In New Zealand the distinctive White Galloway was first registered with the New Zealand Galloway Society in 1994. Like the Standard and Belted breeds, it has its own separate Herd Book.
The colour pattern of the White Galloway is mostly white, with its colour restricted to its ears, feet, and around its eyes. They will also often have colour on their poll, tail, and udder. (see more information below)
The Galloway is naturally hornless, and instead of horns has a bone knob at the top of its skull that is called a poll. This breed's shaggy coat has both a thick, wooly undercoat for warmth and stiffer guard hairs that help shed water, making them well adapted to harsher climates
Longevity
Galloways have a reputation for longevity – many are reputed to live until 17-20 years of age.
High fertility
The Galloway is an extremely fertile breed; the cows are long lived, regular breeders and are noted for their ability to produce healthy, well nourished calves at weaning, even in the harshest of conditions. Some Galloways have had two separate calves in one year.
Easy calving
Calving difficulties, or dystocia, is a problem many cattle farmers know only too well.
They know heredity plays a large part in this problem, along with management. But they may not know that there is a beef breed renowned for introducing ease of calving into a herd, along with other worthwhile commercial traits.
The Galloway Cattle breeds have achieved an outstanding rate of calf survival in various tests and trials undertaken in research centres around the world.
One had only to look at the history of the breed to understand why Galloways are so easy calving. Evolved over centuries in the highlands of Scotland, the Galloways had to calve by themselves. If the calf was too big or the cow’s pelvic measurements were incorrect, the calf, cow, or both would die. Over the years this created a natural selection for calving ease which is a genetically strong feature of the breed today.
An increasing number of dairy and beef producers are using the Galloway over their heifers to produce an easy calf for the young cow, and at the same time produce a worthwhile beef animal.
The Galloway calf at birth is smaller than most breeds – average birth weights are 35kg for males and 31kg for females.
Galloways are an extremely fertile breed, regularly producing a vigorous live calf. The Galloway cow is a protective mother and has an abundant supply of milk.
Excellent Beef Qualities
Galloway Beef has been shown in a research study conducted at the University of Guelph – to have a total fat content of about 2%, an extremely low percentage.
The same study showed that the Galloway Beef tested only contained about 1% saturated fat. In addition it showed that Galloway Beef had the same fat content as chicken and fish so fits in well with a healthy diet.
Galloway Beef is exceptionally tender, full of flavour and juicy. Data collected in USA has shown that Galloway beef dresses out at 60-62% of live weight making it a very profitable breed.
Galloway meat is low in total fat and total saturated fat.
Galloway meat is high in beneficial Omega 3 fatty acid and lower in Omega 6, and has excellent Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio. It contains good high levels of EPA and DHA.
Galloway meat is more beneficial than pork loin and about as good as chicken and salmon fillet.
The colour pattern of the White Galloway is mostly white, with its colour restricted to its ears, feet, and around its eyes. They will also often have colour on their poll, tail, and udder. (see more information below)
The Galloway is naturally hornless, and instead of horns has a bone knob at the top of its skull that is called a poll. This breed's shaggy coat has both a thick, wooly undercoat for warmth and stiffer guard hairs that help shed water, making them well adapted to harsher climates
Longevity
Galloways have a reputation for longevity – many are reputed to live until 17-20 years of age.
High fertility
The Galloway is an extremely fertile breed; the cows are long lived, regular breeders and are noted for their ability to produce healthy, well nourished calves at weaning, even in the harshest of conditions. Some Galloways have had two separate calves in one year.
Easy calving
Calving difficulties, or dystocia, is a problem many cattle farmers know only too well.
They know heredity plays a large part in this problem, along with management. But they may not know that there is a beef breed renowned for introducing ease of calving into a herd, along with other worthwhile commercial traits.
The Galloway Cattle breeds have achieved an outstanding rate of calf survival in various tests and trials undertaken in research centres around the world.
One had only to look at the history of the breed to understand why Galloways are so easy calving. Evolved over centuries in the highlands of Scotland, the Galloways had to calve by themselves. If the calf was too big or the cow’s pelvic measurements were incorrect, the calf, cow, or both would die. Over the years this created a natural selection for calving ease which is a genetically strong feature of the breed today.
An increasing number of dairy and beef producers are using the Galloway over their heifers to produce an easy calf for the young cow, and at the same time produce a worthwhile beef animal.
The Galloway calf at birth is smaller than most breeds – average birth weights are 35kg for males and 31kg for females.
Galloways are an extremely fertile breed, regularly producing a vigorous live calf. The Galloway cow is a protective mother and has an abundant supply of milk.
Excellent Beef Qualities
Galloway Beef has been shown in a research study conducted at the University of Guelph – to have a total fat content of about 2%, an extremely low percentage.
The same study showed that the Galloway Beef tested only contained about 1% saturated fat. In addition it showed that Galloway Beef had the same fat content as chicken and fish so fits in well with a healthy diet.
Galloway Beef is exceptionally tender, full of flavour and juicy. Data collected in USA has shown that Galloway beef dresses out at 60-62% of live weight making it a very profitable breed.
Galloway meat is low in total fat and total saturated fat.
Galloway meat is high in beneficial Omega 3 fatty acid and lower in Omega 6, and has excellent Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio. It contains good high levels of EPA and DHA.
Galloway meat is more beneficial than pork loin and about as good as chicken and salmon fillet.
Colour patterns
White Galloways carry the “white park colour pattern” whereas the Belted Galloway carries the “belted/sheeted colour pattern”. Colour patterns invariably denote separate breeds and are much more complex genetically than colour which is usually controlled by just a single gene.
Why do White Galloways look like Speckle Parks? Both carry the same “White Park Colour Pattern” i.e. both are breeds descended from a breed or breeds that carry the “White Park Colour Pattern” such as the White Park and British White breeds. The “White Park Colour Pattern” is genetically dominant or incompletely dominant, this means that it visually presents itself in most generations. See the paper presented to the White Galloway conference in Germany in 2014 for more information. Both are breeds developed in Canada and accepted by the Canadian government. In fact, the Canadian White Galloway was developed from the same dam that developed the Speckle Park. Both started out as composites like virtually all modern breeds. The Speckle Park website has further information.
Why do White Galloways look like Speckle Parks? Both carry the same “White Park Colour Pattern” i.e. both are breeds descended from a breed or breeds that carry the “White Park Colour Pattern” such as the White Park and British White breeds. The “White Park Colour Pattern” is genetically dominant or incompletely dominant, this means that it visually presents itself in most generations. See the paper presented to the White Galloway conference in Germany in 2014 for more information. Both are breeds developed in Canada and accepted by the Canadian government. In fact, the Canadian White Galloway was developed from the same dam that developed the Speckle Park. Both started out as composites like virtually all modern breeds. The Speckle Park website has further information.
The White Galloway breed is an ancient one and was originally distinctive of the Wild White cattle of Britain. These are typified by the surviving British White, Chillingham and White Park herds. The herd of White Park cattle at Cadzow Park, Hamilton (adjacent to Galloway) is believed to be the source of the special colourings of the White Galloway.
