Angus cattle
The Aberdeen-Angus beef cattle breed originated in Scotland, where it is known that the polled cattle have been managed for at least a thousand years.
Excellent dams,
best beef quality
Angus, also known as Aberdeen Angus, is a beef cattle breed from the north-east of Scotland. Angus is always polled. Angus can be both black and red. Angus is specifically a maternal beef breed. Angus cows have good maternal traits. Angus breed is also especially appreciated for its excellent beef quality. Angus beef is known for its fine marbling, which gives the meat its juiciness and flavour.
History of the breed
The Aberdeen-Angus beef cattle breed originated in Scotland, where it is known that the polled cattle have been managed for at least a thousand years. The black, polled cattle in the counties of Aberdeen and Angus, which were bred to be very similar, were merged in the early 19th century to form the Aberdeen-Angus breed.
The Aberdeen-Angus breed has always been held in very high esteem, particularly because of its beef quality and its superior marbling to many other breeds. Angus cows have long been known as long-lived, fertile, high-milking cows with particularly good mothering ability. These traits are difficult to improve through breeding because of their low heritability, but in the Angus breed these traits are already clearly present as breed characteristics. The Angus was introduced to continental Europe and South America by immigrants. The first Angus were introduced to North America in the 1860s and the breed is well adapted to all climates, from Alaska to Australia.
The aim of breeders in the USA and Canada has been to improve the breed to be better suited to modern production environment. The aim has been to enhance the growth traits, slaughter and beef eating quality without compromising the maternal traits.
Angus cattle in Finland
The first Aberdeen Angus arrived in Finland in 1951 when N.G Borgström, a farming counselor, bought some animals from Sweden. However, the beginning of Angus breeding in Finland must be considered to be started by the mining counselor J.W. Walden in the early 1960s. J.W. Walden imported Angus animals from the Wye Plantation in the United States, which is still one of the most prestigious breeding herds.
Many Finnish breeding herds are almost entirely descended from the Wye herd, which guarantees the high quality of the Finnish Angus cattle. Later Angus genetics have been imported to Finland mainly from Sweden, Denmark, USA, Canada and Australia.