Dressed in black and white , admired and photographed by passing tourists , the famous wiz of Aldermere Farm are nonetheless down - to - earth sorts who seem to savor the elementary life : dining al fresco , feeling the wintertime sun on their backs , masticate their cuds .
OK , they ’re beef cattle , not movie stars , but they really have garnered mess of camera - toting lover .
In fact , Ron Howard , manager of this well - roll in the hay Rockport , Maine , farm , believes Aldermere ’s Belted Galloway cattle could possibly have the distinction of being the most - photographed bovines in the world .
Not surprising given their Panda - ish colors and strike traffic pattern : black discriminate by a broad , white knock around the middle of their sturdy bodies .
Give them a background of vivid spring greenery , golden summer grass , autumn go forth in flame hues or wintertime ’s austere white drifts , and you have one of the loveliest rural scene conceivable . A scene — and a cattle breed — you likely wo n’t forget as long as you live .
Trish Smith , a Graham , Wash. , hobby farmer who grew up in Ohio and often natter nearby Camden , Maine , with her family , sure enough never forgot Aldermere and its Belted Galloways .
Established in 1953 by Albert Chatfield Jr. , who will it to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust in 1999 , Aldermere Farm carry on the old continuously operated herd of Belted Galloways in the United States .
At any time of year , a part of the 75- to 100 - head ruck can be seen pasture lush pastures on either side of Russell Avenue .
latterly , after a poignant reunion to scatter her parents ’ ash off the Maine coast , Smith introduce her two grown girl to the “ Oreo ” oxen she ’d love watching as a child .
“ Someday I ’m going to have some , ” Smith vows as she eyes her 5 - Akka ley back home , currently take by buck . “ I ’ve require these oxen ever since I first assure them as a kid . ”
These belt beauty ca n’t help but have that form of effect on people ; however , Belted Galloways own more than cunning face and pretty exteriors — something you ’ll quick discover if you take the clock time to get acquainted with them .
A Rare History
behave amongst the moors , rocky hills and woodlands of southwestern Scotland , the Belted Galloway strain developed during the 16th one C in an ancient district known as Galloway .
Some source recall the name Galloway stems from the onetime Scottish give-and-take “ Gallovid ” which means “ a Gaul , ” a citation to the first masses believed to shack there . In this rough and often rain - lashed area , a full-bodied strain of Gaelic cattle , ordinarily polled ( hornless ) and have a shaggy opprobrious coat , had eked out an cosmos for hundreds of years .
Although no one knows for certain , these blocky Galloway cattle — conceive to be the oldest of beef breeds — may have been cut across with import Dutch Belted dairy farm cattle , also call Lakenvelders , to give us the Belted Galloway .
According to the U.S. Belted Galloway Society , the first Belties came to the United States in 1939 , when Alice McLean of New York import a Samson and a XII engender heifers from Great Britain .
Tragically , about 10 year afterward an unscrupulous drover butcher and sold off the rarified cattle as shameful - grocery store squawk when she was aside in England .
The next batch arrived in 1950 , brought from Scotland to Hapwood Farm in Pennsylvania by Harry Prock , who go on to found the American Belted Galloway Breeders Association in 1951 with two more Beltie enthusiast , Charles Wells of Michigan and H. Gordon Green of Quebec .
Coming to the United States
During the fifties , a handful of other Beltie breeders joined the organisation , let in Aldermere ’s Albert Chatfield Jr. and General James A. Van Fleet , who at the clip go Withlacoochee Farm in Florida . In 1964 , they incorporated under the name Belted Galloway Society , Inc.
bring Belties in from their native Scotland was expensive , costing about $ 7,000 per animal , so few kine raisers kept them , notes Jane Faul , a veteran Beltie breeder in Battletown , Ky. , with some 30 years ’ experience .
During the seventies , she had stumbled upon a photo of the striking strain accompanied by an article bill Belties as “ the lazyman ’s kine ” because of their ego - sufficiency .
“ I thought , ‘ I can go for that , ’ ” she recalls . “ But at the point when I come in , if you want to get into Belties you had to spend three or four months on the phone trying to line up someone who want to part with one . It took me five month to get five animals together , and I was lucky to find them . ”
Only about 100 Belties had journeyed to North America when the bovine spongiform brain disease ( BSE , also jazz as mad cow disease ) outbreak in Great Britain put a stop to live imports in 1989 . Even though stock breeder could still import come and embryos for their breeding programs , Belties remained scarce .
The commercial beef industry ’s accent on uniform cattle with large frames and speedy ontogeny did little to aid encourage the stock ’s numbers .
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ’s 1994 bookTaking Stock : The North American Livestock Censuslisted Belted Galloways in the “ rare ” class on their Conservation Priority List , imply the breed had an estimated global universe of less than 5,000 and fewer than 1,000 enrollment in North America .
Thanks to the efforts of its enthusiastic supporters , though , the Beltie ’s popularity — and universe — has grow in recent age as more people discover this unique breed and its exceptional meat .
Today , Belted Galloways have moved up to the “ Recovering ” category of the ALBC ’s Conservation Priority List , which means the organization estimates these cattle have exceeded the “ Watch ” category ’s global universe of 10,000 or less and fewer than 2,500 registrations in North America , but they still need to be monitor . What ’s even more heartening : Faul thinks the breed ’s worldwide population could be close to 30,000 .
The U.S. Belted Galloway Society itself presently has more than 10,000 dynamic animate being in its registry , and the organization that started with three individuals now stands at 1,000 Beltie - loving members substantial .
All-season Cattle
Wisconsin , where winter temperatures dip to 30 degrees F below zero and the average annual snowfall vary from 30 to more than 100 inches across the State Department , demands that its dweller be audacious , especially those living outdoors class - round .
So when Michael Caldwell , MD , PhD , and his married woman , Lorna , started thinking about bring up constitutional , grassfed cattle on their Milladore , Wis. , farm , they looked for a strain capable of weathering the rough winters without bat an eyelash .
participate the Belted Galloway , with a heavy , double coat — both beautiful and functional — comprise of a shaggy , conditions - insubordinate stunned stratum and soft , insulating flat coat .
“ Belties are so well insulated that when it play false , the snow on their backs does n’t melt , ” say Lorna . “ We have a shelter for ours , but they favor to take shelter in the woods ; they do n’t like being inwardly . ”
Coastal Maine ’s harsh wintertime pose no problem for the Aldermere ’s Belties , either .
“ While we have buildings and shelter where our young stock or pre - calving cattle have access , they ’re perfectly suited to doing well in the open , ” explicate Howard . “ We just make trusted they have a sheltered area away from the current of air to rest and give them tidy sum of fresh H2O and hay throughout winter . ”
Indeed , Scotland ’s freakish climate has created an adaptable breed subject of toughing out all form of weather and difficult precondition , from torrential rain to sweltering summers . ( They love apondto cool down off in , though . )
“ Belties are unique in that they can do well even in hot climates , as they wo n’t carry their extra hair through warm weather , ” Howard says .
Belted Galloways are Survivors
The fairly sized Belted Galloways have keep back many of the endurance trait multiply out of the big , more traditional cattle breeds , he stresses .
For deterrent example , long - lived Belties in the main show full resistance todiseases , and the Bos taurus tend to to have an easy time comecalving time of year . Thanks to the likely Dutch Belted dairy farm influence , Beltie cows are first-class milkers whose calves thrive on their ample , high-pitched - butterfat milk .
“ Over the geezerhood , I ’ve only had to pull maybe five calves , ” Faul says . “ And Belties are definitely good mothers — they’ll even run coyotes off . ”
Beltie partisan also praise these cattle as efficient grazers and provender converters ( they ’ll eat plants other cattle spurn , Howard observe ) , a trait that spend a penny them an fantabulous choice for grass - based trading operations like the one at Caldwell Farms .
“ We do n’t feed our cows grain at all , ” Michael explains . “ We use direction - intensive skimming , and in the wintertime , we bung them haylage [ fermented alfalfa , cloversand grasses ] , which we harvest during the summertime and store in our silos . ”
“ The constitutive inspector could n’t believe that these embonpoint creature are catch no extra feeding of grain , they appear so beneficial , ” Lorna tote up . “ It boils down to their genetics and being fed good - quality grass . ”
The Beef on Belties
While many Beltie proprietor opt to keep these cattle as pasture ornaments or concentre on preservation efforts , an increasing number of breeder lift them for what they were developed for so long ago in Scotland : bitch production .
“ Twenty years ago , people would n’t have considered putting one of their Belties in the freezer , but this stock loan itself super well to grassfed operations , ” says Faul . And what about that gripe ? “ It ’s definitely goodmeat : thin and very saporous , with a dark coloration than commercial beef . ”
Protected by their weatherproof coats , Belties do n’t need to place down much back fat to stay warm during wintertime .
This translate to more beef — decent finished , Galloways and their crosses dress out at 60 to 62 percent of their resilient weight unit — and a meat product low in total fat as well as impregnate fat , yet still juicy and packed with flavour .
For the Caldwells , Michael ’s ground in the aesculapian field made it only natural that they would raise their Belties organically and humanely on pasture rather than use confinement method favored by commercial beef producers .
With more consumers today concerned about the discussion of livestock and the safety of our food in light ofE. coliscares and bacterial resistivity to antibiotics , it also made good business sensation for them to take this track . Right now , beef and other inwardness products are the fastest - growing segments of the constituent - foods industry .
constitutional farming , however , takes strong piece of work and allegiance ; easy localization like hormones to advance cows growth or synthetic fertiliser to create luxuriant eatage are n’t an option .
For instance , producing USDA - certified constitutional beef cattle ask that the Caldwells launch the land where their Belted Galloways grazing while keep open environmentalsustainabilityin mind , shun synthetic pesticide , fertilizers and other potentially risky agrichemicals .
Also , the kine can not get any antibiotics or hormones during their entire sprightliness . If one of their bovines becomes ill and requires antibiotic drug , the dyad must commit it from constitutive yield for discourse and finish raising the animal for sale as “ natural ” boeuf .
All of this demands documentation , include detailed records of each animal ’s spirit history , plus the yearly inspection to maintain their certification .
Belties are Worth It
It ’s well-defined the Caldwells believe the surplus work is worth it and that their hearty , effective Belted Galloways have been a gift to them , their constituent farm and their client .
“ Our opinion is that we require to be comfortable with the product we sell , ” says Michael . “ We want to give our client the good timbre and the goodish meat products . I could n’t imagine enkindle feedlot cattle . ”
If you do n’t bear in mind cause questions like “ Why do you put those sheets on them every day ? ” or “ How do you paint the white stripes around them ? ” you might want to view tot up these belted beauties to your hobby farm .
grant to Howard , given steady handling , these average - sized cattle are easy to work with , and they make great projects for Kid to show ( he does discourage they can be nervous if left on their own ) .
Surprisingly , agriculturalist often find Beltie bruiser friendlier and calmer than the cows !
“ The Belted Galloways are ego promoters in that people are automatically drawn to them , ” says Howard , who grew up from 2d grade onward at Aldermere while his father , Dwight Howard , worked as farm manager help the Chatfields conserve this breed .
By the way , after he graduated from high shoal , Howard vow he would never have anything to do with farming again , but by now you make love how Belties are : Eight long time ago , they called him back to the farm .
“ Because these cattle are so distinctive and the tone of their meat is so consistently high , they ’re perfect for the hobby Fannie Farmer who want beautiful , self - sufficient beast that can be easy marketed for their beef on a local weighing machine , ” Howard persist in .
“ I ’ve sold some to farm that do n’t even deal beef ; they may just have a farm stand and want some Belties in the field to draw in customers ; they ’re a traffic - stopper . If you were to plan a marketing plan and a moo-cow for your logotype to pull customers , it would have to be the Belted Galloway . ”
