Young Viscount

      Young Viscount is a short story about the Aberdeen Angus bull Young Viscount written in 1904 by Charles S. Plumb, B. Sc., Professor of Animal Husbandry, Ohio State University. This bull played a great part in the early history of the Angus breed of Beef Cattle. This story rescued from the public domain.

      Young Viscount (736) was calved in 1873, being bred by William Duff, Hillockhead, Glass, Scotland. His sire was the bull Hampton (492), while his dam was Erica 3d (1249) of the Ballindalloch Erica tribe. When a calf Young Viscount was purchased by the Earl of Fife at Duff house, near Banff, Scotland. His superior character became manifest as a calf, and he was shown as a yearling at the Highland and Agricultural society show at Inverness, Scotland, in 1874, where he won first prize in his class.

     The following year he was shown at Glasgow, where as a 2-year-old he gained first. Again, in 1876, at Aberdeen he competed in the aged bull class, and again received the coveted first place. In notes on the Highland show animals, in reference to Young Viscount, William Macdonald, editor of the North British Agriculturist, writes of him, in reference to the Inverness show, as "the  highest-priced bull and perhaps the best-looking animal of the breed that has yet been shown." The followingyear at Glasgow he writes of him as "looking compact and shapely, though less striking than he afterward appeared." At the Aberdeen show Young Viscount seemed in better bloom, and Mr. Macdonald wrote that he "here looked almost perfect in form. Deep, square and level, he lacked length of neck a trifle, but he had no other fault, and was 'head and shoulders' above his compeers in the aged class."

     In 1875 this bull won the $250 Challenge cup, and in 1878 the McCombie prize at the Royal Northern show of about $75 for the best breeding Angus bull in Scotland. In order to make his
claim good for being a grand individual he won first prize as aged bull and a special prize of about $150 at the International Exposition at Kilburn, London in 1879. These various records indicate
great show character on the part of Young Viscount. It is a remarkable record for any bull to campaign for six years and have an unbroken list of first prizes. So great an impression as an individual did he make that in 1882 Campbell Macpherson Campbell wrote of him: "Young Viscount is an undefeated bull, and is acknowledged by breeders to be the best bull of the breed ever seen."

     In 1878 this son of Erica 3d was purchased by Sir George Macpherson Grant for 225 guineas (about $1,125), the highest price paid for an Angus up to that time.  From then he went into active breeding service in the Ballindalloch herd, where he was used with great success, as will appear further on.

 

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