Elite, 100% native Aberdeen-Angus females from the breed's original homeland, will be up for grabs at the first International sale of cattle from the Soutar family's Dunlouise herd, at the end of the month.

The sale, from Geordie and Julia Soutar, son Duncan and daughter Louise, represents more than 20 years of dedicated Aberdeen Angus breeding and uniquely, based exclusively on 100% Scotch or UK breeding, along with the very best traditional Angus qualities.

Not surprisingly, this herd boasts some superior maternal qualities, fleshing ability, longevity and cattle with the best eating quality off grass, according to their owners.

"We are seeing a growing demand for traditional Aberdeen Angus because of their ease of management, longevity and ability to finish purely off grass," said Mr Soutar, who exports stock throughout the length and breadth of Europe, with semen and embryo sales throughout the world.

"Everyone is looking to get more from grass and we aim to wean our calves at 50% of their mother's weight at eight months of age, without concentrate feeding, with young bulls not fit for breeding, sold finished off grass and up to 6lbs of oats in the last few weeks only."

Proof of the pudding will be in the eating too, as outwith the sale, the Soutars have finished an Aberdeen Angus steer, solely off grass which will be spit roasted on the day for those attending the sale. Admittedly, it had to held on for longer than normal, but it was killed at 23months at 610kg to produce a 362.5kg carcase, having killed out at 59.4%.

The management ethos at Dunlouise has always been relatively simple, with a “back to basics” approach, Geordie explains: “A simple grass-based diet is supplemented by turnips and hay in the winter. Calves aren’t fed creep at grass so we can assess the cow’s milking ability. We have a grass mixture specific to the farm where we incorporate three clovers, one early, one mid and one late maturing.”

However, it's the genetics of the Dunlouise herd which are most important, with the result all stock are sold off the farm to minimise disease risk.

“Cattle are not vaccinated so they are exportable and any young males deemed not suitable for breeding are castrated and sold as grass-fed steers to MacDonald Bros Butchers, Perthshire."

The Celebration Sale – the first of its kind in more than 50 years – will see the Soutar family offer in the region of 20 young heifers, 20 in-calf heifers, eight young cows and or heifers with calves at foot, and will be a mix of proven home-bred sires and new sires. Five young bulls, all of which are exportable to Europe, will also hopefully be forward. However, nothing born prior to to 2013 will is available enabling the family to retain 40 breeding females.

The Dunlouise herd itself stems back to two foundation females of which one was Karen of Boghall, with the other being Ejeta of Templehouse from which all their Ericas have descended.

These were purchased in 1995/96, and it took another 10 years to acquire all the nine native cow families now left in existence, which compares to the unbelievable 98 cow families that were in existence in the 1960s.

In the early days, former breed secretary, Bob Anderson, was a huge help in compiling a list of native Angus left in existence with many of these cow families, retaining their distinctive features, such as a ‘Jipsey head’ and a set of ‘Cherry Blossom ears’.

The Cherry Blossoms – Cherry Bee 117 – bred three of the sires that Genex CRI bought a third semen interest in and proceeded to send this Native semen to every country in the world that breeds Angus.

Native heifers from all the Dunlouise cow families have been sold throughout Europe too, but particularly into Germany where it is more common to breed Angus “from field to fork”, selling packs of Angus beef direct to the public.

Dunlouise embryos have also been sold to North and South America, Australia and Sweden, while at the same time working hard to keep the genetic gene pool wide ensuring customers have a broad base to work from. Other native cow families were sourced through the male line, tracing back to families like the Georgina and Lady Haddo lines.

On the sire front, Dunlouise Jipsey Earl is internationally the most successful UK-bred bull ever and is a Path Finder sire in America – the only UK bull ever awarded this status.

Geordie added: “The data for this is submitted by ranchers who have used his semen, not by us the breeder, culminating in Jipsey Earl earning an impressive milk EPD of + 42 in the States, ranking him in the top 1% among 23,448 current sires, by measuring the productivity of his daughters.”

A further six bulls have third share semen interests sold to Genex CRI, one of the premier semen companies in the world, giving the Dunlouise herd further international recognition.

“We have also enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Sinclair Cattle Company in America, establishing a joint herd of Native Angus cattle through the export of embryos,” added Geordie.

In 2004 John Roberts, founder of Multiplex, the building giant behind the Telstar Stadium in Sydney and the Wembley Stadium in London, purchased 36 embryos to establish his Native Angus herd in Australia.

That same year the couple sold a heifer to the Junck family of Vornagelhof Angus in Germany, in preparation for the lifting of the export ban.

Another exciting project is currently underway in Uruguay too, using a selection of Dunlouise Native semen. Dr Guillermo Da Nava bought 1500 units of semen for trial work in several herds and feedback has been extremely positive with the result being the Soutars are looking forward to concentrating their efforts on breeding Native bulls from new bloodlines for further use in Uruguay and elsewhere.

Embryos will also be offered from most of the cow families, including some from Dunlouise Cherry Blossom Essie by Jipsey Earl, as well as Dunlouise Ruth by Cortachy Boy and some from Pumpkin by Cup Bearer, the latter two of which are extremely rare cow families.

And in true Soutar family style, not only will the cattle prove to be an admirable attraction, the Soutars have designed their own Dunlouise tartan and items will be available on the day of the sale, including ties, dog collars, pashminas and many more pieces.

“We will also have Angus’ only distillery, Glencadam of Brechin, offering a taste of their products and a chance to buy from their range of superb malts. A third stall will be Gammies of Forfar offering various country wear requirements," Julia added.

* The sale which is being conducted by United Auctions, at 1.30pm, on farm at Kingston, Forfar, is part of the World Angus Forum.