“Native breeds that feed off the land are the future”: an MBE for the Forfar farmer who saved the Native Angus for the new generation of meat-eaters

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UPDATE: Native Angus goes on sale in Hong Kong’s upmarket food hall city-super - see new blog post

Hands up if you, like me, tend to buy a steak that says it’s Aberdeen Angus in the belief it must be Scottish and that by buying it you’re supporting an indigenous product. Thanks to an enlightening experience in Edinburgh last week, I now know that that steak is more likely to be a diluted version of the real McCoy containing strains of other breeds and sometimes fed with cereal so the black beast grows faster, taller and bigger – making for looser textured, longer fibred, arguably lesser flavoured bigger cuts than the smaller, fattier, grass-fed original.

 Whatever your views on red meat I think it’s important for we consumers to know this, especially in the dual age of industrialisation of the global food chain and the rise of the local food movement with its desire for clear provenance. And to learn, as I just have, that thanks to the efforts of one Scottish farming couple and their collaboration with a long-established family butcher, Scotland’s once-endangered pure Native Angus beef – direct descendents of the original 19th century beasts - is available once again to consumers after an absence of over 30 years.

For his efforts, the farmer – Geordie Soutar of Forfar, Angus – is to receive the MBE tomorrow [Tuesday October 12, 2021] for preserving the global genetic pool of Native Angus.

Beef is still allowed to be called Aberdeen Angus even if sired only by a bull and thus only half the real thing. (Worse, according to Slow Food UK, in the USA cattle only need to be black in order to qualify for the Certified Angus Beef Scheme.)

This is arguably detrimental not only to flavour but also to the very existence of the original breed.

The pure Scots Native breed Aberdeen Angus – a smaller beast entirely grass-fed, traditionally reared and with no imported bloodlines – originated on farms in Banff and Angus in the 1830s and were documented from the 1860s. There were 98 different cow families in 1967 but when its unique genetics began to be altered in the 1970s through cross-breeding, (mainly in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South America) and these animals were exported into the UK, the pure Native Angus came so close to extinction that in 1995 there were only nine cow families with no imported bloodlines left in existence, according to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

That’s when Forfar farmer Geordie Soutar and his wife Julia at Kingston Farm took on the challenge of acquiring all nine cow families and embarking on the process of halting the decline. Theirs is the only farm in the world to hold all nine original Native Angus bloodlines.

“We’re at the start of a momentous food movement adventure,” farmer Soutar told me when we met at the launch hosted by MacDuff 1890 butchers at the Bonnie & Wild food marketplace at the St James Quarter. John Munro, head chef at The Gannet in Edinburgh, one of Scotland’s most progressive restaurants, was cooking Native Angus cuts for the audience.

 “When we began this we only had a handful of old cows left. Using old semen from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust archive we now have a young herd.” The couple have named it Dunlouise Angus, the Original Native Angus, after the names of their children. The genetics are now being sold around the world, as demand for grass-fed beef is soaring due to its uniqueness and its health benefits (Soutar argues that as it’s grass-fed it contains two- to three times more essential fatty acids than other foods.)  

Julia Soutar added: “Everybody laughed at what we were doing 26 years ago, but it turns out we were first to start what has become a beef revolution all over the world. Native Angus make small steaks which are thicker with more marbling. We have the raw ingredients that make them famous.”

Also in attendance was the beef expert and film-maker Franck Ribiere, whose new film Look Back in Angus, charting the Soutars’ journey and “how a small black cow took over the culinary world”, was previewed.

The Frenchman has eaten at many of the world’s top steak restaurants including in Australia, Argentina, Spain and the US. He said: “There are 625 beef restaurants in the world and 1000 breeds. Every country has its own philosophy about beef. Australian beef is trending at the moment. Everyone’s doing Charolais. Dry-aging has gone too far, with some doing 300 days. And Japanese wagyu is regarded as the best in the world, but the cattle don’t eat grass. I was looking for something new, and Angus was a great place to go.

“Native breeds that feed off the land are the future.”

I asked him if the Terroir Ecossais is recognised as a thing worldwide.

“You can’t have a better terroir than the Scottish one,” he replied. “Rain and grass. That is all you need. Plus good slaughtering, butchering and cooking. The link between farmer, butcher and chef is all important and you have that here in Scotland.”

I’m told Dunlouise Native Angus is sweeter in flavour due to being fed on grass, with fantastic marbling and butter-soft fat, though I can’t attest to that myself as I haven’t tasted it yet. Nevertheless I think this is a great food story that deserves to be told.