STUD OWNERS: We are Pamela Robinson and Suzanne Baker, the owner-operators of this little Galloway stud.
Our Location: GOLD CREEK Galloway Stud is located three minutes from the heritage town of historic Braidwood in NSW. At the foot of our beautiful hill, our cattle graze peacefully on acres and acres of granite enriched pasture.
Our Hobby: Breeding these beautiful cattle has been our shared hobby for over eighteen years now. In 2005, before owning our first Galloways, we had no experience with cattle and owning Cocker Spaniels was our only experience with pets.
Now, it is our aim to encourage as many people as we can to view cattle in a more compassionate way. We do this for the love of it. White Galloways were listed as a rare breed in Australia and New Zealand when we started out, and we wanted to remedy that. It is a source of pride that we have in fact helped build up the number of smaller full blood and purebred White Galloways in Australia.
Starting Out: We were living near Eumundi, in south-east Queensland when we started out. We were first-time livestock owners, and we didn't know a single thing about cattle. We had no idea what was required or which breed would suit us. After much research, farm visiting and deliberation, we decided we needed small, docile, polled cattle. We also wanted good little mothers that would calve unassisted. Finally, we saw our first traditional White Galloway cattle. Wow! They ticked all the boxes, and they were drop-dead gorgeous into the bargain!
The decision to start out with these little white cattle was made in a heartbeat. From that day forward, we have never had to wonder whether we made the right decision - not once.
Building the Herd: As our confidence and experience grew we built our herd in number and quality. Our cattle have become quieter, smaller in stature and more friendly in nature. As the herd numbers increased and the dynamics within the herd sorted themselves, our interaction with them settled into a pattern too.
The number of head in our little herd rose and fell every season with births and sales, but steadily we have built up the number of full blood and purebred cattle over several years. At one point, we were comfortably running over forty head on our forty acres. The learning curve was initially steep, but it has flattened out for us now. It is now a fairly low maintenance herd, so we quite often find ourselves looking for any excuse to spend time with our cattle.
By farming in an environmentally friendly way and breeding our cattle in a sustainable manner, we have found we can cohabit with the wildlife and enjoy the best of both worlds. We get to work from home and enjoy being in our paddocks listening to the birdlife, brushing cattle and watching the kangaroos graze - bliss.
The Decision to Specialise: Over time, we came to realise that if we were serious about breeding and preparing smaller cattle as pets and AAT co-workers, we needed to keep our herd number small. Smaller than the forty-five head we had in 2014. Having already added numerous calves to the full blood and purebred herdbook, we decided we had done our bit to build up the numbers, and it was time to sell quite a few - which we did.
Huggie is so proud of her purebred calf Kismet. Huggie is in the middle. Kismet is in front.
In 2016 we moved the herd to Braidwood in southern NSW. The move was a huge undertaking and definitely not for the faint-hearted! We started with a blank canvas and slowly but surely put everything we needed in place.
By 2018, we had the farm set up, a home to live in and a much smaller herd of much smaller, highly trained, super quiet females.
In 2022 we decided to split our herd into two. One herd with larger traditional White Galloways that were all full blood and purebred registered females. The other herd is made up of our smaller females many of whom are not registered with the Australian Galloway Association.
Our calf adoption program is a source of pure joy, and our little plush mascots are a hit with everyone young and old. We thoroughly enjoy what we do on a daily basis.
Hush and Rowdy enjoying a love up in Braidwood Spring 2020
The Websites: We have tried to make our websites as informative as we can, in the hope that we can provide sufficient information to give first-timers the confidence to get started. The learning curve can seem steep, but eventually, it all becomes much easier. There comes a day when you are so happily enjoying the cattle; you wonder why you worried about so many little things.
We have more than one website because we breed both purebred registered cattle and crossbred unregistered cattle. The registered cattle are showcased here. The unregistered smaller cattle are showcased at www.miniaturecattle.com.au.
Sharing the Joy: As we live and learn, we aim to be supportive of the first-timers we help to get started. We will never forget all the gnawing suspicions that we had in the beginning, the gnawings that whispered - "You two haven't got a clue!" So, we hope to be there to help you with your worries.
GOLD CREEK Traditional Galloway Stud is located in Braidwood NSW, Australia.
