The Angus Journal® is a monthly magazine known for in-depth coverage of American Angus Association® programs and services; the Angus business; herd management; and advertising reflecting genetics and herd philosophies.
Issue link: http://angusjournal.epubxp.com/i/789531
122 ■ ANGUSJournal ■ March 2017 Painting the West Black The National Western has a colorful history — but you can't make any color without black. by Shelby Mettlen, assistant editor - I t's interesting how a monochromatic breed can paint such a diverse canvas. The Angus breed celebrated 75 years of Western heritage at the 2017 National Western Stock Show (NWSS) in Denver, Colo., but its history didn't start there. A historian, a Board member, a herdsman and a breeder haven't so much as missed a single trip to the National Western since their families or they themselves started the tradition a half century ago. These Angus leaders tell their stories of Angus in the West. Stockyards to Stock Show It all started as a patch of dusty stockyards off the railroad in what is now one of the most populous urban cities in the western United States. Dan Green, livestock historian extraordinare and frequent contributor to The Angus Report and the Angus Journal, grew up in the Livestock Exchange Building in the Denver Stockyards, where his family owned and operated the Record Stockman from 1937 to 2008. The publication brought livestock market news and radio broadcasting from the heart of the Denver Stockyards to ranchers and agricultural professionals throughout the area. Denver was chosen as a railroad watering hole due to its central proximity to Chicago in the East and the West Coast, Green says. The Denver Stockyards served only as a livestock auction market prior to 1906, when it became perhaps the most legendary livestock exhibition in the world. Adjacent to the stockyards lay a jungle of packing plants, where, prior to the introduction of cattle feeding, grass-fed cattle were led to be harvested. The NWSS was introduced by the Union Stockyards Co., which was owned by the railroad and ran the stockyards. "They started it because they wanted to say 'thank you' to the ranchers who consigned cattle to Denver, and they thought the city folks didn't properly appreciate the smell and the dust of having the stockyards in town," Green explains. The Union Stockyards asked a local brewing company to supply free beer, put on a barbecue and invited the circus to put on a show. The circus pitched its tent on the Hill, where the Stadium Arena stands today, overlooking the stockyards. Thus, the Hill and Yards were born. Spreading Angus west Angus cattle were making appearances at the NWSS since its fi rst show in 1906, but at