History of Red Angus
The cattle that are known today as angus were originally bred and selected from native cattle in the Scottish counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus as early as the 1400’s. Records indicate that by the middle of the 18th century (the 1700’s) these cattle had become popular for their hardiness in the harsh Scottish winters, calving ease, polled heads, and the quality of the beef they produced. In 1824 William McCombie, an MP (member of Parliament) from Aberdeenshire began selecting and breeding animals with a view of improving the breed. Today he is considered the father of the Angus breed. The cattle became popular all over England and the first herd book was established in 1862 and in 1879 the Aberdeen Angus Society was formed. Since then angus cattle have been imported into every country in the world where beef is eaten. In the U. S. the first angus cattle were imported in 1873 and the first herd book established in 1883. Angus cattle are predominantly black, but the red hair color is a natural genetic variation. Occasionally black angus cows bred to a black angus bull will have a red calf----geneticists say that means that both parents carry a recessive gene for red hair pigment. Black hair color being the dominant gene. It’s important to understand that fact because, other than hair color, black and red angus cattle are genetically the same the same breed. In 1919 the Aberdeen Angus Association (now called the American Angus Association) ruled that red angus cattle could not be enrolled in the AAA herd book. In all other countries that have a registered Angus Association---Canada, Argentina, Australia, England, Scotland, New Zealand, South Africa---black and red cattle are registered together and the registration certificate states whether the animal is black or red. In 1954 a small group of breeders (there were 7 families) organized the American Red Angus Association. This group had been buying discarded red angus cattle and breeding them selectively since 1945. Today the American Red Angus Association is the 3rd (or 4th) largest registered breed association in the U. S. ---in registered animals. The American Angus Association is by far the largest. That means that in the U. S. angus cattle are the largest registered breed overall. The original founders of red angus were a progressive and forward minded group---led particularly by Waldo and Sally Forbes of Wyoming (Beckton Red Angus) and George Chiga of Oklahoma who also bred and raised one of the best known red angus bull in the history of the breed---Choctaw Chief 373. They incorporated into the association bylaws the requirement that registration include birth and weaning weights for the calves and of the dam at the time of weaning. They strongly encouraged reporting yearling weights, although that was not a requirement. By this means they intended for their new breed to be a performance breed with documented performance on each individual animal. At that time no other breed association had such a requirement or the data on their animals. This was a progressive approach to cattle breeding---at that time all breed associations allowed breeders to only report their “good animals” and not the poor performers. In the 1990’s the association went a step further and instituted TOTAL HERD REPORTING. This meant that every registered cow had to have a progeny report for each year. If she lost a calf, that had to be reported. If she skipped and did not get bred, that also had to be reported. And if a cow was not reported she was removed from the registration book. Again, at the time that was instituted no other breed association was doing it ---and I’m not sure any is doing it even now. Because of 40-50 year accumulation for performance data, several universities began to approach the RAAA in the early 2000’s for permission to study all that data. Red angus breeders were also very progressive in the recognition of the value of cross breeding in beef production. In the 1970’s they established a separate herd book for percentage animals, to be known as 1B. These were made up of animals who were 87.5% angus and higher. A percentage animal can never be listed as 1A or 100% Angus, but 1B animals could and do compete in national shows. In the 1980’s a 1B bull won a National Championship---Leachman Rimtop 082U. Above all, the original founders of the red angus association wanted for their breed association to be progressive and practical. They felt that they needed to pay more attention to the needs of commercial cattlemen than to show ring performance. As times have changed, so has the Red Angus Association. They were pioneers in the development of a yellow tag for commercial calves out of Red Angus bulls in the 1990’s. This allowed for identification of feeder calves all the way to their herd of origin and to the bull’s original breeder. FCCP (Feeder Calf Certification Program) and Allied Access are two very successful programs offered to encourage cattlemen to improve their feeder calves through the use of Red Angus bulls. When DNA testing was introduced they were among the first to begin requiring DNA testing not only to rule out faulty genetic traits also for 50K testing that enhanced the accuracy of EPD’s. They introduced EPD’s in the 1990’s. Like the Angus association they also recognized the inherent carcass value of their animals. The RAAA is now majority owner of TOP DOLLAR ANGUS---a marketing company very much like CAB (Certified Angus Beef) that the Angus association owns. As times have changed Red Angus as a breed association has changed to adapt to changes in technology and also to changes in marketing preferences. I like to think that the original founders are smiling in their graves. Their progressive dreams of 63 years ago have come to fruition beyond their wildest dreams.
Welcome to Red Angus!
Welcome to Red Angus!