Galloways

Nowt to do with sheep at all, just thought I'd share with you this Galloway Cow and calf.

Galloways are traditional hardy hill cattle, hairy characters they are - well suited to living outdoors all year round. you might notice the camera is getting a mean look off this particular beast, I hesitate to add that the zoom is quite powerful and I was on the other side of the fence as she had just calved and I had no intention of going anywhere near her - I'm too young to die!! She was actually quite well behaved all things considered but I would never tempt fate.

I've always had a soft spot for the Galloway, my first two shepherding jobs included a herd of Galloways and I found them slowly creeping into my heart.

Independent type cattle able to withstand most that is thrown at them, noted for being wild but I have found since that many of these continental cross cattle are equally wild if not more so.

The Galloway is a genuine beast, she follows the instincts of a wild animal and is protective of her young, but handled right they aren't really too much bother. Although I did once know one called 'Big Fat Black' (for obvious reasons) and she really was a bit of a madam, to the point of being dangerous when calved, she once managed to clear the yard with folks vaulting gates and walls without touching them - except for me that is, I found myself running circles around a caravan in the yard until she could be distracted ! Unfortunately for her a bad calving left her grounded (even then she would try to attack anyone attempting to get near her, difficult when carrying food and water to her) and so became the end of 'Big Fat Black'