Angus cattle
Angus cattle are solid black cattle, although white may appear on the udder. They are hardy, undemanding, adaptable, good natured, mature extremely early and have a high carcass yield with marbled meat. Angus are renowned as a carcass breed. They are used widely in crossbreeding to improve carcass quality and milking ability. Angus females calve easily, partly because of the small size of a typical Angus calf, and have good calf rearing ability. They are also used as a genetic dehorner as the polled gene is passed on as a dominant characteristic.
The breed arose in north-east Scotland in the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus. Deliberate breeding began at the end of the 18th century. The breed was first formally recognised in 1835 with the first herd book published in 1862. Animals were first exported to the USA and other countries in 1878.
Cross breeding has led to the development of Aberdeen-Angus, Black Angus and Red Angus variants.
See also
