Angus

The Aberdeen Angus is a beef breed that originated in the northeast of Scotland. It is naturally polled, so calves are born without horns, and the great majority of animals are solid black, although a red variety is also recognised. The breed carries a medium to large frame: mature bulls typically weigh between 850 and 1,000 kg, while cows run to around 550-700 kg.

Angus cattle are kept chiefly for beef. The breed is prized for marbling, the flecks of fat within the muscle that give the meat its flavour and tenderness, and Aberdeen Angus beef is sold under a number of branded schemes in butchers and supermarkets. Farmers also value the breed for its fertility, ease of calving and its knack of putting on weight from grass alone across a wide range of terrain and weather.

The breed has long had a name for a placid, even temper, which makes day-to-day handling far less fraught than with flightier cattle. That combination of hardiness and good nature has helped the Aberdeen Angus become one of the most widely kept beef breeds anywhere, with substantial herds in the United States, Australia and Argentina among others.

Who the breed suits

The Aberdeen Angus suits beef producers after a hardy, low-maintenance animal that calves easily and finishes well whether on grass or in a feedlot. Because the polled trait is fixed in the breed, there is no need to dehorn calves, and the placid temperament cuts down on handling stress on smallholdings and large commercial units alike. The breed is also a popular choice for crossbreeding, since its polled gene and marbling ability pass on reliably to crossbred calves.

The breed's roots lie in the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in northeast Scotland, where farmers had long kept naturally hornless black cattle. Locally these animals were known as doddies and hummlies, both old Scots terms for polled stock. Across the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, breeders began selecting more deliberately for consistent conformation and beef quality.

Hugh Watson of Keillor is generally regarded as the breed's founding improver. Working in the early 1800s, he set about fixing the black, polled type, and his bull Old Jock and cow Old Granny became foundation animals whose bloodlines run through early pedigrees. William McCombie of Tillyfour later did much to promote the breed, showing it at agricultural events and building its reputation in export markets.

A herd book was first opened in Scotland in 1862, giving the population a formally recorded pedigree. The first exports to North America followed in the early 1870s, with foundation stock reaching the United States around 1873, and breed societies were founded there and elsewhere not long afterwards.

From this Scottish base the Aberdeen Angus spread across the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and further afield. Selection through the twentieth century for carcass quality and maternal traits cemented its place in commercial beef production and in branded beef schemes worldwide.

The Aberdeen Angus has a compact, well-muscled frame, a smooth coat and no horns. The head is short and broad, the back runs level, and the hindquarters are deep and rounded, a legacy of generations of selection for beef yield. Two colour varieties are recognised: black, by far the more common, and red. Both carry the same polled trait.

Coat and colouring

The coat lies short and slick through the warmer months and thickens up for winter, which helps the breed shrug off cold weather. Black is the dominant colour and is passed on reliably to crossbred calves, one reason the breed is so often chosen for crossbreeding. The Red Angus carries a recessive form of the same colour gene and is registered as a separate variety in some countries. Dark pigment around the eyes and udder offers some protection against sunburn and eye trouble in strong sunlight.

Calm, good-natured and easy to handle: this is one of the defining qualities of the Aberdeen Angus. A settled disposition makes routine jobs such as moving, sorting and loading far less stressful for animals and stockmen alike, and it cuts the risk of injury during handling.

Cows have a strong maternal instinct and look after their calves well, though a cow with a newborn at foot can turn defensive and is best approached with caution. Within the herd, cattle settle into a stable pecking order and mix readily with their own kind and with other livestock. Around people, animals that have been handled properly stay steady and predictable, whereas rough or inconsistent handling can make almost any beast more highly strung.

Temperament is partly inherited, and many breeders cull excitable individuals from the herd, a practice that has reinforced the breed's reputation for good sense over the generations.

The Aberdeen Angus is an easy-keeping breed that does well in grass-based systems and copes with cold thanks to its winter coat. Day-to-day care comes down to sufficient forage, clean water, shelter from the worst of the weather, and a consistent health routine.

Grooming

• Cattle largely look after themselves and need no routine coat care while at grass.
• Provide scratching posts or brushes to help with shedding and to ease parasite irritation.
• Check and trim hooves as required, particularly on soft ground or where cattle are housed.
• Inspect skin, eyes and udder regularly for parasites, injury or infection.

Exercise

• Open grazing gives cattle all the movement they need; no separate exercise routine is necessary.
• Rotate grazing paddocks to keep pasture in good heart and spread the muck load.
• Allow the herd room to move and graze freely, which supports both condition and foot health.

Environment

The Aberdeen Angus adapts to a wide range of climates and copes well with cold, wet conditions. Britain's own weather, mild, damp and changeable, with rain liable to fall at any time of year, suits the breed's hardiness reasonably well, though shade and plenty of water are still needed in a hot spell to prevent heat stress, a particular concern for black-coated animals under strong sun. Sound fencing, dry lying areas and windbreaks or basic shelter improve welfare whatever the season.

Aberdeen Angus cattle are ruminants and take most of their nutrition from forage such as grass, hay and silage. The breed grazes efficiently and converts pasture to weight well, part of the reason it is so widely kept. Energy and protein requirements rise during late pregnancy, lactation and finishing, so rations should be matched to the animal's stage and body condition. Enough roughage keeps the rumen working as it should, with concentrates or grain added when more energy is called for.

Minerals and supplements

Offer free-choice minerals and salt suited to local soil and forage, since shortages of copper, selenium or other trace elements are common in some regions. Clean water needs to be available at all times, with intake climbing sharply in hot weather and during lactation. Any change of diet should be phased in over several days to give the rumen microbes time to adjust.

The Aberdeen Angus is a robust breed with few inherent weaknesses, and well-managed animals can live 15 to 20 years, though beef cattle are usually run on shorter production cycles than that. Most health problems are the general ones that affect all cattle, parasites, foot problems, reproductive and respiratory disease, rather than faults specific to the breed. A handful of recessive genetic conditions do occur, and these can now be screened for with DNA tests, allowing breeders to avoid producing affected calves.

Preventive care

• Follow a vaccination programme suited to local disease risk.
• Keep up a parasite control plan with strategic worming and pasture rotation.
• Use the DNA tests available to identify carriers of recessive defects among breeding stock.
• Provide balanced minerals and clean water throughout the year.
• Keep records of health, breeding and treatment for every animal.

Aberdeen Angus cattle reach sexual maturity within their first year, though heifers are usually put to the bull for the first time at around 13 to 15 months so that they calve at about two years old. Breeding is either by natural service or by artificial insemination, which is widely used to spread proven bloodlines through a herd. The breed is valued for fertility and for easy calving, since calves tend to arrive at a moderate birth weight, which keeps the rate of difficult births down.

Gestation runs to roughly nine months, and a cow will normally produce a single calf a year; twins are unusual. Calves are up and suckling within hours of birth, and Aberdeen Angus cows are attentive mothers with milk enough to see a calf through to weaning at around six to eight months. The polled trait and black coat pass on strongly to crossbred offspring, a major reason bulls of the breed are used so widely in crossbreeding programmes.