Brangus

Brangus

Conservation status	FAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 143  DAD-IS (2023): not at risk[2]
Country of origin	United States
Distribution	26 American states
Use	beef
Traits
Coat	black
Horn status	polled
Cattle Hybrid Bos (primigenius) taurus/indicus

The Brangus is an American hybrid breed of beef cattle derived from cross-breeding of American Angus and Brahman stock. Registered animals have 5/8 Angus and 3/8 Brahman parentage.^[3]: 149 A similar hybrid breed, the Australian Brangus, was separately developed in Australia from about 1950.^[4]: 138

History

Research into crossbreeding of Angus and Brahman stock was begun in about 1932 at the Iberia Livestock Experiment Station of the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture near Jeanerette, Louisiana, where crossbreeding of Brahman and Shorthorn cattle had already shown good results.^[5]: 205 It was hoped that the good adaptation of the Brahman to hot and humid conditions could be combined with the better meat qualities of the Angus, as well as its black coat and polled characteristic.^[5]: 206 An ideal proportion of 5/8 Angus to 3/8 Brahman was established. By 1949 the cattle were distributed in sixteen American states and in Canada.^[5]: 207 A breed society, the American Brangus Breeders' Association, was formed in that year; it later became the International Brangus Breeders' Association.^[5]: 206

In 2016 the Brangus was present in twenty-six American states.^[4]: 138 The population reported for the United States in 2010 was 42702;^[4]: 138 in 2017 it was 30000.^[2]

It has been exported to many countries, particularly in South America.^[5]: 207 It is reported (without distinction from the Australian Brangus) from twenty countries, with large populations in Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.^[6]

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
2. Breed data sheet: Brangus / United States of America (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2023.
3. John B. Friend (1978). Cattle of the World. Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press. ISBN 0713708565.
4. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
5. Hilton Marshall Briggs, Dinus M. Briggs (1980). Modern Breeds of Livestock, fourth edition. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 9780023147302.
6. Transboundary breed: Brangus. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2023.