Four cows from Whidbey Island trotted the red carpet at the largest stock show in the nation last month.

It was a noteworthy event for a lot of reasons. It was the first time that Belted Galloways, an ancient breed of cattle that are colored like Oreo cookies, took part in the competition.

It may be the first time that cattle from Whidbey were shown at the prestigious National Western Stock Show in Denver.

“It’s the granddaddy of all the stock shows,” explained Gayle Cerullo, who raises the cattle at her family’s Sunny C Ranch on North Whidbey.

And on top of everything else, the newbie cattle placed remarkably well in the show.

Island residents may have seen Cerullo’s shaggy, black cattle with a white stripe in the middle at the Island County Fair or the Highland Games event in Greenbank. She also showed the cattle at the Northern International Livestock Exposition in Montana and earned an invitation to Denver.

But the giant Western Stock Show is an entirely new experience, only compounded by the crazy weather in Denver.

“I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies,” Cerullo said.

Cerullo has been raising Belted Galloways for about a dozen years now. Her husband’s parents originally raised Highland cattle on the Whidbey ranch, but she decided she wanted the other Scottish breed — Galloways.

Cerullo went all the way to Scotland to research the cattle, which she describes as one of the oldest breeds in existence. She was originally interested in the solid-colored Galloways, named after a rugged and hilly seacoast region of Scotland, but fell in love with the “belties.” The cattle can be black, red or brown, but have a mysterious white middle.

“We love them because they are so docile and placid,” Cerullo explained at her ranch Monday morning, scratching the side of a happy cow. Several other curious cows circled around her, apparently waiting their turn for a good scratching.

Belties are beef cattle that do best when raised completely on grass. The beef is remarkably tender and flavorful, she said, but has low levels of cholesterol or triglycerides compared to more common breeds.

Cerullo ended up starting a herd with the best animals she could find, which meant going to Canada and Maine.

Today, she has a herd of 25 animals and growing. She’s sold animals to start seven other herds in the Pacific Northwest.

Showing at the Western Stock Show raises the prestige of the Sunny C Ranch, and the breed itself, even further.

Cerullo traveled to the show with her four cattle and a bull Wagyu, a type of Japanese beef cattle, for her friend at Crescent Harbor Ranch near Oak Harbor. Fortunately, she had help from 16-year-old Rachel Martinis, a Whidbey Island girl skilled at showing animals.

“She’s very good with animals,” Cerullo said. “The Galloway community is really pushing having children getting involved and showing the animals.”

Solid-colored Galloways have been shown at the Denver show since it began in 1906, but this was the first year the belties made an appearance. She said everybody made a big deal about her Oreo cows.

In the end, Cerullo’s two heifers placed third in their class. The cow-and-calf pair took second and the bull calf won second in his class. Three cattle took third in the get-of-sire classes.

During all the excitement, a record-breaking amount of snow filled Denver, complicating travel for those who were towing thousands of pounds of live beef. Cerullo said the drive back to the island was a nail-biter she won’t soon forget.

All in all, it was an extremely memorable experience.

“We got tremendous exposure,” she said, “and we hope to go back when there’s better weather.”

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.