Angus Cattle: From Scottish Doddies to the Largest Beef Registry

What Are Angus Cattle and Where Did They Start?

Angus cattle developed in the early 1800s from the polled, mostly black cattle of northeast Scotland, which locals called Doddies and Hummlies. The American Angus Association history page says the earliest cow families date to the mid-1700s, and that official recording of individual cattle began with a herd book in 1862.

The Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society followed in 1879. Together, the herd book and the society turned a regional type into a registered breed with written standards.

George Grant and the Four Bulls of 1873

In May 1873 the Scottish-born George Grant imported four Angus bulls to his colony at Victoria, Kansas, according to the association. Grant died about five years later, and many of his settlers went back to Britain, but the bulls had already made their point. A recent Southeast AgNet article retells the episode as the start of Angus in America.

Grant crossed the bulls with native Texas Longhorn cows. The association reports that the crossbred calves wintered better and weighed more the next spring than other cattle did.

Why Were Angus Called Freaks?

When Grant's solid black, hornless bulls appeared at the 1873 Kansas City Livestock Exposition, the association says cattlemen considered them freaks. Most American cattle then had horns and came in many colors, so the look was strange. A trade write-up titled The Cattle Breed once called a Freak takes up the same reaction.

The incident is a useful reminder that a breed's standing can change a great deal in a few generations. What was odd in 1873 became the standard color of the beef counter.

The American Angus Association

The American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association was founded in Chicago on November 21, 1883, with 60 members. It was later renamed the American Angus Association and moved to Saint Joseph, Missouri.

The association says it now records more cattle each year than any other beef breed association, which makes it the largest beef breed registry in the world. An older association history page is still online for readers who want a second version of the story.

Certified Angus Beef

The Certified Angus Beef brand was started by founders who developed 10 science-based specifications for consistent beef quality. The association reports annual sales above 1.2 billion pounds, through more than 15,000 partners in 55 countries.

Those figures come from the association itself, so treat them as reported. The brand shows how a breed society can move beyond registering cattle and into marketing beef.

A Timeline in Brief

Put in order, the association's dates read as a short chain of events. The earliest cow families date to the mid-1700s. A herd book in 1862 began official recording of individual cattle, the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society followed in 1879, and George Grant's four bulls had already crossed the Atlantic to Kansas in May 1873. The American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders' Association was founded in Chicago in 1883.

Notice that the American association formed ten years after the first bulls arrived and four years after the Scottish society. The breed's institutions developed in both countries at about the same time, which helped American breeders who wanted proof of Scottish ancestry. Grant's own colony did not last, since he died about five years after the import and many settlers returned to Britain, but the cattle outlived the venture.

Learn More

To follow the breed into modern ranching, see the ranching section of farm.FM, where one farm.FM story about Angus cattle looks at a working herd.