It has been thirty five years since Woodstone Ranch began breeding registered Aberdeen-Angus cattle. It soon became evident at major shows that the breed was moving in a direction opposite the traits which made Angus so popular: smaller frame, easy-fleshing, calving ease, and adequate but not excessive milk production.
On the advice and counsel of our good friend Al Maurer, we decided to search the British Isles to put together a representative herd of these original animals.
With the assistance of Kevin Culhane, we were able to achieve our goal in Ireland.
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In two importations, 1984 and 1988, we assembled eleven females and three bulls of pure Scottish and/or Irish pedigree, some of which could be traced back to the first animals registered in the Scottish herd books.
As expected, offspring of these imported animals exhibit the traits previously mentioned. Twenty years of carcass data also prove that they are competitive in the feed yard and superior in marbling, muscling, and retail product.
The Craigie-Argobrite Unit is from a pure Scotch-Irish closed herd originated by Ken Clark in Maryland in 1947, and brought to us by Dave Blakeslee of Union, West Virginia in the early 1990's. |