Red Angus

Red Angus

Cow and calf
Conservation status	FAO 2007: not at risk [1] : 145
Other names	Angus Rojo Rdeci Angus [2]
Country of origin	Australia United States
Distribution	Australia Canada Cuba Ecuador Panama Peru Slovenia United States
Use	beef
Traits
Weight	Male: 900 kg [3] : 278  Female: 635 kg [3] : 278
Coat	red
Horn status	polled
Cattle Bos (primigenius) taurus

Cow and calf in Oregon

The Red Angus is an international breed of beef cattle characterised by a reddish-brown coat colour. It derives from the Scottish Aberdeen Angus population and is identical to it in all but coat colour. Red Angus are registered separately from black Angus cattle in Australia, Canada, and the United States. ^[4]

History

The Scottish Aberdeen Angus is usually black, but red individuals occur; this may be the consequence of cross-breeding in the eighteenth century of the small Scottish cattle with larger English Longhorn stock, aimed at increasing their draught power. ^[5]

In the United States, these red individuals could until 1917 be registered in the herd-book of the American Angus Association. From about 1945, some herds consisting only of red-coated stock were formed. ^{[6] : 238} In 1954 a breeders' association, the Red Angus Association of America, was established at a meeting in Fort Worth, Texas. ^{[7] : 14} The registered population in 2008 numbered about 47000 head, making it the fifth beef breed by number in the United States; American Angus, Charolais, Hereford and Simmental were more numerous. ^{[3] : 278}

In Australia, breeders of the red variant proposed a scheme for registration of their stock with the Angus Society of Australia; it was not accepted, and in 1970 they formed the Red Angus Society of Australia. ^{[3] : 278}

The Red Angus is reported to DAD-IS by Australia, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Slovenia and the United States; its global conservation status is "not at risk". ^[2]

Use

The Red Angus is a beef breed, and is reared only for that purpose. ^[4] Comparative trials have not identified any difference of commercial significance between it and the American Angus. ^{[3] : 278} Bulls have been used as sires for cross-breeding. The Red Angus is a parent breed to the Regus (cross-breeding with Hereford) and to the RX3 (a mixture of Hereford, Red Angus and Red Holstein). ^{[3] : 278}

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN   9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
2. Transboundary breed: Red Angus. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2023.
3. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN   9781780647944.
4. Marleen Felius (1995). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Doetinchem, Netherlands: Misset. ISBN   9789054390176.
5. The Origin of Red Angus. Red Angus Society of Australia. Accessed October 2018.
6. Frank Flanders, James R. Gillespie (2015). Modern Livestock & Poultry Production. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. ISBN   9781133283508.
7. Bob Hough (2005). History of the Red Angus. Denton, Texas: Red Angus Association of America.