Irish Angus Cattle are characteristically black, polled beef type animals.

The coat colour is black or red with the possible exception of the underline behind the naval, where minor white markings are permitted. The hair is short to medium in length, silky and of medium thickness. The skin is black pigmented.

The head is small to medium in length, broad in the forehead, wide and black on the muzzle and is always polled. Scurs are undesirable characteristics
 

The body is long with a straight wide back, deep body and chest and with the underline parallel to the back. The hidquarters are long, wide and fully fleshed with the flesh carried well down to the hocks.

Among the beef breeds Irish Angus produce relatively small calves at birth which are generally born without difficulty. However, they grown quickly producing relatively early maturing, high quality beef animals particularly suited to the best quality butcher trade. They have a high carcase to liveweight percentage and low percentage of bone in the joints.

Irish Angus are hardy, adaptable cattle suitable to beef production under a range of different production and environmental conditions.

The Irish Angus is a particularly suitable breed for crossing with dairy breeds to produce animals suitable for beef production. Its easy calving, pollness, beefing quality and colour marking characteristics are much valued in this regard.