"For me it's all about going back to my roots," Johnston told me. "I grew up next to a Holstein dairy farm north of Toronto – my earliest memories are of that farm. I worked there part-time until I was 16. The farm produced it's own feed and sold grain, as well as its milk production. I remember one year one of the cows had triplets. That got us on the front page of our local paper, me holding one calf, my sister holding another, and Brian Ratcliff holding the third."

The oddly-coloured cows I'd come to see at the Johnston farm were the Belted Galloways. Their contrasting colours had caused me to almost drive off the highway when I first saw them. Surprisingly, they are smaller when you're standing next to them than they look from afar, and the colours are not so clearly defined. The breed is naturally polled – they do not have horns. From far away they look just black and white – you can't see the brown that's also quite predominant. That's because Belties (as this breed is affectionately known around the world) have a double-hair coat that... 

See more photos of the farm happenings in our 

PHOTO GALLERY.

Eggs are available at our farmstand on Wednesdays, 11 am until they are sold out.

Night Owl Farm breeds and raises Belted Galloway cattle. All of which are fed using grass and hay from our fields, and Brewer's grain from Salt Spring Ales...

​Night Owl Farm​

The perfect place

for happy cows.

​This land is also home to the Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery - Canada's first open-to-the-public conservation green burial cemetery!

Visit: www.saltspringcemetery.ca