The Red Angus is an international breed of

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

characterised by a reddish-brown coat colour. It derives from the Scottish

Aberdeen Angus The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 1 ...

population and, apart from the coat colour, is identical to it. Red Angus are registered separately from black Angus cattle in Australia, Canada, and the United States.

History

The Scottish 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 The Longhorn or British Longhorn is a British list of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle characterised by long curving horns. It originated in northern England, in the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire, and later spread to the ...

stock, aimed at increasing their draught power. 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. In 1954 a breeders' association, the Red Angus Association of America, was established at a meeting in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. The registered population in 2008 numbered about head, making it the fifth beef breed by number in the United States;

American Angus The American Angus is an American breed of beef cattle. It derives from the Scottish Aberdeen Angus population, but may only be black. Red-coated individuals may not be registered with the American Angus Association, but can be registered as Re ...

, Charolais,

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

and Simmental were more numerous. 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. The Red Angus is reported to DAD-IS by Australia, Cuba, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Slovenia and the United States; its global

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

is "not at risk".

Use

The Red Angus is a

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

breed, and is reared only for that purpose. Comparative trials have not identified any commerciallysignificant difference between it and the

. Bulls have been used as sires for

crossbreeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

. The Red Angus is a parent breed to the Regus (cross-breeding with

) and to the RX3 (a mixture of Hereford, Red Angus and

Red Holstein Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-H ...

References

{{Cattle breeds of the United States Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Australia Cattle breeds originating in the United States