STAYING competitive in the world of livestock is the main aim of most breeds, and for native breeds, but this isn't the easiest task when some so quickly favour their continental counterparts.

In the case of Galloway cattle, though, progression and forward thinking are focal points of the breed and indeed of those involved with it.

One Galloway breeder that firmly believes they can compete with any of their competitors, is breed stalwart, Peter Hunter Blair.

Peter farms 150acres at Nether Cleugh, on the banks of Carsfad Loch, between Dalry and Carsphairn, along with his wife, Nancy and their three children.

Nancy works three days a week at a local nursing home, while daughter Natasha works in a local hotel, and oldest son Duncan is employed by Tarff Valley. Younger son, Andrew, is a full-time trainee auctioneer with Craig Wilson, but the whole family is involved in the running of the farm.

Peter also works five days a week along with business partner, Jonathan Firth, running their FHB Fencing company. Since 2002, they have been fencing in an area from South Ayrshire in the west to Dumfries-shire in the east, with business steady and doing well.

"It's no secret that it keeps the farming side of things going," admits Peter, "but my being away during the week also makes the whole thing a real team effort - it wouldn't work without Nancy and the children doing their bit too!

"Galloways are the ideal cattle in our situation. Now I'm busy fencing they can essentially look after themselves when they need to. They're self-sufficient and ideal for the type of ground we have.

"They're easy calving too. We had five cows calving in the back end, all in big fettle, and they all calved themselves with the calves up and suckled while I was at work. I obviously still wonder about them, but knowing that they are fit for doing the job themselves is a major plus point."

Having originally come to Nether Cleugh to do a lambing in 1981, before progressing to working there full-time, Peter eventually took ownership of the farm and now runs 12 pure Galloway cows and their followers alongside 80 Texel cross ewes and Andrew's prizewinning flock of seven Ryeland ewes.

The family has been selling at the society sale in February for years, and this year Peter has five heifers destined for Castle Douglas, all by current stock bull, Blackcraig Tom Tom.

In the past they have had top prices of 5800gns for the bull, Quincy of Nether Cleugh, and 2600gns for a heifer that sold to Dalswinton in 2002.

The family also hold the breed record for a dun heifer sold at auction - 2700gns, a ceiling that has stood since 1989.

Peter added: "To begin with, we ran a full herd of traditional dun Galloways, but there was little demand for the bulls. We made the change to black Galloways in the 1990s, and the fact that our highest ever price for a dun bull was 1600gns and our first black Galloway bull sold for 5300gns tells its own story. We had little choice but to make the change if we wanted to keep moving forward."

The family has also had its share of success in the show ring, with three female championships and several senior male championships under their belts from the Galloway sale. They have also been champion at both the Galloway National Show and the Royal Highland Show, and have been reserve on three occasions at the Highland.

Success like this doesn't come without strong breeding behind it, though, and Peter credits a lot to their sire choices over the years.

Bull wise, there have been several that have had considerable influence on the herd, the first of which being Glenkiln Copyright. Doon of Urr Anonymous came next, and even now most of the herds' cows are sired by Anonymous and are out of Copyright-sired mothers.

Peter has high hopes for current stock bull, Blackcraig Tom Tom, and he's pleased with his sale heifers for this February.

As well as selling through the ring at Castle Douglas, the Hunter Blairs sell bullocks at Craig Wilson's calf sale at Newton Stewart, with this year's pair selling at weights of 690kg (at 25 months) and 570kg (at 18 months), and going for £1230 and £1050, respectively.

"Admittedly they were fed a wee bit in the run up to the event, but they definitely had a lot less than many of their counterparts would have had to get to that weight!" Peter explains.

"On the Saturday of the sale, the older of the two was the top priced bullock per head of any breed on the day. Galloways can really compete in these situations as well as any breed."

As well as being a loyal breeder for many years, Peter has also been a Galloway Cattle Society council member since 1996, following in his father Frank's footsteps, who served as chairman from 1986-90 and his great uncle, Sir Arthur Duncan, who was chairman for 36 years from 1938-'74!

"Galloways are something my family have been involved with for a long time," he said. "I was involved with the breed and the Galloway sale for some years before coming to Nether Cleugh."

One aspect of the sale that Peter feels strongly about is the decision that has been taken to make the event a one day affair - with both the show and sale on a Friday, as opposed to being split over a Thursday/Friday as it has been in recent years.

This is the inaugural year of what looks like this being the permanent format. "It's a shame that the majority of the council have taken this decision - it feels like they're struggling to squeeze everything into one day.

"We get a lot of visitors and customers from the likes of Germany, Devon and Ireland, not to mention the north of Scotland and the islands, including a regular consignor from the Isle of Man, and they really enjoyed the spectacle of the two-day show and sale, and the social aspect that that brought too.

"There can be little enough time for socialising in agriculture and we've done ourselves out of that here."

"The main thing is that I think a one-day event will take away the overall atmosphere and make the whole thing a rush, as opposed to a well presented demonstration of the Galloway breed."

"I personally don't see any advantage in it, and I don't think it's going to either increase the number of cattle consigned, or help the prices in the sale ring one bit. It's the premier event for the breed and it's going to take away from the prestige of the occasion."

Peter added: "The drop in numbers at the sale, particularly in heifers, worries me. I expect this is a reflection of strong demand, in that breeders can sell females privately with ease.

"Wallets Marts make an excellent job of selling our cattle and in my opinion the auction system remains the fairest and financially safest way of valuing and selling our cattle. I would like to see more breeders consigning at least some of their surplus heifers to the sale, even if only to set a true value on those that they sell privately."

"It concerns me that without the support of more breeders, the sale might be approaching a 'use it or lose it' scenario."

As strongly as he feels, Peter is far from downhearted about the outlook for the Galloway breed. As far as he's concerned, the future is bright, with plenty of scope for continued breed-development and progression.

"The breed has definitely moved forward massively in many ways over recent years and I feel there is so much opportunity for us to continue to do so."

"As a breed we're far more in line with modern commercial demands than we have ever been," he concluded, "and that's so important in this current market.

"We're competing in ways we maybe didn't in the past, and that's real progress - and I very much hope it's something we can continue to do."