In this section you will find information on how to join and register your stud, as well as how to register your animals.

This page will take you through the three steps and explain some of the requirements and rules that are in place. It is not definitive and only summaries information contained in the Galloways Australia Registration Rules and Procedures. Where there is any discrepancy, the Registration Rules and Procedures take precedent.

Page Contents

  1. Become a member
    1. How to join
    2. Proposer / Sponsor
    3. Application
    4. Associate members
    5. Renewal
    6. Resigning your membership
  2. Register your stud and obtain your unique tattoo
  3. Register your animals
    1. Herdbook and LBC
    2. Galloway Herdbook – Standard
    3. Galloway Herdbook – Miniature
    4. Registering Your Animal
  4. Things to be aware of
    1. Sire Permits
    2. Mandatory DNA Testing (Bulls)
    3. Tattoos
    4. AI and Embryo Transfer – coming soon
    5. Graded and Successor Registration – coming soon
    6. Lost Certificates
    7. NLIS and Tagging

1 Becoming a Member

1.1 How to Join the Association

The Association is a member run and led organisation, incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory under the Model Rules. We rely on the members to actively participating in events and lending a helping hand.   Membership is provided on an annual basis from 1 July to 30 June each year and each membership covering a single person.

Members receive:

  • regular Presidents Bulletin (e-mail) and information updates
  • access to field days and events
  • discounted cattle registration
  • voting rights on the association rules and requirements.

You do not need to own Galloways or be commercially farming to become a member, as long as you support the objective of the association to promote Galloway Cattle and Beef, develop group marketing strategies, foster performance measurement and want to encourage the maintenance of the Galloways breeds.

1.2 Proposer / Sponsor

We welcome all new members but reserve the right to refuse membership. Prospective members of the Association require sponsorship (proposing) from an existing member. If you do not know anyone in the Association and wish to join please contact a local committee member to discuss.  

Sponsorship also ensures you have someone to go to with questions or for advice and encourages collaboration.

1.3 Application

  1. To apply to become a member simply fill in the Application for Membership form listing your interest and sponsoring member.
  2. Pay the joining fee and place the receipt number on your application – This is the same as your first years membership – We do not charge a one off fee to join.

If you do not have a sponsor, please list the name of the Committee Member that you have contacted and submit the form. The Secretary will then circulate your membership form to the Committee for approval.

Please note that memberships are for a single individual as per the ACT Model rules. We do not offer joint memberships, due to the legislation however, Studs may be registered in joint names to acknowledge joint ownership of a single property.

All members who join are requested to read and abide by the Code of Conduct.

1.4 Associate and Junior Membership

Associate memberships are available. Associate memberships do not have discounted registration or voting rights.  

Persons buying stud cattle from an existing member may be entitled to one years free associate membership, please talk to the person you are purchasing the animals from to see if this applies to you.

Associate Membership Form and Junior Associate Memberships forms

1.5 Renewal

Each year the secretary will send out a renewal reminder in the new financial year (post 30 June) for payment before September. You must be an active member to ensure that your voting rights continue.

1.6 Resigning Your Membership

Things in life happens and we understand that sometimes you will be unable to or not want to continue with your membership.   Please let us know in writing so that we can stop sending you information and remove you from the members list. 

Members are not automatically removed but placed into suspension unless the member informs the secretary they wish to resign. However, you will be unable to register animals until membership is renewed and unable to vote on issues.

If you are unable to meet the costs of membership please let us know and we will do our best to work with you to continue to achieve the Association objectives of promoting and preserving Galloway Cattle.

2. Registering Your Stud

If you intend on having stud animals, you will need to ensure that your stud name and unique tattoo is available.

The Stud Registration Form enables the Registrar to check and then register the name you would like and the preferred tattoo. 

  • Stud names may be registered in more than one owner and can be registered in a corporation or a partnership.
  • Tattoos should be three unique letters that identifies your Stud. Ideally you would not include the letter I (i) or O (o) as these can be confused with the numbers 1 and 0 on the tattoo pliers. Each animal that is born within your herd that you wish to register should be tattooed.  See below for information on Tattoo and their application.

3. Registering Animals

3.1 Herdbook and LBC

Our Herdbook is held with Livestock and Business Centre (LBC). LBC maintain our register of Stud Names and Tattoos as well as the register of animals.  

You can search for a specific animal by name in the herdbook to confirm its registration by using the LBC online Animal Search Form

Each Galloway animal is registered according to their size (Standard or Miniature) and specific breed (Galloway, Belted or White). Once an animal is registered in one section it is unable to be transferred to another.  The Galloways Australia Registration Rules and Procedures, otherwise known as “The Rules” is the primary reference and should be referred to for additional information.   Information below is a snapshot of the Rules.

Not all animals are eligible for registration and not all breeders want to register all animals. Many animals are sold as commercial ‘for meat’ without being registered and their subsequent progeny lose their provenance and thus become ineligible for registration. Galloways Australia is committed to maintaining the genetic purity of the Galloway Family of Breeds and will not register an animal if creditable breeding details cannot be established.

3.2 Galloway Herdbook – standard

  • Section 1:  Galloways  – Black, dun, silver or red with white only permitted on the underline behind the navel.  Animals with evidence of non-Galloway ancestors are not eligible for registration.
  • Section 2 and Appendix Belted Galloways – a Belted Galloway with a complete white belt with no black on it and no white on its legs (May be black, dun, silver or red). Animals are not eligible for registration unless they have 93.75% Belted Galloway Genetics but may be listed as a Successor Animal.
  • Section 4 and Appendix  – No longer applicable
  • Section 5: White Galloways – Must be white with black dun, grey or red pigment on the nose, ears, hooves and eyes and may have pigment on its legs, udder and poll and a degree of freckling

3.3 Galloway Herdbook – Miniature

Animals in the Miniature herd book descend from animals which were eligible to be registered in the standard size herd book. Once an animal is listed as a miniature (EMS5) it and its’ progeny cannot be transferred back into the Standard Size Herd Book.  

To be registered within the Miniature Herd Book the animal must

  • Either have foundation miniature genetics or have five or more generations of ancestors which did not exceed 125cm in height at the hip if male or 120 cm at the hip if female.
  • Not be more than 125cm at the hip (Bull) or 120 cm (female).  

Sections in the Miniature Herdbook include:

  • Miniature Section 1: Animals descended from stock eligible to be registered as Galloways
  • Miniature Section 2:  Animals descended from stock eligible to be registered as a Belted Galloways including graded Belted Galloways or Galloway Belted Cattle
  • Miniature Section 3: Animals descended from stock able to be registered in the White Galloway register.

3.4 Registering Your Animal

Each animal must meet the specific requirements set out in the Rules.  

Information on the animal is provided to the Galloways Australia Registrar on the applicable Animal Registration Form.

Galloways Stud Animal Application Form (5)

Miniature Stud Animal Application Form (5a)

For each animal to be register the form asks for:

  • Registered name of the animal
    • The first part of the animals name is your stud name
    • The second is the unique name to the animal. Many studs have specific naming conventions but there is no standard convention.
  • Which section of the herdbook should the animal belong to
  • Sex
  • Colour
  • Date of Birth
  • Tattoo
  • Sires Name, Tattoo and registration number
  • Dams Name, Tattoo and registration number
  • Listing only (if you do not want certificates of registration)

Note on twin births: a female twin of a male/female twin may be sterile, twins should therefore be identified and females not registered.

In signing the form, you are also agreeing that

  • you are the lawful owner of the animal being registered,
  • the parent animals are mannosidosis free or have had a negative mannosidosis test,
  • you have obtained a DNA finger print if the animal is a male,
  • have permission to use the sire for stud purposes, if the sire is not from your herd,
  • have completed AI or Embryo transfer forms is required, and
  • agree to pay the registration fees.

The form can be scanned and e-mailed to the Registrar or posted in hard copy to PO Box 309 Hall, ACT, 2618.

The Registrar assesses the information you have provided against the rules to ensure the animals meets the requirements, checks the existing Herdbook, and ensures that the fees have been paid. If for any reason the animal doesn’t meet the rules or another issue occurs the registrar will contact the owner of the animal to work through any issues.  The Registrar is unable to contact former owners with out your specific permission.

Once checked the completed form will sent to LBC for processing and adding to the Herdbook.

Certificates will be mailed out by the Registrar to individuals once received from LBC.

What if I Change my Mind

You do not need to register all your animals but you will not be able to register the progeny of animals that are not themselves registered.   

If you change your mind later and have the evidence to support the registration (no ancestors inconsistent with the requirements of the relevant sections) you can apply to the Registrar to seek to register all the previous Dams and Sires. Animals so registered will need to be inspected by an appointed Breed Inspector to ensure conformance to breed standards or be DNA tested and verified.

4 Things to be aware of

4.1 Sire Permits

Sire Permits are required if you wish to register progeny of animals from your herd and used a bull from another stud.  (Example you leased a bull for your herd). The Sire Permit is filled out by the registered owner of the bull you used.

The permit ensures that both you and the owner of the bull are aware that the bull is being used for stud services and that the progeny can be registered with Galloways Australia.  You as the owner of the progeny may choose to not register the animals but without the permit it will be difficult for the registrar to prove the agreement should a dispute arise.   

The owner of the bull has discretion to not provide a Sire’s Permit if it is not in your lease agreement.   Galloways Australia can not register animals if you do not own the bull or have a Sire’s Permit or other evidence to support the bull was being used for stud purposes.

4.2 Mandatory DNA Testing

All male (Bull) registrations (post 2005) require mandatory DNA Testing (DNA Fingerprinting).

The easiest way is to obtain a sample it to remove 30/40 tail hairs  from the the animals requiring testing and send it to an approved Lab.

There are currently two approved DNA testing providers in Australia

GeneStar / SireTrace (Now Zoetis Pty Ltd)

5/10 Depot Street

Banyo QLD 4014

And

Animal Genetics Laboratory

School of Veterinary Science

University of Queensland Gatton, Qld 4343 (now NEOGEN)

Please contact the secretary if you need additional DNA tail hair kits or contact the entities above.

If you are showing cattle you can also request a Persistently Infected Pestivirus test at the same time.

4.3 Tattoos

A Tattoo is unique to each animal. It is imprinted into the animals left ear so that it can be read upright.  The animals right ear should contain the NLIS tag and any management tags you choose to use.  

The Tattoo is made up of two halves

  1. the first is the STUD Prefix- This is the prefix you chose when you registered your Stud and is  preferably made up of three letters.
  2. The second is unique to the animal and includes the Year identifier as in the table below and then a three number generally are allocated consecutively based on birth order.

Example  XYZ  R2  / XWZ R02

 Stud XYZ  and the second calf born in 2020.  

YearIdentifierYearIdentifer
2020  R2024 V
2021 S2025 W
2022 T2026 X
2023U

Tattoos should be done by the breeder of the animal and when the animal is no more than  6 months old.

Note the Rules allow

  • both ears to be used for the tattoo (id using two ears the stud in the left ear and number and year in the right)
  • if a mistake is made the animal may be re-tattooed but the registrar must be notified of the corrections and the animal may be the subject of an inspection according the the registration rules and procedures
  • for a computer implant. This must be unique and fixed (within the animal and unable to be removed)  and acceptance of animal carcasses.

4.4 Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfers

Coming soon – July 2023

4.5 Graded and Successor Registration

Coming soon – July 2023

4.6 Lost Certificates

If you have lost your certificates and need replacements please contact the registrar.

There is a fee to replace lost physical certificates to cover mailing and time but as animals are registered for life you can search the LBC website as evidence that the animal is registered.

4.7 NLIS and tagging information

All animals should have a National LiveStock Identification System (NLIS) Tag. The system is managed by Integrity Systems and tags can be ordered and purchased through specific stores. The NLIS Tag allows national tracking of animals in the event of a disease outbreak.

Each stud, and separate property, should have it’s own Property Identification Code (PIC) which forms part of the NLIS number for the animal. All animals born on the property should be tagged with the tag from that property.

NLIS Tags are never removed from the animal and a record should be made each time an animal is moved. Usually by identifying the second property through it’s PIC number. Should the tag break a second tag can be inserted and a record made linking the new number to the old one. Integrity Systems manage a online database allowing users to update information as needed. Paper forms are still available (National Vendor Declaration Forms) to record herd movements.

Usually NLIS tags are applied in the right ear. While the NLIS system allows for bolus (pellet) type identification we do not recommend these as they are difficult (impossible) to remove and many abattoirs will not accept animals with metal implants with the exception of ear tags.

A second farm management tag can be applied in the same (right) ear for easy animal identification in the paddock. These are removable using a tag remover and usually square shaped. They may come pre-printed with numbers or allow the producer to add their own numbering system using a permanent cattle tag pen. Sharpies and permanent markers do not usually last the Australian sunshine and fade more rapidly.

Page updated onUpdated byChanges identified
25 July 2023Secretaryaddition of 4.7 NLIS information
Correction of spelling mistakes
2021SecretaryNew website information
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