CHAPTER XXVIII 

 THE GALLOWAY 



The native home of Galloway cattle is in the province of Gal- 

 loway in southwestern Scotland. This province includes two coun- 

 ties — Wigtown and Kirkcudbright — as well as parts of the counties 

 of Ayr and Dumfries. Galloway borders the sea on the west and 

 south and is generally rough and mountainous excepting in places 

 near the sea. Much of the land is especially suited to grazing, 

 but wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and turnips do well on cultivated 

 lands of the better class. The climate is damp and cloudy much of 

 the time, cold and inclement in winter, and often cool in summer. 



The origin of the Galloway, like that of the Aberdeen-Angus, 

 is quite obscure. According to Wilson,^ early in the eighteenth 

 century there arose in England a demand for polled cattle to 

 which the people of Galloway were the first to respond. Youatt 

 states that about 1750 the greater part of the cattle of Galloway 

 were horned, but some of them were polled, a feature of this 

 breed. In 1789 George CuUey wrote of "polled or humbled" 

 cattle and stated that " for the original of these we must look 

 in Galloway." Culley also notes that graziers and drovers took 

 them "in prodigious numbers" to the fairs in Norfolk and Suf- 

 folk, England. As far back as 1723 Alexander Murray of Broch- 

 ton is credited with having an enormous number of black cattle 

 on his estate, feeding one thousand each year and driving to the 

 English markets. Possibly the breed is descended from polled wild 

 cattle. Various British authorities indicate that the Galloway is es- 

 sentially a Kyloe or West Highland breed devoid of horns and 

 may be a sport from this. Some authorities insist that Galloways 

 have always been a true polled breed. 



The improvement of the Galloway dates back into the eighteenth 

 century. Culley states that the breeders of Galloway complain 

 that the old breed has become much worn out. He then says that 



1 Evolution of British Cattle, 1909. 

 300 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



