Undoubtedly
one of the most famous Aberdeen-Angus breeders was the prodigious Hugh Watson
of County Angus. Just as breeder William McCombie was responsible for putting
the title Aberdeen into the name of
the breed, Hugh Watson was responsible for Angus.
Watson came from a long line of cattle breeders and had essential experience in
breeding for ideal traits. In 1808 he became the tenant of Keillor Farm, and
began selecting cattle of a very particular nature. Namely, they were black.
Unlike many breeders of the time, Watson was doing something
that would continue on into our generation and has become an essential
component of promoting Aberdeen-Angus cattle: he was branding, and not in the ‘hot-iron-rod’
sense. He chose to breed for a particular appearance in his cattle and
aggressively showed them across the United Kingdom. The polled, jet black
animals stood out in a time when multi-coloured beasts were the norm. The
addition of him being an excellent breeder saw the animals’ popularity grow
exponentially.
One
of Watson’s most famous animals was a cow by the name of ‘Old Grannie,’ born in
1824, who obtained celebrity-like status after having a record 25 calves and
living to the ripe old age of 36, only dying because she was struck by
lightning during a storm. Initially she was kept as an experiment to see how
long a healthy cow to produce offspring, but she quickly became a much-loved
emblem of
To honour this pioneer of the breed, the
Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society commissioned a memorial to Hugh Watson at Glamis
Castle, home of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and her continuing
herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. In July 2017, the finished work was unveiled
during the World Angus Forum in the breed’s homeland of Scotland.
Post by Kiani Evans
Feedback: cdnangus@cdnangus.ca
