Ian grew up with cattle on the farm as his father ran a dairy herd here, then switched to raising beef animals until he retired in 1995.
It had long been our wish to have our own suckler beef herd and 2009 the timing was right. We considered many native breeds but chose Beef Shorthorns for their temperament, look and traditional qualities, and in 2011 we added some rare Riggit Galloways to the South Yeo herd as well. Both these breeds originate from Northern England/Scotland.
We now have a closed herd of around 30 animals to minimise the risk of bringing in disease. We became farm-assured with Red Tractor in 2016 and each year blood test a proportion of the herd to test for the major cattle diseases and are accredited clear of Johnes, BVD, Leptospirosis and IBR through the Biobest Healthy Herd scheme. This means our customers can buy both animals and meat boxes with the confidence that our animals are kept to the highest biosecurity and welfare standards.
Shorthorns have been one of Britain’s most influential native breeds of cattle; their genetics have been used worldwide in the development of many different breeds. They had the earliest cattle herd book, which was established in 1822. In the early 1900s they were by far the most populous breed in England but their numbers dropped to only a few thousand by the 1980s. The current demand for larger carcasses has meant many native breeds are overlooked or crossed with continental animals. Shorthorns are not rare, but are certainly not common; they are classed as ‘other native breed’ by the RBST. The breed was once dual purpose but diverged into distinct beef and dairy type animals, such that now there are separate Breed Societies and herd registers for beef or dairy shorthorns.
Herd boss Crumpet with her roan bull calf
18 month old Roan Shorthorn heifer in her winter coat
Shorthorns occur in a variety of colours from solid red, through red & white, roan, to white. Roans are most popular but we like to have the full range of colours in our herd. The breed are generally very docile and easy to manage, they are milky mothers and calve with ease. They finish between 24-30 months off grass and are good ‘doers’. Ours readily follow a bucket from field to field when we need to move them. We have pedigree animals registered in the herd book and occassionally have pedigree females avilable to sell; males are reared for beef which we sell as meat boxes direct from the farm. Our first taste of shorthorn beef was well worth it; it is beautifully succulent, a real old fashioned taste of what Sunday lunches used to taste like.
Hardy Galloway cattle occur in a variety of colours from solid black, red & dun, to white with back or red points, and the strikingly attractive belted. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it was realised that a Riggit or ‘line-backed’ colouring had existed as well; where they had occurred in established Galloway herds, it had been assumed that they were a miss-marked throwback, and often sent to the butcher rather than being retained and bred from. The Riggit has solid coloured sides with a white top-line, belly and white in the legs, often with a speckled face and can occur in black, red or dun.
A handful of dedicated breeders across Britain are now working hard to bring back the breed from the edge of extinction and we want to help play a part. In 2007 the Riggit Galloway Cattle Society was formed. The Riggit Galloway, when crossed with solid or belted Galloways, can throw riggit marked offspring, so there is optimism for breeding further Riggits without inbreeding as outcrosses can help to keep a wider gene pool as they are re-established. At the moment Riggit to Riggit matings do not always result in Riggit marked calves, but with further work, this is the aim. Riggits, like other Galloways, also occur as black, red or dun and currently there are only around 150 registered females in the herd book.
Galloways are a native breed and thrive on unimproved or rough grazing - indeed ours make straight for a patch of rushes when put into a new field. Their thick dual coat means that if ground conditions are suitable, they can be successfully out-wintered. They are naturally polled (have no horns) and are smaller than the shorthorns. Despite their feisty reputation, we have found the Galloways to be docile easy to manage breed and their beef tastes excellent! The hides are attractively marked and we have them made into throws, wall hangings, rugs etc. to sell
Other breeds with similar markings to the native Riggit occur around the world, including the Canadian Speckle Park which has recently been imported to Ireland and Britain, Irish Droimeann cattle and the American Randall Lineback and American Lineback Dairy Cattle
Galloways in other colours are overseen in the UK by their own breed societies:
The Galloway Cattle Society includes solid Black, Red and Dun in the herd book. The Belted Galloway Cattle Society includes Belted Black, Red and Dun in the herd book and also overseas registrations of White Galloways
