The Rose Herd Project began with the generous donation of an entire herd of Belted Galloways to the newly established Belted Galloway Foundation whose mission is research and education as it relates to the Belted Galloway breed of cattle. Some of the young heifers in the herd were used in projects for the Beltie Youth Group and the balance of the herd was moved to Malabar Farm in St. Charles, Iowa for on-farm research in a forage-based operation.
 
Belties have been rescued successfully from breed extinction, but until they can be introduced into beef production in an economically sustainable way, they will remain only novelties. Specific goals of the program are: 

1. Identification of those bloodlines which are best suited for a grass-based or partially grass-based, non-feedlot program.

2. Identification of those bloodlines which produce the best quality beef (tenderness, taste, and marketability). Although the USDA has based its definitions of quality on the amount of fat in muscle, fat is the single most important reason people have stopped eating beef. The goal in this project is to develop a pasture finished beef which is healthier beef but still eats well. 

3. Development of a working model for herd management useful to the typical small breeder who is interested in marketing beef and/or animals on a local or regional basis, including recommendations for all phases of production of beef and breeding stock, herd and sire selection, feeding regimens and marketing methods.

Selection of the top performing bulls was  done by developing an indexing system, weighting value-added characteristics more heavily. Ultrasound technology was a major tool in bull selection. Those bulls which were not selected will be harvested and the quality of their meat will be studied. At least two of the bulls which were considered superior were used on a limited number of females in 2003 and more extensively during 2004.  A new bull test began in the fall of 2003 including bulls from the Rose Herd as well as from the Malabar Farm and Blossom Ridge herds. 

Another result of the Rose Herd Project has been establishment of a Beef Marketing Committee to study the best ways to market Beltie beef and to consider the possibility of a beef branding project. One question to be answered in this research is whether it is possible to make more money by accepting less production per cow and concentrating on managing grass and production per acre. 

Oversight of the project is by a committee composed of the following: Loren A. Olson, M.D., Chairman; Bob Thigpen, Belted Galloway Foundation; Vic Eggleston, D.V.M., producers Michael and Debra Hanson, Dr. Michael and Lorna Caldwell, and Chuck Hinrichsen, with Doug Mortimer performing daily management of the program at Malabar Farm.