ANGUS CATTLE BREED

Origins and History

Angus cattle, naturally polled and black as we know them, come from the counties or "shires" of Aberdeen and Angus (formerly Forfarshire) in northern Scotland. This area of Scotland is damp but mild, with a median temperature of 54 degrees. Surely polled cattle existed in Britain in Roman times, as excavations at Roman forts have revealed cattle skulls without horns. References to black cattle that were hornless and native to Aberdeenshire date back to 1523. The cattle of Aberdeen were affectionately called "hummlies" and those of Angus, "doddies."

The polled native cattle of northern Scotland were too small for draft. Scottish farmers learned that they could earn more by finishing their own cattle, and this brought about the specialized production of native polled stock as meat animals. Angus is known as the world's most prominent breed that has been bred exclusively for beef since its beginning. There is history not only in the breed itself, but in the inherent Scottish love of livestock which, combined with the owner-tenancy custom of the area, built the traditions of competition that exist in our present-day livestock shows. Lord Panmure (1771-1852) of Brechin Castle bred polled black cattle and required his tenants to exhibit one steer for the first 50 acres of tenancy and two heifers for the first 100 acres. This type of competition surely led to breed continuity, as well as show traditions.

Hugh Watson of Keillor, born on October 4, 1789, in the County of Angus, is recognized by all historians as the first great improver of Aberdeen Angus cattle. In 1808, at the age of 18, Watson began his tenancy at Keillor with six of his father's best and blackest cows and a bull known as Bannantyne Sandy. That same year he purchased a bull called Tarinty Jock. After some additional early purchases of females, it appears that the herd was "closed," meaning no other stock was introduced from outside herds until late in his career when Mr. Watson purchased one other bull, President 3rd 202. Hugh Watson's most famous contribution was a cow called Old Grannie 125. She lived to be 36 years of age and died in 1859 during a thunderstorm. One story credits her as having had 29 calves, but only 11 were officially recorded. One daughter of Old Granny was exhibited at the Highland Show at the age of 22 years, nursing a calf!

She was awarded a gold medal and certainly added to the reputation for longevity, which is still an Angus trait. Old Granny herself was exhibited continuously during her lifetime and in 1858, at age 34, she was awarded a medal at the Highland Show at Aberdeen for her astonishing record of reproduction and longevity. Old Granny was assigned number 1 in the Scottish Herd Book. A bull called Grey-Breasted Jock 113, assigned number 2 in the Scottish Herd Book, did much to enhance the Watson herd. Mated to his own daughter, he sired a bull called Old Jock 126.

According to Watson's son William, this was the best bull his father ever owned. Some of the most famous cow families of the breed can be traced back to foundation cows at Hugh Watson's Keillor. William McCombie of Tillyfour (1805-1880) was considered to be the master builder of the breed. He recorded every mating and wrote the book 'Cattle and Cattle Breeders'. The herd at Tillyfour was started in 1830 and continued until McCombie's death. Although McCombie made concentrated use of a bull called Panmure, he noticed the limitations of close breeding, a common practice of the times. As he maintained, "in-and-inbreeding has some advantages and many disadvantages: my experience has not been in favor of the system. By adhering to it, I found that quality was maintained and even improved; but size was reduced and symptoms of delicacy of constitution were manifested.
It may be pursued for a time until type is developed; but to continue for any length of time to breed in-and-in is not only against my experience but, I believe, against nature."  McCombie assembled "Aberdeens" from St. John's Wells, Wester Fintray, and the Williamson and Walker herds. His "Angus" came from Keillor, Balwyllo, Ardovie, and Dalgairns. It was at Tillyfour that both strains were best blended into one improved breed, superior to either original strain. Another famous herd in Scotland is the Ballindalloch herd, founded by Sir John Macpherson Grant (1839-1907). The Ballindalloch Ericas are an important part of Angus pedigrees around the world.

The show winnings of Tillyfour and Keillor marked the beginning of world recognition of the Aberdeen Angus breed. At the Smithfield Stock Show in London in 1868, Black Prince from Tillyfour won all honors and was presented to Queen Victoria. After the event she visited Tillyfour and viewed a parade of 400 head. Soon after, she established a herd of Aberdeen Angus at Abergeldie Mains. The Queen Mother, who died at 101 years of age, was patron of the breed and had her own herd of Angus cattle at Castle of Mey on the Cathness coast in Scotland.

The Scottish Herd Book was first established in 1862. In 1879, Sir George Macpherson Grant established the Polled Cattle Society and acquired the Herd Book. The organization is now called The Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society, with its headquarters in Perth, Scotland.

Phenotype

The weights of Angus are as follows:
1. Mature bulls are 1800 to 2400 lbs.
2. Mature cows are 1200 to 1600 lbs., depending on the condition and stage of pregnancy.
3. Steers at harvest weight are 1200 to 1300 lbs.

The Head

The most striking characteristic of the Angus should be a well-defined poll. The Angus female should show no coarseness about her head. It should be chiseled and angular. The face of both sexes should be slightly dished, despite recent tolerance for increased length from poll to muzzle. Eyes should be prominent. Jaws and throat should be free of excess fat and skin. Ears should not droop and should be of medium size. Any evidence of scurs or buttons is a disqualification from registration.

The Neck and Shoulders

The neck of both sexes should be of medium length and blend smoothly at the top of the shoulder. There should be little loose skin down the front. The mature bull should demonstrate masculinity and ruggedness, without coarseness of shoulders.

The Back, Body and Hindquarters

The top line of an Angus should be straight and long. This length of body should be balanced by adequate length of leg. The body should have depth and uniformity. Angus are noted for their smoothness and for their lack of patchy fleshing. The forerib should be well sprung, with fullness below the crops. Width should be carried back through the entire body. The rump should be thick in the lower round, with muscling evident in the stifle area. Females often demonstrate prominent hook bones, but this is more evident during or after lactation, when the cow's condition changes.

The Hair

The black hair and hide of an Angus is a trademark for breeders and butchers alike. Since the marbling, or dispersion of fat in the lean tissue, is more highly developed in Angus, the black hide is sought after. Breeders have discriminated against cattle showing evidence of white markings along the underline. However, white is allowed behind the navel to a modest extent. Angus bulls are very prepotent and fix their color characteristics usually in one generation. Other than blacks, there are the "black baldies," black cattle with white faces, which are obtained when a Angus and Herefords are crossed. Angus will sire red cattle when bred to breeds that are red, but only when the Angus bull carries the red gene. Angus cattle produce the best quality beef in the world, judged by the factors of efficiency and quality. They do it better than any other breed.

Statistics

The first importation of Aberdeen Angus into the United States was made in 1873. George Grant, a native of Banffshire, Scotland, a retired silk merchant then living in Victoria, Kansas, imported four bulls, two of which he exhibited at the Kansas City Fair that same year. These bulls, pedigrees unknown, were used on native Texas Longhorns. Their offspring, black and hornless, became immediately popular with breeders in the Midwest. The first registered Angus cattle were introduced into the United States by James Anderson and George Findlay, Chicago businessmen residing in Lake Forest, Illinois. Mr. Findlay, a native of Buchan, Scotland, was familiar with Angus, and Mr. Anderson was from Aberdeenshire.

The second importation into the United States was made by F. G. Redfield, from Batavia, New York, who brought in three heifers and one bull. This was the pioneer herd in the East. Having visited Scotland in 1879, he made his purchase from Thomas Ferguson, of Kinochtry, Coupar, Angusshire. The Kinochtry herd was based upon Keillor breeding.

T. A. Simpson, from Missouri, went to Great Britain in 1880, 1881, and 1882 and imported about 500 head of Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle. Simpson, along with his partner, Charles Gudgell, made three importations. Mr. Gudgell was one of the organizers of the American Aberdeen Angus Breeders Association and was its first secretary. The first office was located at the same address as the Hereford association - the home of Charles Gudgell, in Independence, Missouri. At the Kansas City Show in 1886 Gudgell and Simpson won Grand Champion Steer with Sandy, son of Knight of St. Patrick.

W. A. McHenry, of Denison, Iowa, founded McHenry Park, a great seedstock source of its era. He bred a bull called Earl Marshall 183780, who sired five sons and one daughter that were Grand Champions at the International in Chicago. Earl Marshall also sired seven first-place "Get of Sire" groups in the International Livestock Show. Other legendary Angus herds were those of L. B. Pierce and Son of Creston, Illinois, established in 1883; the J. Garrett Tolan herd of Pleasant Plains, Illinois, established in 1901; and Ankony Farm, Rhinebeck, New York, established by Allan A. Ryan and Lee Leachman in 1948. The "fabulous fifties" were a prosperous time for Angus breeders, when the association aggressively made gains on the already entrenched breeds of Shorthorn and Hereford.

The American Aberdeen Angus Breeders Association was formed in 1883, and the name was shortened to the American Angus Association in 1956. The first volume of the American Herdbook was published in 1886 with 5200 entries. Of this number 2398 were produced in the United States and 2802 were bred in Scotland or Canada. Since the 1880s, the association has had only ten secretaries: Charles Gudgell, Thomas McFarlane, Charles Gray, W. H. Tomhave, Frank Richards, Glen Bratcher, Lloyd Miller, C. K. Allen, who became executive vice-president, Richard Spader and John R. Crouch, Executive Vice President.

In 1958 the American Angus Association began the Angus Herd Improvement Record (AHIR) program, a standard for the beef cattle industry. The program records weights of animals at weaning and again as yearlings. In 1967 the Association made a production pedigree available. The Sire Evaluation Program helps breeders to evaluate the ability of a bull to sire cattle that produce above breed average.

The American Angus Association has led the industry in producing genetic predictions for carcass merit. They produced their first carcass expected progeny differences (EPDs) in 1974 from data gathered from structured carcass progeny tests. By 1993, only 729 sires had completed structured progeny tests since the inception of the program. This is when the American Angus Association started producing interim EPDs, so suddenly EPDs became available on yearling cattle and dams. This meant yearling bulls started to be valued on their carcass EPDs and carcass progeny testing grew rapidly. In 1996, a percent retail product EPD was added.

Even with the renewed emphasis on structured carcass progeny testing, this process was expensive, slow to prove bulls, and still brought in an inadequate amount of data. Visionaries Dr. Doyle Wilson of Iowa State University and Angus' John Crouch thought that collecting ultrasound data for body composition (back fat, ribeye area, intramuscular fat) on the vast number of yearling cattle was the way to solve this problem. In 1997, the American Angus Association gave Iowa State University a $200,000 grant to solve the problem of utilizing ultrasound to produce EPDs.

An excellent system of centralized processing of ultrasound images named CUP was designed and implemented to ensure quality control and full contemporary group reporting. In 1998 and 1999, research runs of EPDs were released and in 2000, ultrasound EPDs were incorporated into the main evaluation. For the 2000 analysis, 77,000 yearling cattle with ultrasound records were included while only 40,000 carcass records had been collected in the history of carcass progeny testing. By 2006, the American Angus Association was collecting ultrasound records on over 150,000 head per year. As of this writing nearly 16 million head have been registered by the Association.

By R.John Dawes, Herman R. Purdy & Dr. Robert Hough in the book 'Breeds of Cattle', 2nd. edition, TRS Publishing Corp. Springfield, Missouri USA, 2008, p.14-29. Digitized and adapted to be posted by Leopoldo Costa. (pictures from the book)