If you were to drive by our farm this afternoon, two things might stand out – one would be the fact that our cattle are all packed into a small space on a large pasture, and the other would probably be the “oreo” cattle mixed into the bunch.
The reason that you might notice the cattle bunched together is that we are practicing managed intensive grazing. I could write volumes on the benefits of this method, but that’s not the topic of this post.
The topic of this post are those “oreo” cattle… five Belted Galloway cattle, to be exact. We are experimenting with this Scottish breed in 2009, and so far, we are really impressed with them. They are a larger breed of cattle than the Irish Dexters that make up the majority of our herd now, and the other major difference is that they lack the “dual-purpose” benefits of Dexters (Belties are primarily for beef, while Dexters are considered good milkers as well). However, we’ve been really happy with their qualities so far, and they will certainly provide more beef per animal. Later this year, we’ll be finishing both Dexter and Belted Galloway grass-fed beef, so we’ll be able to evaluate the two breeds for taste, cutting losses, and grade.
Belties and Dexters on pasture
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