A few years ago, Jennifer and Bob McClure decided to raise cattle for their own consumption on 40 acres in Eastonville, Colo.”With the ‘mad cow’ disease scare in the early 2000s, we decided that if we were going to continue to be meat eaters, we needed to use our acreage to raise our own beef,” Jennifer McClure said.First, they considered the Black Angus (also known as the Aberdeen Angus). According to the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society’s Web site, the Angus is the “only beef breed to have true ‘brand’ characteristics,” thanks to promotion by grocery stores and restaurants, such as Black Angus and Burger King, which named a menu item for the breed in 2004.The McClures decided to look for a smaller breed that would work better on less acreage – a breed that could be finished (just prior to slaughter) on grass instead of grain, said Bob McClure.They decided on the Galloway, which, according to the Web site for the American Livestock Breed Conservancy, is related to the Angus and, like the Angus, was first bred in Scotland in the late 1700s.”Galloways are small, docile, easy to care for and naturally polled. They eat almost anything,” McClure said. “They’re one of only a few breeds classified as browsers, and they’ll even forage in snow.”The Galloway is a preferred breed for grass finishing. Grass-fed beef is leaner, carries a favorable ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. The meat has higher levels of vitamin E and beta carotene and less saturated fat.”The industrialization of agriculture has caused extinction in many breeds of livestock, she said.The ALBC has nine cattle breeds on its critical list. Heritage breeds, such as the Ancient Park White, Canadienne, Dutch Belted, Florida Cracker, Milking Shorthorn, Kerry, Milking Devon, Pineywoods and Randall, are fading into history.Along with the Ayrshire and the Guernsey, the Galloway is on the ALBC’s watch list.”A heritage breed is one that was raised in the not-so-distant past. They’re breeds that have not been altered by modern production-driven breeding practices,” McClure said.Galloways are ideally suited to the Falcon area because of their thick coat and long outer coat that keeps them warm, reducing the amount of feed needed in the winter and reducing the amount of back fat the animal needs to stay warm, she said.Galloways also are resistant, if not immune, to brisket disease, which is a type of congestive heart failure found in cattle kept at high altitude, McClure said.”We have some neighbors that had Angus on their property for a few months; and, in that few months, they lost three cows because of brisket disease,” Bob McClure said.The McClures have three Galloways and “just put one in the freezer,” he said.The McClure’s two adult cows are pregnant and will give birth in the summer. The male, Albert, is a year old and destined for the dinner table in a year or less.”My wife thought it might be [hard to butcher them] because we have two young boys. So far we haven’t seen any difficulty in it with our boys,” Bob McClure said. “They take it well. They knew from the get-go that we’re raising these cattle to eat, and they’re not pets.”Although not pets, the McClures take good care of their Galloways.”I take nature as God gave it to us. We’d better take care of what we got. Treat them right, and respect their life as well,” he said.Many baby boomers are beginning to retire and returning to rural life, Jennifer McClure said.Some are becoming small-scale farmers or ranchers themselves. Heritage breeds give people who are interested in their health a multitude of choices for hobby ranching.”Heritage breeds are profoundly important as a pool of genetic diversity,” she said.
