THE GALLOWAY BREED. 
PLATE VIII. 
1. HEIFER, Three Years Old, the property of the Right Honourable the Countess of Selkirk, 
St Mary’s Isle, Kirkcudbrightshire. 
2. BULL, Four Years’ Old, Bred by Mr Marshall, St Mary’s Isle. 
^The district termed Galloway forms the termination on the west of the range of the greywacke hills, which stretch from St 
Abb’s Head on the east coast to the North Irish Channel. It comprehends the modem counties of Wigton and Kirkcudbright, 
but formerly included, and still does so in popular language, a portion of the shires of Ayr and Dumfries. The general character 
of the district is moist. The winters are more temperate than on the eastern coasts, snow does not remain long upon the ground, 
and the soil tends to produce the grasses, rushes, and other herbaceous plants, rather than the heaths. This district has long 
produced great numbers of cattle, which have acquired a distinct class of characters. 
The breed of Galloway is properly one of the mountains rather than of our lower country, and its characters adapt it well to 
the degree of productiveness of the district, the nature of its agriculture, and the humidity of the climate. The cattle are of larger 
size than those of the Highlands of Scotland, but smaller than the Long-horns and the breeds of the lower country. Their 
average dead weight, when fat, at three years’ old, may be reckoned about 45 stones, of 14 lb. to the stone; those sold in London 
at the age of nearly four, weigh from 55 to 60 stones. The skins are thick, though soft to the touch, and the hair is long and 
soft. The predominant colour is black, the breeders preferring that colour, and regarding it as indicative of hardiness and purity 
of blood. The form of the body of these cattle is compact, the limbs are short and fleshy to the knee and hock, the chest is 
moderately deep, the throat is furnished with a dewlap, and the neck is somewhat coarse. The sides are very long, and this 
character distinguishes the breed. The Galloway rib is well known in Smithfield, and the general form of the animal is valued 
by the butchers. These cattle are hardy, exceedingly docile, sufficiently good feeders when carried to suitable pastures, and weigh 
well m proportion to their bulk; they produce beef which is esteemed in. the English markets, on account of the fat being well 
mixed with the muscular parts. Hector Boece, who wrote in the 16th century, speaking of the cattle of Galloway, says, « In 
this region ar mony fair ky and oxin, of quhilk the flesh is right delicius and tender.” 
The cows are indifferent milkers, and soon run dry. In this character they resemble other mountain breeds of Scotland. 
The character may he partly the result of breeding, the care of the breeders of the district having been always directed to the 
grazing and not to the milking properties. But the milk, though comparatively small in quantity, is rich in cream. 
A remarkable character of this breed is the absence of horns in the male and female. It is said that the older breed of 
Galloway, as they existed in the middle of last century, possessed horns; but this is not perfectly ascertained, and some earlier 
notices rather conduct us to the conclusion, that the absence of horns has been for a much longer period a distinctive character of 
the race. It may be either due to the physical circumstances of the country producing this constitutional character, or to the 
effects of selection in breeding, or to a combination of these causes. If the constitutional tendency existed, it was easy for breeders, 
by breeding only from animals destitute of horns, to render all the breed polled. Sometimes even yet the horns are developed in 
individuals, and, as this is regarded, erroneously indeed, as a test of impurity, they are cut out. In a few cases the development of 
the horns is partial; the nucleus or bony part is wanting, but the horny part has been formed, and hangs loose on the skin. 
The trade in cattle between Galloway and England appears to have begun soon after the union of the two Crowns, and for 
upwards of 150 years has been regular and extensive. It is computed that upwards of 20,000 head are annually exported from 
the district, oi which from 16,000 to 18,000 are sold at Smithfield; but it is probable that the total export exceeds the quantity 
mentioned. They are reared to the age of two or three years on the farms of the country, and are driven southward mostly in 
the latter part of the season, and chiefly to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. They are purchased by the English feeders, 
wintered on straw, hay, and green food, and fattened on the grass of the following season, and driven to Smithfield, supplying a 
large part of the consumption of the city from Christmas to July. They are well known accordingly in this great market, and 
are greatly valued by butchers and consumers. A number are likewise fattened in the lower parts of Dumfriesshire, and indeed, 
over a great part of this extensive county, the prevailing breed has hitherto been the Galloway. But for many years the Ayr¬ 
shire breed has been gaining ground with the progress of the dairy, and in some cases the Short-horns have been introduced. 
