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S.D. Angus herd earns Century Award at National Angus Convention

The Angus breed is built on generations of individuals and families who’ve committed their livelihoods to raising Angus cattle. Through years of adversity and opportunity, they adapted their businesses and have grown into the next generation.

The American Angus Association is proud to recognize the Angus breeders who have sustained their farms and ranches for more than 100 years.

The organization presented four Century Awards during its Awards Recognition Breakfast Nov. 5, hosted as part of the 2015 Angus Means Business National Convention & Trade Show in Overland Park, Kan.



Hugh Ingalls of Ingalls Centennial Angus near Faith, S.D., accepted the award on behalf of his family, which began raising Angus cattle nearly 120 years ago.

Ingalls Centennial Angus



It was Oct. 5, 1895, when James Ingalls purchased the Angus bull Ermine Prince, registration number 19975 on a handwritten pedigree, and established one of the first Angus herds in South Dakota. That day marked the beginning of a 120-year family history with Angus genetics, spanning seven generations.

In 1908, Albert Ingalls, James’ son, moved the family and Angus herd from Humboldt, S.D., to Meade County on the western side of the state. Ingalls Angus persevered through Mother Nature’s swings in the harsh climate. Forty years later, Albert’s son, Lawrence Ingalls, transferred a registered-Angus heifer to the family’s fourth generation, Hugh Ingalls.

Twelve-year-old Hugh remembers leading Bessie I3 into the ring at the Western Junior Livestock Show in Rapid City, S.D. — the first Angus ever shown at the competition.

Through the years, Hugh was greatly involved in the Angus breed on a state, regional and national level through the American Angus Association. Year after year, with his wife, Eleanor, and brother, Dale, Hugh continued to perfect the herd’s genetics. In 1956, the family started using production records in their drive for quality.

In 1983, Ingalls Angus was recognized with the American Angus Association’s Centennial Angus Herd Award. The family’s dedication to the Angus breed has continued to flourish as Hugh and Eleanor raised their family, extended family and registered-Angus cattle on the prairies of western South Dakota.

More than 80 years after Albert Ingalls moved his herd from eastern South Dakota to the western part of the state, the herd moved west once again.

Hugh’s son, Dan Ingalls, moved to Wyoming with his young family in 1990 and established a branch of the herd named Ingalls Angus. They established their new ranching operations in the Jackson Hole and Riverton areas, and now in the South Big Horn Mountains, northwest of Casper. Dan’s six sons are all involved in their own cattle operations today in several locations in Wyoming, Colorado and North Dakota.

At 86 years old, Hugh still manages his own 500-head cattle operation, Ingalls Centennial Angus, which ranks among the state’s largest registered-Angus herds.

–American Angus Association