Arrayed across the impossibly green hillsides of spring, his "Oreo cattle" look as otherworldly as the Stanford Dish telescope atop a hill nearby. Commuters who stop for a closer look could be forgiven for thinking Chambers had thoughtfully wrapped each of his black cattle with a white sheepskin blanket.

"They're my lawn mowers", said Chambers, who leases 80 acres from Stanford University for his Portola Valley Training Center for show horses. "I searched them out because I really think they look neat."

Not mere cattle

Though relatively rare, belted Galloways also decorate pastures in Moraga, Napa and Lincoln, outside Sacramento. Fifty of them are pets and a promotional vehicle for a retirement community outside Chapel Hill, N.C. The head of Lands' End, Richard C. Anderson, grazes some in Vermont. Winston Churchill had a herd at Chartwell Manor in Kent.

The wide white belts that encircle the cattle from shoulder to hip are but one of the unusual traits of "Belties". They can be black, red or "dun", a light-brownish color. They are short and very stocky: Chambers' bull, Ebenezer, looks like a boxcar on legs. They have two layers of fur - a long, almost wavy outer coat and a short undercoat the texture of angora. Their hornless heads are almost square, and the fur hangs down around their eyes like curly bangs. With round, protruding ears like a teddy bear's, Belties look downright huggable.

"'Cute' is a great factor", said Don Bixby, a veterinarian who heads the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, "but it sometimes gets in the way - whether you're a cow or a woman - because you can overlook the underlying qualities."

Appetite for anything

Belties are perfect for keeping down fire-prone vegetation because they eat "just about anything that's out there - which is what I want", said investment adviser Peter Cacioppo, whose avocation is raising show-caliber German shepherds, which roam freely on his 33-acre Eagle Hill Ranch near Moraga.

Belties are an ancient strain that populates the rocky, hilly western coast of Scotland where hardiness is necessary for survival. In addition to their physical attributes, Belties are prodigious breeders well into old age. Their milk is very high in protein, so calves are strong and grow quickly.

Their numbers began dwindling during the two world wars when a shortage of food led to the slaughter of all cattle that were not dual-purpose - producing both meat and dairy products. The mad-cow disease epidemic of the 1980s also winnowed herds. Bixby's livestock preservation group has Belties on a "watch" list of endangerment.