664 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



of achievement to the live stock industry of the country as the breed- 

 ers of Iowa. 



Due to the luxuriant conditions Iowa has been favored with, prac- 

 tically every useful breed of domestic farm animals has spread, as it 

 were, with the ease that plants have been disseminated by the winds 

 of the prairie. 



One has only to glance back a few decades to find Iowa the western 

 frontier with all that was good and great in live stock lore back east. 

 Today Iowa can boast of having reached the highest pinnacle of fame 

 in the production of farm animals. This is especially true of Iowa's 

 operations in the production and extension or distribution of the 

 Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle. In fact Iowa is the best example of 

 extension in every sense of the word which we have in the country. 

 Iowa has not only advocated extension of the Aberdeen Angus by every 

 theorist within her borders, but through publicity and practical men 

 she has spread much information within the reach of everyone inter- 

 ested in Aberdeen Angus cattle. 



Prom the small beginning of a fevv- bulls which were imported by a 

 Kansas ranchman in 1873, we have recorded nearly 200,000 Aberdeen 

 Angus cattle in this country. Although a few bulls were brought from 

 Scotland to a Kansas range in 1873 it was not until the eighties that 

 Aberdeen Angus cattle fully established themselves as the invincible 

 blacks in America. From 1880 to 1883 they were brought to this 

 country in such droves that it is estimated over 2,000 were imported 

 and distributed in America. 



In 1883 the Aberdeen Angus Association was organized and in 1886 

 the first volume of the herd book was published. It contained 5,2 00 

 pedigrees. The membership of the association in 188 6 was 112, 

 while at present it is over 3,000. Of these, Iowa can boast of 850. 

 In 188 6 Missouri had twenty-eight members, Illinois eighteen and 

 Iowa twelve. In 1893 or at the end of the first ten years' life of the 

 association, Illinois had seventy-eight, Iowa forty-six and Missouri 

 thirty-three. Ten years later in 1903 Iowa had 209, Illinois 201 and 

 Missouri ninety. Eleven years later which brings us up to the present 

 time, Iowa is represented by 850, Illinois 432, Missouri 269. 



In the first volume of the herd book, Missouri recorded 45 9 animals, 

 Illinois 394, Kansas 226 and Iowa 127. Only three breeders in Iowa 

 recorded over ten head each. What a difference thirty-one years has 

 wrought in Aberdeen Angus circles! While some may feel a little 

 discouraged on account of the ravages of the foot and mouth disease 

 and the manner in which it is being handled in some states, the above 

 facts should make everyone feel like congratulating those who have 

 made possible the extension of the Aberdeen Angus breed to such 

 great numbers as at present. 



When the first herd book was published, Illinois was represented 

 by pedigrees from thirty-two breeders, Missouri twenty-seven and Iowa 

 twenty-six. In the last volume issued in November, 1914, containing 

 pedigrees received at the office in less than a year, Iowa is represented 

 by 553 breeders and pedigrees of 4,468 animals, Illinois 250 breeders 



