The Tobergill Belted Galloway herd can be found at ‘Brae of Gadgirth’, Ayrshire in South West of Scotland. The herd was jointly started in Oct 1985 by myself and my late parents, Malcolm and Betty Castle. They lived at ‘Tobergill’, Coylton in Ayrshire.
The first of our 5 foundation cows was Broadmeadows Lana, bought from the Castle Douglas sale in Oct 1985. This was closely followed by the private purchases of Netherwood Lucy and Netherwood Mary from the late Bill Storrie from Bathgate, West Lothian and Barnearnie Lester and Barnearnie Landy from the late Campbell McGeoch, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire.
The herd comprises a young stock bull, Shelsleys Dallas by Southfield Super Star with Australian genetics. We usually run about 8 cows and calves and several heifers. The bullocks are sold at weaning to someone who will finish them and market specifically the Galloway beef. We also fatten one for our own consumption.
Over the years we have bred our own replacement stock with the exception of 3 heifers from the Mochrum herd of the late Miss Flora Stewart. I value immensely the friendship and support from Miss Flora over the years. She first encouraged us to start showing our cattle in local shows and I continue to do this along with the great help from my friend Gayle Glendinning. She and I train all our young heifers which helps considerably with the sale and general handling of them.
The herd’s animal health status is of upmost importance to us. We are IBR and Johnes free and vaccinate for Leptospirosis and BVD. TB testing every 4 years.