THE ORIGIN OF RED ANGUS

The Red Angus breed originated in Europe and was introduced to England and Scotland by the Vikings/Norsemen raiding the coasts of England and Scotland. They brought with them a small, dun-colored hornless cattle which interbred with native black horned Celtic cattle of inland Scotland. A naturally polled black breed was produced, which roughly corresponded to the black Aberdeen Angus of today, although it was a considerably smaller-bodied animal.
 
Eric L.C. Pentecost, the noted English breeder of Red Angus cattle, offers a specific and logical explanation for the introduction of the red coloration into the Aberdeen Angus breed. In the eighteenth century, the black Scottish cattle were too light to provide sufficiently large draught oxen, so larger English longhorns, predominantly red in colour, were brought in and crossed with the black native polled breed. The resultant offspring were all black polled animals, since black is a dominant colour, and red a recessive one. However, all carried the red gene. Subsequent interbreeding produced an average of one red calf in four, in accordance with Mendel's law of heredity.
 
Early in the development of the Aberdeen Angus, Hugh Watson of Keillor, Scotland arbitrarily decided that black was the proper colour for the breed, and thereby started a fashion. He might well have chosen red instead. Leon J. Cole and Sara V. H. Jones of the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station published a pamphlet in 1920 on "The Occurrence of Red Calves in Black Breeds of Cattle" which contained this pertinent paragraph:
 
"One more point should be emphasised, namely that the red individuals appearing in such stock (Aberdeen Angus)...are just as truly 'purebred' as their black relatives, and there is no reason why, in all respects save colour, they should not be fully as valuable. The fact that they are discarded while the blacks are retained is simply due to the turn of fortune that black rather than red became established fashion for the Aberdeen Angus breed. Had red been the chosen colour, there would never have been any trouble with the appearance of blacks as off-colour individuals, since red-to-red breeds true."

In Australia as overseas, some Red calves appeared in black herds. It is generally acknowledged that Baraon Beppo and Erison of Harviestoun, Grandeur of Fordhouse and Benes of Gaidrew were the main source of the Red gene, but a study of the full pedigrees of early cattle coming to Australia and New Zealand, indicate that many other would also have carried the red gene.
 
In the USA, circa 1945, Reds were being gathered, particularly by Waldo Forbes who recognised the many inefficiencies of cattle raising and started measuring the outputs as affecting cattlemen of the day. The output of 18 Red Angus heifers showed a great advantage over his Herefords and in 1954 along with 8 other enthusiasts he formed the Red Angus Association of America which was a compulsory performance tested society, this being the first such society in the USA.
 
Prior to the formation of the Red Angus Cattle Society in Australia there were 7 well established herds of Red cattle together with small herds slowly expanding. Waroo in Queensland, Weewalla in NSW, Blackwood at Penshurst in Victoria, Bungaree, Anama, Vivigani and Rosebank in SA, and Emuvale in Tasmania.
 
With few exceptions, all of the Reds in the early herds were unregistered cattle and the growing demand for bulls for crossbreeding purposes indicated that the Red-coated Angus cattle had a sound commercial future in this country.
 
The commercial attributes of these cattle as assessed by the industry of the day were the impetus of sales made, but it is interesting to note that at the Blackwood herd in Victoria, Mr Ritchie (Senior) purchased cattle scales from the USA in 1954 and together with Mr A.C.T Hewitt of the Victorian Dept. of Agriculture, carried out progeny recording and fertility tests.
 
In early 1969, approaches were made to the Angus Society of Australia by some Angus Studs for the re-introduction of an appendix system so that Red cattle known to be from registered herds could be introduced into a herd book after 3 controlled generations and with inspections at each step.
 
The proposed arrangement was not accepted, and in May 1970, a meeting of persons interested in forming a Red Angus Society was held in Melbourne.
 
A decision to form a Society was made and the foundation Councillors were Mr L.T Sanderson (President), Mr R. B Ritchie (Vice President), Mr J. Napier (Treasurer), Mr F. Pearson, F. Hood, and R. Needham. An arrangement for a secretariat was made with the R.A. Soc. of Vic, Mr J. Stanton attending to Red Angus affairs, Mr Pearson to be the Liason Officer.
 
Membership and cattle registrations grew rapidly. All cattle for registration were inspected for faults and by the completion of inspections in 1971 some 330 females and 75 males were in the herd book and appendices.
 
Come 1974, Mr F. C. Pearson became President, and the first Herd Book was produced. The full members then totalled 43 and ordinary members 25. Interest and membership continued to grow in the Red Angus.
 
Further imports of Red Angus from Canada and the United States of America have seen the gene pool diversified since 1974. Australian breeders have skillfully blended the best available genetics to produce Red Angus suited to our environmental requirements.
 
Red Angus cattle are now distributed across Australia with the acceptance by commercial breeders of their productivity in a range of environments. Australian Red Angus breeders have also exported their genetics to China and Vietnam.

THE RED COLOUR
Early in the development of the Aberdeen Angus, Hugh Watson of Keillor, Scotland arbitrarily decided that black was the proper colour of the breed, and therefore started a fashion. He may have well chosen Red instead.

Red Angus cattle have all the attributes of Angus cattle with the following advantages. 1. Red Angus are homozygous for the red colour and when crossed with red always breed red. 2. Red is the most numerous colour of all cattle breeds worldwide. Commercial breeders of other Red breeds can maintain consistency of colour in their crossbreeding programme by using Red Angus. 3. Red is more heat tolerant than black and has an advantage from Buffalo Fly. Buffalo flies tend to congregate on black cattle by preference, giving red coated cattle an advantage in regions with Buffalo fly.

Red Angus has been proven worldwide to fit into many successful crossbreeding and composite breeding programmes. Red Angus has contributed moderate birth, poll genes, solid homozygous colour and carcase quality into these planned breeding systems.

When crossbreeding plan to maintain high levels of heterosis in your system and utilise breeds that complement each other.

Red Angus compliment many other breeds such as the Hereford to produce a highly desirable Red Baldy female. Similarly Red Angus and Gelbvieh have proven to be a popular cross in many countries and are in high demand.

Angus bulls have a documented reputation for a large scrotal size (per kilo liveweight) and subsequently greater semen production. CSIRO at Townsville have established a link between large scrotal size in bulls being positively related to fertility of sisters and daughters.

A major advantage of Red Angus calves is their low birth weights. Angus are reputed to have fewer calving problems and therefore shorter intervals between calving. For the cattle breeder, this means more live calves on the ground – essential to profits.

One example of the benefits of a Red Angus infusion is that of a commercial cattleman in Central Australia who first bought 20 Red Angus bulls in 1993. Since purchasing Red Angus bulls his calving percentage has increased by 30% (600 more calves per year), the temperament of the herd has improved significantly, saving two weeks on his annual muster and the presence of the polled gene introduced by the Red Angus has saved on dehorning which, in turn, has reduced carcase damage.

SUPERIOR MEAT QUALITY AND CARCASE YIELD EXCELLENCE
Angus cattle are the preferred breed for the high quality beef market. They are renowned for producing quality beef as measured in the AUSMEAT chiller assessment scheme and their ability to quickly produce this quality beef to meet yield specifications is rewarded in the price premiums paid in the quality conscious markets.

In commercially orientated steer trials, Angus cross has proven conclusively that importance of meat quality and cost of production.

Angus cross calves will in the main be polled and the trend to polled cattle assure carcase damage is minimised.

1. Uniform red colour adds to the ease of marketing.

2. Beef quality and yield specification gives you added market flexibility with:

• export by improved quality beef
• feeder as lotfed desired types
• local trade with quick turnoff
• crossbred females important for maternal performance.