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]
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 stock, aimed at increasing their draught power.[5]
In the United States, these red individuals could until 1917 be registered in the herdbook 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 47 000 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]
The Red Angus is a beef breed, and is reared only for that purpose.[4] Comparative trials have not identified any commercially-significant difference between it and the American Angus.[3]: 278 Bulls have been used as sires for crossbreeding. 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
^ abTransboundary breed: Red Angus. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2023.
