Native Angus®
Angus History and Development
“The Aberdeen-Angus breed was developed in the early part of the 19th century from the polled and predominantly black cattle of north east Scotland, known locally as “doddies” and “hummlies”.
The earliest families trace back to the middle of the eighteenth century, but it was much later that the Herd Book (1862) and the Society (1879) were founded. The breed’s establishment was entirely due to the efforts of three very progressive lairds and farmers of that time.
Hugh Watson became tenant of Keillor Farm in Angus in 1808. He gathered stock widely and produced cattle of outstanding quality and character.
William McCombie took the farm of Tillyfour in Aberdeenshire in 1824 and founded a herd from predominantly Keillor bloodlines. His well-documented close breeding produced outstanding cattle that he showed widely in England and France. The reputation of the Aberdeen-Angus breed was founded on the efforts of the McCombie family.
Sir George Macpherson-Grant returned to his inherited estate at Ballindalloch, on the River Spey, from Oxford in 1861 and took up the refining of the breed that was to be his life’s work for almost 50 years.
By line breeding and selection for type, these early pioneers established the foundation for what is unarguably the greatest beef breed in the world.
In those early days Britain was regarded as the fount of Aberdeen-Angus genetics and leading world breeders came here to source stock. The export market has continued to favour the Aberdeen-Angus breed and now breeders look worldwide to source the very best genetics. Today, the Society has cemented its position as the world’s finest beef breed with worldwide recognition producing premium quality beef.”
Native Angus®
Angus History and Development
“The Aberdeen-Angus breed was developed in the early part of the 19th century from the polled and predominantly black cattle of north east Scotland, known locally as “doddies” and “hummlies”.
The earliest families trace back to the middle of the eighteenth century, but it was much later that the Herd Book (1862) and the Society (1879) were founded. The breed’s establishment was entirely due to the efforts of three very progressive lairds and farmers of that time.
Hugh Watson became tenant of Keillor Farm in Angus in 1808. He gathered stock widely and produced cattle of outstanding quality and character.
William McCombie took the farm of Tillyfour in Aberdeenshire in 1824 and founded a herd from predominantly Keillor bloodlines. His well-documented close breeding produced outstanding cattle that he showed widely in England and France. The reputation of the Aberdeen-Angus breed was founded on the efforts of the McCombie family.
Sir George Macpherson-Grant returned to his inherited estate at Ballindalloch, on the River Spey, from Oxford in 1861 and took up the refining of the breed that was to be his life’s work for almost 50 years.
By line breeding and selection for type, these early pioneers established the foundation for what is unarguably the greatest beef breed in the world.
In those early days Britain was regarded as the fount of Aberdeen-Angus genetics and leading world breeders came here to source stock. The export market has continued to favour the Aberdeen-Angus breed and now breeders look worldwide to source the very best genetics. Today, the Society has cemented its position as the world’s finest beef breed with worldwide recognition producing premium quality beef.”
Native Angus® - the blueprint of the breed
Genetic Modification - backup page

In the 1950s and 1960s, as a result of hybrid grains and irrigation techniques, abundant grain harvests in North America suddenly made it possible to feed large numbers of cattle in one location and so, to cut transportation costs, feedlots emerged on a large scale.
To take maximum advantage of these feedlots, the phenotype of North American cattle was radically altered in the 1970s towards much larger framed cattle.
While there is no hard evidence to show that this alteration was achieved other than by genetic selection within breeds, nevertheless there was a concern that infusion with large-framed breeds such as Simmental, Limousin and Gelbveih was widely practiced.
Of course, breeders must continually adapt to meet their own market and the way they go about that should generally not be constrained. However, the concern for breed societies, charged with maintaining the purity of their breeds, was that registration papers could easily be falsified. As there was no DNA testing at that time, there was room for misrepresentation.
Mr. H.H. Dickenson, Jr., Executive Vice President of the American Hereford Association, wrote in a letter dated August 18, 1993, to a Hereford breeder in the United Kingdom –
“Since 1969, North American breeders have concentrated on increasing frame size. As you might suspect, this single trait selection has been carried too far. Now, the “operative slogan” is optimum production. This means backing off from selection for frame only and trying to get the traits in balance. Perhaps the biggest damage from selecting for larger frame is the corresponding increase in birthweight. This, of course, leads to greater calving problems. And in this country, calving difficulty is the number one culprit in decreasing overall profitability. In 1970, the average U.S. Hereford bull calf birthweight was about 75 pounds. Today, the average is nearly 90 pounds. This means some sires are producing calves with 100+ birthweights. Our customers can’t live with 100 lb. birthweights.”
“Today’s efforts are toward lowering these birthweights to around 80 lbs. for heifer calves and 85 lbs. for bull calves. This requires a significant reduction in mature size for the bigger animals.
“This move back to optimum size has virtually stopped any “infusion” of outside blood in the breed. The only incentive for this was larger frame and that incentive no longer exists.”
In 1973, the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society made a change to the way registrations were published in the Herd Book. Starting with volume 98 of that year, all imported animals registered with the AACS were given the designation IMP (for Imported) and were listed in a separate appendix.
Figure 1 shows the cumulative number of imports up to 1996, the year in which Mr. Bob Anderson, Secretary of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society, carried out a survey of the genetic composition of cattle registered with the Society.

Figure 1. Cumulative Imports to 1996
It must have been hard to imagine in 1970 that early imports would lead to a flood and thence to infusion of the imported bloodlines into 99.5% of the Angus population in the UK by 1996, resulting in a move to preserve what is now called "Native Angus®". But that is what happened…
Mr Bob Anderson, Secretary of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society, wrote (in an email dated Wednesday, 12th September 2018) -
“Back in 1996 after 20 years of breeders using bloodlines imported from North America, Australia, NZ etc. I did some research and found that only around 0.5 % of the cow herd had non-imported bloodlines, and many of these were aged. I contacted those owners that had these cows and suggested that it was something that might be worth preserving. Enough were interested and in order to be recognised with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust an appendix to the Herd Book was introduced which identified these animals. The advantage of RBST recognition was that they hold stocks of semen which they could make available to genuine cases, also in the event of a catastrophe such as F&M outbreak these animals have some protection.”
“To the best of my knowledge the appendix is still maintained by the Society and the requirement is that the pedigree does not contain any imported bloodlines.”
Of course, genetic modification occurred in the Australian Angus herd as well, as Australian breeders also sought to obtain larger framed cattle for feedlot beef production. Only a very few breeders, such as the Dockers Plains Pastoral Company “Bontharambo” property, have today retained the original Angus phenotype.