Nov. 11, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Jena McRell, digital editor, at 816-383-5100 or jmcrell@angusjournal.com
PHOTOS: Award winner photos available via prphotos@angus.org
A Century of Angus Cattle Production: Dahl Angus
James Dahl brought home registered Angus cattle in 1913 to Estelline, S.D.
History runs deep in the Angus business. Today’s nearly 25,000 American Angus Association® members have their Angus predecessors to thank for the breed’s well-earned reputation of success.
To honor the breed’s most long-standing operations, the Association presents Century Awards to recognize herds, their owners and families who have been in continuous production of registered Angus cattle for 100 years or more.
This year’s Century Awards were presented Nov. 6 during the Association’s Awards Recognition Breakfast, held as part of the 2014 Angus Means Business National Convention and Trade Show in Kansas City, Mo.
Larry Dahl of Dahl Angus in Estelline, S.D., accepted the Century Award on behalf of his family, which is now in its seventh generation raising Angus cattle.
Dahl Angus
After more than 100 years, the cow that started it all, Rindahl’s Beauty, is still part of Dahl Angus. The cow meant so much to the family that when she died, James Dahl skinned and tanned her hide. Larry Dahl, Dahl Angus current owner and manager, confirms the family still has the hide today.
The cattle operation began in 1897, when Peter Dahl purchased 20 bred Angus heifers and brought them home to the ranch in South Dakota; records do not indicate these heifers were registered. Peter’s son, James Dahl, purchased the family’s first registered-Angus cow in 1913, when Rindahl’s Beauty – with a bull calf by her side – was hauled to the home place from Iowa by horse and wagon. Even to this day, her lineage can be traced in the Dahl Angus cowherd.
In 1947, Lester Dahl, James’ son, took over and continued to grow the operation. Lester was awarded the South Dakota Angus Association’s Centennial Angus Herd Award in 1983 for operating an Angus herd 49 years or longer. At the time, Dahl Angus had 70 years in the business.
Larry and Rita Dahl began managing the registered herd in 1972. Through the use of artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer, they continued to build the herd using semen from bulls, such as Big Bandy and Ankonian Dynamo.
Spotting the potential this technology brought to their operation, Larry became an ABS Global representative. He also served as South Dakota Angus Association president from 1992-1993, and Rita served as the first president of the South Dakota Angus Auxiliary in 1991-1992.
Because of their interest in AI, Larry and Rita have had ownership in several top registered-Angus bulls, including Whitestone General Max and Bush’s Absolute Power. They also exhibit cattle at the annual South Dakota Angus Breeders Show and Sale.
Larry and Rita’s three sons – Shane, Jason and Allan – have all taken interest in the Angus cattle. They have seven grandchildren, and with the recent addition of a great-grandson, there are now seven generations of Dahls involved in raising Angus cattle on the original Peter Dahl home place in South Dakota.
For more news from the Angus Means Business National Convention and Trade Show, visit www.angusconvention.com. Also plan to tune to The Angus Report at 7:30 a.m. CDT Monday, Nov. 17 for full coverage on RFD-TV.
ANGUS MEANS BUSINESS. The American Angus Association is the nation’s largest beef breed organization, serving nearly 25,000 members across the United States and Canada. It provides programs and services to farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the power of Angus to produce quality genetics for the beef industry and quality beef for consumers.
For more information about Angus cattle and the American Angus Association’s programs and services, visit www.ANGUS.org.
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