LECTURE NO. 17. 



GALLOWAY CATTLE THEIR ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



I. Galloway cattle are so named from the 

 province of Galloway, which now comprises the 

 stewartry of Kirkcudbright and the shire of Wig- 

 town. 



(1) The principal pedigreed herds in Britain are found 

 in Kirkcudbright, Dumfriesshire and Cumberland, where they 

 have been bred pure further back than any authentic records 

 carry us. 



(2) Several writers of the sixteenth century speak in 

 high terms of the excellence of the flesh of the cattle of the 

 Galloway district. 



II. The Galloways are certainly one of the 

 purest, as well as one of the oldest, of the improved 

 breeds. 



(1) Some authorities hold to the opinion that they are 

 descended from a wild aboriginal polled breed still repre- 

 sented at Chatellerault in Lanarkshire, Scotland. 



(2) There has been no infusion of outside blood whatever 

 within the period. of their recorded history, as all efforts to 

 improve the breed from an outside source have been un- 

 successful. 



(3) This is not inconsistent with the fact that horned 

 cattle of other breeds have been bred simultaneously in the 

 same districts. 



(4) An unmistakable proof of the antiquity and purity 

 of the breed is found in the entire absence of scurs in pure 

 Galloways, and in the great power which they have to remove 

 the horns when crossed upon other breeds. 



III. The treatment to which they have been 

 subjected, and the cold, damp climate in which they 

 were originally reared, have contributed much to 

 their proverbial ruggedness. 



63 



