The Cattle Breeds that Built the West
Montana is home to many breeds of cattle, boasting a population of over 2.2 million head of cows, which outnumbers the people 2 to 1. They don’t call it the last best place for nothing! Much of Montana remains ranching and farming ground, with wide open spaces dotted with cows. Have you ever stopped to wonder about the cattle being run on the ranches in your communities? The two most common breeds of cattle that you’ll find across Montana, and the United States as a whole, are Black Angus and Hereford. Both of these breeds built the cattle industry and cowboy country we know today.
So, let’s talk a little about the history of the two most common breeds you’ll find in Montana: Black Angus and Hereford cattle.
Black Angus
Black Angus cattle, originally known as Aberdeen Angus, have their roots in 12th century northeastern Scotland. In the Scottish counties of Angus and Aberdeenshire, two different cattle breeders began to develop what we now know as “famous black angus”. In 1808, Hugh Watson, a cattle rancher from Keillor Farm in Angus county began to selectively breed from a wide variety of black polled cattle. He wanted a cow that was easy to raise, docile, and would produce high-quality meat. Then, in 1824, another rancher named William McCombie in Aberdeenshire county used Watson’s bloodlines to establish his own large herd of cattle. Throughout his years, he focused on perfecting the breed. McCombie worked on promoting his genetics throughout England and France. His cattle breed became known as Aberdeen-Angus, a nod to their birthplace.
Fun fact: for some time in the 1700’s, black polled cattle in Angus county used to be known as Angus Doddies!
George Grant, a farmer in Kansas, brought 4 Aberdeen-Angus bulls from Scotland to the middle of the Kansas Prairie in 1873. He hailed from Scotland himself, a cloth merchant who eventually made a fortune and began buying land in the United States. It was rumored that two of the bulls had bloodlines tying them directly to McCombie’s herd. A second shipment in 1876 brought over 4 Aberdeen-Angus heifers and a bull known as “Royal George”. The Aberdeen-Angus became known simply as Angus within the United States. When Angus cattle first arrived in America, other farmers and ranchers were skeptical of how they’d fare, especially against the native longhorns that dominated American ranches at the time. But, Angus proved their worth and their hardiness, productivity, and quality meat quickly became apparent. In the early development of the Angus herd in America, over 1200 cattle were imported from Scotland between 1878 and 1883. Over the next quarter century, cattle ranchers continued breeding and developing their herds, raising the number of Angus in America and strengthening the genetics.
Angus cattle are naturally polled and black, although red colors have emerged in more recent years, giving rise to what we call Red Angus. In the United States, we refer to them as two separate breeds. Black Angus have grown into America’s most popular beef cattle breed due to their maternal abilities, their hardiness, and their superior marbling.
Hereford
The Hereford breed was founded around two and a half centuries ago in the early 1700’s simply as a product of necessity. The British Industrial Revolution increased the demand for beef. Farmers near Hereford in Herefordshire county, England, were determined to produce beef for the expanding food market. There wasn’t a breed at the time to fill that specific need, so the farmers founded the beef breed that then became known as Herefords. These early Hereford breeders focused on developing their cattle for a high yield of beef and for efficiency. They dedicated themselves to these aspects and they are still found as superior characteristics of the breed. In 1742, Benjamin Tomkins used a bull calf and two cows inherited from his father's estate to found the Hereford breed. From the start, Tomkins had as his goals set for feeding, growth and gain, hardiness, and early maturity, which are all traits that are still of primary importance today. Other ranchers followed Tomkins’ lead for breeding.
Fun fact: Herefords in the 1700's and early 1800's were much larger than today, with many mature cows weighing 3,000 pounds or more. Over time, the type and conformation changed via genetics to a less extreme size and weight to get more smoothness, quality, and efficiency.
Henry Clay, a statesman of Kentucky, first imported Herefords in 1817 to the United States. He brought over a bull and two females. The first Hereford breeding herd in the United States was established around 1840 by William H. Sotham and Erastus Corning of Albany, New York. Current Herefords in the United States date back to the Sotham-Corning beginning. The more densely populated eastern area of the United States, including herds in New England, was the early home of Herefords and from there they fanned out to the South and West as the population expanded and the demand for beef increased.
The western cattlemen developed a healthy and growing market for Herefords, which encouraged Hereford breeders to expand their herds through heavy importations from Herefordshire. More than 3,500 Herefords came over between 1880 and 1889. Early Hereford breeder promoters and exhibitors in the 1870's and 1880's were instrumental in the movement of Herefords to Wyoming, other mountain states and the Northwest. Two farmers, Gudgell and Simpson of Missouri, made their start in 1877. They worked on importing Herefords and eventually concentrated on the great sire Anxiety 4, known as the "Father of American Herefords". Today, he is the common ancestor of nearly all Hereford cattle in this country.
Herefords are the second most popular breed of cattle in the United States. They are known for their fast maturation, high beef yields, and for their maternal abilities.
Herefords and Black Angus are both fantastic beef breeds of cattle with amazing sets of genetics. One of my favorite things to learn and talk about is genetics of cattle, so you can bet that when you cross an Angus and a Hereford, you get an outstanding calf with some phenomenal qualities.
But, that’s a topic for the next blog!
