Bog Myrtle & Peat

Catching up with my notes over the last few days, it’s crucial to record the arrival of a new team member at the Working for Grouse project. I wasn’t really looking to buy any more heifers this autumn, but I happened to spot a really great prospect when I was down in Cumbria looking at a bull in September. My eye was immediately drawn to a fat little girl with short legs and a stubby nose, and she won my heart on a rain-soaked day in the mist.

Two months later, the eighteen month old pedigree heifer Stonehouse Eagle entered the ring during the galloway sale at Wallets Marts in Castle Douglas. This was supposed to be the first time that riggit galloways had ever been sold through the ring at Wallets, but I can’t help thinking a few would have passed through unnoticed and unrecognised over the years. Either way, it is certainly the first time that riggits bearing pedigrees have been sold, and it represented a mini-landmark in the riggit galloway story.

A tense, thrilling exchange took place with the auctioneer over the beast’s back, and I was thrilled to come away as the buyer. It is just under five miles home from Castle Douglas, and the new heifer was off the sawdust and out on the grass again within the hour. Despite being elated by the purchase, I found it hard to justify – my money is needed elsewhere, and I already have a great nucleus of quality pedigree heifers. When I fell in love with the new girl, I was working on little more than mere gut instinct. After a few days spent mulling it over, I am now well and truly satisfied that Stonehouse Eagle (now called “Wilma” for short) was a great investment.

Riggit galloways encompass a broad range of animals with an extremely variable spread of markings. There are breed standards established by the society, but these leave room for a good deal of interpretation and subjectivity. Like all galloways, riggits can be black, red and dun, and these colour schemes are subject to further tweaking according to personal preference. Red riggits seem to be quite popular and some of the key breeding lines contain the red gene, but I much prefer the black riggits, which somehow seem more authentic and in keeping with local livestock. It’s nice that I don’t have to justify this or take sides; it’s simply a matter of taste.

And on the theme of authenticity, I love this new heifer because she is a carbon copy of the original riggit heifers bred at the Park of Tongland near Kirkcudbright in the 1990s. These animals were very black on the head and the fore-end, with pronounced white “chinstrap” and “mascara” beneath the eyes. The effect is absolutely charming, and for some reason I find it easy to imagine animals like these on the Galloway hills in the eighteenth century. In buying Wilma, I have taken a deliberate step not only to invest in riggit galloways, but also to steer my breeding project towards the kind of animal I want to produce. She will go to the bull next summer, and I am already on tenterhooks to see what comes next –

In the meantime, welcome Wilma; and here’s to many more like you.