Galloways arc a naturally polled beef breed and should exhibit to the greatest extent possible beef characteristics sought by the industry. Galloways have a double layer of hair, the inner layer being shorter and finer (ie softer) than the outer layer. The colours of Galloway are:

BLACK--a brownish/red tinge is common.

DUN

RED--No while other than on the underline up to the navel is permitted.

WHITE--White galloways have black, dun or red points [muzzle, ears and feet] with some degree ol freckling permitted.

BELTED--Belted Galloways may be Black, Dun or Red with a belt of white encircling the body between the shoulders and hips, the width preferably being between one-half and three-quarters of the distance between the shoulders and the hips. White on any other part of the animal other than the udder of the female is not desirable.

II we put all these physical trails and qualities together and keep a constant standard in mind we will come up with consistent results. The judge should first learn lo use the ring size and view his animals from an adequate distance which will give him a perfect silhouette and allow him lo compare skeletal size and balance. From these observations he will pick up bad walkers, bulls with weak constitution and with structural faults. Then the inspection should he carried out on each individual animal from close range. Starting with the head, shoulders, chest and brisket, then all around the animal looking lor the muscling, as described above, feet and leg problems, and then a rear inspection lor fertility, hock and general structural soundness. Having initially graded the animals the judge should parade them in his new order and compare them very closely, keeping in mind his five physical trait standards.

1.   Fertility.

The most important rating a bull can receive is high fertility. Physically we can examine several traits which indicate high Fertility. In order to cover country quickly and seek out his cows, a bull must have good clear eyes, sound feet and legs and a skeletal frame built for longevity. He must have a good sized scrotal sac with the testes fully descended, with the scrotum descending down to hock level, and the scrotal sac should have a distinct neck. (The normal circumlerence range of a year-old bull is 32-34 cm. A year-old bull with a circumlerence less than 30 cm and a two-year-old with less than 34 cm would be less than satisfactory. Bulls should he clean sheathed.)

2.   Skeletal Size.

Skeletal or frame size is rapidly becoming one of the most important considerations when selecting sires. Frame size is highly heritable and easily assessed. The Galloway breed requires balance and sire chararteristics present in our bulls. We want good height, a balancing length, adequate body capacity, depth of rib, substantial bone and a symmetrical leg size to fit this body. We do not want a very tall, shallow ribbed, narrow framed body which obviously lacks body capacity, but may have extreme size. We also do not want a short thick body with extreme depth of middle and carrying excess fat.

3.   Structural Soundness.

This area is difficult to determine and so the judge's instinct and good cattle sense and knowledge come into play. Bad defects which could cause problems arc clearly evident. The problems are straight prominent shoulders, small inside toes and hooves which turn in, all cause a short constricted stride which is evident as the bulls parade. Post legs with straight pasterns are observed when the bulls are stationary and this may lead lo weakness in the stifle joint. Great attention should he paid to the bull's hocks. If they are too close, the overall body capacity will be small, if they are bent either in or out then problems will arise. Careful observation of the strength of the stifle muscle will give an indication of the strength of the stifle joint, and if this strength is evident then the bull will have good reach with the hind legs when parading and will show the correct flexibility in his hocks. Standing in front of the bull, if you observe his front legs are too close he will have insufficient heart, lung and body capacity. From the same observation position, the outline of his hind quarters should be visible and not obscured by prominent shoulders. The bull should have a strong sire's head and outlook; he should hold up his head proudly when parading and at rest; he should have good bold eyes set wide apart and with adequate balancing length of head, a broad muzzle and of course a sound underjaw.

4.   Muscling.

There are two problems in this area, either too little or too much. Too little muscle will be readily evident with prominent shoulder blades, a sloping or inverted V shape along the back bone and sagging butts. Bulls with extreme muscling are associated with calving difficulty, restricted freedom of movement and low fertility, particularly if double muscling is evident.

Bulls with the perfect amount of muscle will have:

(a) a nice wide comfortable stance in front and behind.
(b) a prominent bulging forearm, stifle and jump muscle viewed when the bull is at rest and moving.
(c) when moving, the creases outlining the prominent muscles throughout the bull's body will he clearly evident.
(d) the loin muscle should be deep and wide. One of the best indications of excellent muscling is observed by the movement of the jump muscle, ll is a very reliable guide.

The best bulls have excellent chest and barrel capacity. Depth, spring of rib and good body capacity are necessary for maximum weight gain and durability. Extremely tall, thin, tight wound, extreme type cattle do not have this capacity.

Performance Data. When available, performance data should be considered. The most important weight data is the yearling weight. This trait is highly heritable and is a good indicator of the bull's breeding value. It is the most reliable indicator for predicting the growth potential of a prospective sire.

The Sire. The modern herd sire should have adequate height for his length of body. He should have every indication of free movement and fertility. He should have adequate frame, good strong sound structure, perfect muscle and fat composition and body capacity, as it relates to maximum efficient beef production. He should be trim in the brisket and underline.

Fertility
Longevity
Milking ability
Body shape, size and capacity.

1.   Fertility

Obviously the function of a cow is to produce and feed a live calf each year of her breeding life. A highly fertile cow usually lias a graceful and feminine appearance. She will be well balanced and graceful in her movements. She will be lean and clean in her face, neck and throat and will be long and smooth in her muscling. She will be lean and trim in her brisket, over her shoulders and flanks. She should be long from her hips to pins and with a long, elegant, graceful neck. She should be high and wide at her pins. Cows with low fertility are generally coarse fronted, unbalanced with extremely deep and coarse shoulders and will he over-conditioned. Her udder will appear to be non-functional and will be drawn up light against her underbelly.

2.   Longevity

To indicate longevity a female should be sound in her feet and legs and should not have any lameness or swollen joints. The females should exhibit good clean strong bone and joints. The muscles connecting their hip, stifle and other joints should be long, smooth and pliable to give the cow every chance of avoiding injury or suffering from arthritis.

3.   Milking Ability

The mammary system should show a strong and evenly attached udder of good capacity and strength with moderate sized teats of even shape and dark colour. Avoid poor capacity, deep, bulgy or loosely attached or unevenly shaped udders with teats that are too big, too small or of odd and uneven shape. A cow should give sufficient, high protein milk to rear a first class calf.

4.   Body Shape, Size and Capacity

The ideal cow will be large enough with a deep-ribbed, wide sprung chest with an adequate body capacity. She will be long, lean, clean and smooth in her muscling. She will have a total balance, being long and smooth in her shoulder and neck and long from her hocks to pins. She will be wide between her pins and show a large pelvic capacity. She should have a deep jaw, broad muzzle and a nice growth appearance to her head.

Heifers that are small headed, coarse and heavy fronted and which give the impression of masculinity rather than femininity, even though they are extremely well muscled, arc not desirable. Avoid small, dumpy, neat cows because obviously they are not economical. Be careful of the extremely large cow because she will eat much more grass and may not be economical and above all may not be a breeder. This may be the reason why she has grown so big.

The quality of the meat, and the quantity of good lean meal available as against fat and bone waste. The total body shape should clearly visually indicate that the steer is a good example ol his breed and that he was calved with case.

The steer should have adequate weight for its frame size. The steer should have wide stance as viewed from in front and behind. He should have good width through the point of his shoulder and centre of the hind quarter when viewed from front and rear.

He should have prominent bulging forearm, stifle and jump muscle viewed from all four angles. He should have butterfly shaped rump and loin muscles protruding from his spinal column. The creases defining prominent muscles should be defined and not hidden by fat layers. He should have a clean trim brisket and twist. He should be free from fat deposits on the point of his shoulder and excess deposits down his backbone. He should have a nice amount of cod fat and no excess lumps over the tail head. In parading, the steer should have a good carriage, a free athletic stride, carry his head with character and pride and be evenly covered with a fat layer, that fits the fat requirements for the weight range.