CHAPTER XXVII 



THE ABERDEEN-ANGUS 



The native home of the Aberdeen-Angus breed of cattle is in 

 northeastern Scotland, especially in the counties of Aberdeen, 

 Kincardine, and Forfar. In southern Aberdeen, in the Buchan 

 district, the breed was long known as "Buchan hiimlies," while in 

 the section of Forfar known as Angus these cattle were called 

 "Angus Doddies." The words "homyl," "humble," "humle," 

 "doddie," and "dodded" are the Scotch terms for polled, or horn- 

 less. This section of Scotland is north of 56 and lies about a 

 thousand miles north of the latitude of Chicago. The climate is 

 rather damp and cold much of the time. The land is hilly or 

 mountainous in the main, part of it being better suited to grazing 

 than anything else, though roots, barley, oats, and hay are quite 

 extensively produced. 



The origin of the Aberdeen-Angus is purely speculative. Among 

 the wild white cattle of Britain were polled animals, and the 

 Aberdeen-Angus may have descended from these. Some of the 

 Scotch writers incline to the belief that this breed is a sport from a 

 black breed with horns, which formerly existed in Scotland. Horn- 

 less cattle have been known in Scotland for long over a century. In 

 an account book kept by a Mr. Graham record is made June 9, 1752, 

 of purchasing a two-year-old heifer "doded." The first printed 

 reference to hornless cattle in Angus is dated 1797 in the Old 

 Statistical Account of the parish of Bendochy, where it is said of 

 1229 cattle in the parish "many of them are dodded, wanting 

 horns." 



Professor Wilson states 1 that "early in the eighteenth century 

 there sprang up in England a demand for hornless cattle which 

 was responded to first in Galloway and considerably later in the 

 northeastern counties. The result was that breeders elected to 

 breed from hornless cattle ; and hornlessness, which had hitherto 



1 James Wilson, The Evolution of British Cattle, p. 53. London, 1909. 



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