frozen.