Angus

The Angus began as a beef breed in the northeast of Scotland. Cattle are naturally polled, born without horns, and the vast majority are solid black, although a red strain is also recognised. The frame is medium to large: mature bulls run to roughly 850 to 1,000 kg, and cows sit around 550 to 700 kg.

Irish suckler farmers keep Angus mainly for beef. The breed is prized for marbling, the streaks of fat running through the muscle that give the meat its flavour and tenderness, and Angus beef is sold under several branded schemes both here and abroad. Fertility, easy calving, and the ability to put on weight off grass in mixed weather are all part of the appeal.

The breed has a name for a placid, even temperament, which makes ordinary jobs such as moving cattle to the shed or loading them for the mart a good deal less fraught than with flightier stock. Combined with its hardiness through wet winters, this has made the Angus one of the most widely kept beef breeds on farms in the United States, Australia and Argentina, and a familiar sight on suckler farms the length and breadth of Ireland.

Who it suits

Angus suits beef farmers after a hardy, low-input animal that calves down easily and finishes well, whether that is out on grass or in a shed on meal and silage. Because the breed is polled, there is no dehorning to do, and the calm temperament takes the stress out of handling for both the smallholder with a handful of sucklers and the larger commercial unit. It is also a popular choice for crossbreeding, since the polled gene and the marbling carry through reliably to the calves.

The breed's story starts in the counties of Aberdeenshire and Angus in the northeast of Scotland, where naturally hornless black cattle had been kept by local farmers for generations. Locally these were called doddies and hummlies, old terms for polled cattle. Across the late 1700s and into the early 1800s, breeders set about selecting these cattle for a more consistent shape and beef quality.

Hugh Watson of Keillor is generally reckoned the breed's founding improver in the early nineteenth century. He focused his selection on fixing the black, polled type, and his bull Old Jock and cow Old Granny sit at the head of many early pedigrees. William McCombie of Tillyfour later did much to raise the breed's profile, showing the cattle widely and building export markets.

A herd book for the breed was first opened in Scotland in 1862, giving the population a recorded pedigree. The first exports to North America went out in the early 1870s, with foundation stock reaching the United States around 1873, and breed societies followed soon after in America and elsewhere.

From there the Angus spread out across the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and further afield, Ireland among them, where it took its place alongside the native beef and dairy breeds. Ongoing selection for carcass quality and maternal traits through the twentieth century secured the breed's place in commercial beef production and in branded beef schemes.

The Angus carries a compact, well-muscled body, a smooth coat and no horns. The head is short and broad, the back level, and the hindquarters deep and rounded, the result of long selection for beef yield. Two colours are recognised: black, by far the more common, and red. Both carry the same polled gene.

Coat and colour

The coat lies short and slick through the summer months and thickens up for winter, which helps the breed cope with cold, wet conditions. Black is the dominant colour and passes reliably to crossbred calves, one reason the breed does so well in crossbreeding programmes. The Red Angus carries a recessive form of the same colour gene and is registered separately in some countries. Dark pigment around the eyes and udder gives some protection against sunburn and eye trouble where the weather turns sunny.

Angus cattle are, on the whole, quiet, good-natured and easy to handle, and this is one of the breed's defining traits. A settled disposition makes routine jobs such as moving stock, sorting them, or loading for the mart far less stressful for animal and handler alike, and it cuts the risk of injury during everyday management.

Cows have a strong maternal streak and mind and rear their calves well, though a cow with a young calf at foot can turn defensive and deserves a wide berth. Within the herd, cattle settle into a stable pecking order and mix readily with their own kind and with other stock. Around people, animals that are handled well stay steady and predictable, while rough or inconsistent handling can make any beast more flighty.

Temperament is partly inherited, and many breeders cull the excitable ones, which over generations has only strengthened the breed's name for being easy to manage.

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

Grooming

• Cattle largely look after themselves and need no routine grooming while out on grass.
• Put up brushes or scratching posts to help with shedding and to ease parasite irritation.
• Check and trim hooves as needed, particularly on soft ground or where cattle are housed.
• Look over skin, eyes and udder regularly for parasites, injury or infection.

Exercise

• Open pasture gives cattle all the movement they need, so no separate exercise is called for.
• Rotate grazing ground to keep pasture quality up and spread the manure load evenly.
• Give the herd room to move and graze freely, which helps condition and foot health.

Environment

Angus cattle adapt to a wide range of conditions and take cold, damp weather in their stride, which suits the Irish climate well. In hot spells they still need shade and plenty of water to avoid heat stress, a particular concern for black-coated animals under strong sun. Sound fencing, dry lying ground, and windbreaks or a simple shed improve welfare all year round.

Angus cattle are ruminants and take most of their nutrition from forage such as grass, hay and silage. The breed grazes efficiently and converts grass into weight well, which is part of why it is so widely kept. Energy and protein needs climb during late pregnancy, milking, and finishing, so rations are matched to the animal's stage and condition. Plenty of roughage keeps the rumen working as it should, with meal or grain added when more energy is needed.

Treats and supplements

Offer free-choice minerals and salt suited to the local soil and forage, since shortages of copper, selenium or other minerals turn up often enough in parts of Ireland. Clean water needs to be available at all times, with intake climbing sharply in hot weather and during milking. Make any change to the diet gradually, over several days, to give the rumen microbes time to adjust.

The Angus is a tough breed with few weak points of its own, and well-managed animals can live 15 to 20 years, though beef cattle are usually finished well before that on shorter production cycles. Most health problems are the general ones that affect all cattle, such as parasites, foot trouble, and reproductive and respiratory disease, rather than anything specific to the breed. A small number of recessive genetic conditions turn up in the breed and can now be screened for with DNA tests, letting breeders avoid producing affected calves.

Preventive care

• Follow a vaccination programme suited to the region against common cattle diseases.
• Keep a parasite control plan going, with strategic dosing and grazing rotation.
• Use the DNA tests on offer to pick out carriers of recessive defects in breeding stock.
• Provide balanced minerals and clean water throughout the year.
• Keep records of health, breeding and treatments for every animal.

Angus cattle reach sexual maturity within their first year, though heifers are usually put in calf at around 13 to 15 months so they calve down at about two years old. Breeding is either natural service with a bull or artificial insemination, which is widely used to spread proven genetics across a herd. The breed is well regarded for fertility and easy calving, since calves tend to be moderate at birth, which keeps difficult calvings to a minimum.

Gestation runs to roughly nine months, and a cow normally rears one calf a year, with twins uncommon. Calves are up and suckling within hours of birth, and Angus cows are attentive mothers with enough milk to bring a calf on to weaning at around six to eight months. The polled trait and the black coat both carry through strongly to crossbred calves, which is a big part of why the breed is used so widely in crossbreeding.