One of Scotland’s oldest native cattle breeds was trending across the UK on Twitter last night (Wed 14 August) after political journalist Robert Peston tweeted a photo asking what the ‘woolly and striped’ animals he’d spotted were.
Amongst the more than 1,000 comments were ‘panda coos’, ‘oreo cows’, ‘mammoth badgers’, ‘humbug cows’ and intriguingly ‘zebra crossed with a bison’.
However most of the people commenting named the breed of cattle correctly as Belted Galloways which promptly started trending across the UK and sent the Twittersphere into an outpouring of affection for the breed, which originates in Dumfries & Galloway.
Lorna Young of Dumfries & Galloway Food and Drink said:
“It was lovely to see so many people tweeting so fondly about our iconic Belties, but it also demonstrated that we need to do better in making sure people recognise and value our native cattle breeds.
“Upland native breeds like Galloways produce nutritious food while also supporting the fight against climate change. Native breeds are perfectly co-adapted to pasture based farming in rural landscapes across the UK, landscapes that are not suitable for growing crops. Not only that, but as conservation grazers they improve the biodiversity of the landscapes they graze and they sequester carbon in the soil.
“Buying beef from native breeds like the Galloway and Belted Galloway will help make sure these gentle animals remain a permanent feature of our rural landscape.”
Belted Galloway cattle, and their cousins the black Galloway, are a common sight across Dumfries & Galloway in south west Scotland, and their meat is increasingly sought after by chefs for its rich flavour and marbling.
Galloways will be the focus of the Galloway Country Fair, taking place at Drumlanrig Castle this weekend, when World Champion Scotch Pie maker Kerr Little will launch the first Galloway Beef Scotch Pie, whilst Galloway Beef Chef Ambassador Fraser Cameron will demonstrate a Galloway Beef fillet stuffed with St James whisky smoked salmon, and served with a ‘million pound’ whisky sauce.
The sauce, made from cask number one from a local Distillery’s first unpeated single malt, will be used for a recipe in the Fair’s Galloway Demo Kitchen. This will be the first and only use of the whisky, named after Robert Burns, before it is bottled. The cask is currently on sale for £1million.
