by Terry Lidral
Black Angus cattle arrived in America in 1873 by way of Victoria, Kansas. Four Scottish bred bulls were part of a settlement group brought from Britain by George Grant to establish an agricultural and livestock center along the Kansas Pacific Railway line. These Aberdeen Angus bulls were the start of what was to become the most popular beef breed in the United States.
Grant’s bulls were exhibited in a livestock show in Kansas City Missouri in 1873 shortly after arrving in America. The polled or hornless all black cattle were much different than the shorthorns and longhorns dominating the American livestock industry at that time. Many people considered them freaks but the Angus soon proved their value in the harsh weather of the Kansas prairie.
The introduction of the Aberdeen Angus is considered by most to be the most lasting contribution made by the colony of Victoria, Kansas. Black Angus cattle have become the most popular beef breed in America today.
George Grant is credited with founding Victoria, Kansas in 1873. The settlement is the birthplace of the Black Angus in America. Today one can take a trip to the George Grant Villa which has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Read more about the late 19th Century prairie settlement here.https://legendsofkansas.com/victoria-kansas/
Grant had brought no Angus cows from Scotland with the bulls. The Angus bulls were crossed with the available longhorns which produced black, polled calves with more weight like the Angus sires. Not only were the calves heavier by weight than longhorn calves, they survived well in the harsh winter weather.
Angus cattle are said to date back as far as the 12th Century in their native Scotland. During the 1800’s, Scottish breeders began to refine the Angus into the breed we now know today.
With the explosion of interest in the breed, in November of 1883, the American Angus Association was founded in Chicago, Illinois under the original name of the American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders’ Association. The association started out with 60 members. That number today has swelled to 30,000 adult and junior members.
People became interested in the Aberdeen Angus and its advantages for the livestock business. Between 1878 and 1883, there were more than 1200 of these angus shipped directly from Scotland to the United States. Most of them were delivered to the Midwest.
The Kansas Monster Blizzard of 1886 killed 75 percent of the cattle being grazed on the prairie. Read about this epic killer storm here: https://westernlivingjournal.com/kansas-monster-blizzard-of-1886-hell-on-the-prairie/
The Kansas
