‘Dam,’ that’s a lot of bull

Hoover Dam, an Angus bull born and bred in Ellston, was used across four continents generating more than $5 million before his death in July.

Dick Beck, vice president of sales and Marketing at ORIgen, Hoover Dam’s owners at the time of his death, said he is the “only sire in history owned exclusively by Angus breeders to have ever reached or surpassed that sales total.”

Landi McFarland-Livingston, herd manager at Hoover Angus, said she knew Hoover Dam was special by the time he was weaned.

She described him as a “big calf — not height, muscle mass — with eye appeal.” She said he had a structurally correct depth of body and thickness, which is important to herds wanting to replace their females and to feed lots that want cattle to be able to gain weight.

Record sales

A press release after Hoover Dam’s death explained why Hoover Angus calls him a “legendary Angus bull.”

“Hoover Dam collected 238,813 units of semen over his lifetime. As of his passing, 233,396 units of semen have been sold, along with 15,406 artificial insemination certificates sold to register progeny of Hoover Dam in the American Angus Association herd book. This semen and certificate sales generated a gross sales figure of $5,131,015.

“Hoover Dam was the ORIgen semen sales leader in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

“Hoover Dam was among the top 10 bulls of the Angus breed for progeny registrations in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. He was one of only four bulls in the breed on the ‘Top 10’ list of sires each of those four years, and the only bull of these four bred in a herd that registers less than 1000 head per year.”

Genetics

When Hoover Dam sold for $47,500 in 2009 to ORIgen a bull stud in Montana, he became the top-selling bull in Hoover Angus history — a fourth generation seedstock operation in business for 91 years.

When Hoover Angus sells a bull, it retains a one-third interest in his semen both for the farm’s own use and as a tie to any sales. Hoover Angus later sold another portion of its interest in Hoover Dam.

Livingston said the bull stud receives 55% of the profit from semen and registration sales. The remaining 45% covers any fees, including for export, and then it is divided among the owners. Because the numbers involved are extremely complicated, she was unable to give a dollar amount that Hoover Dam raised for Hoover Angus, but said the dollars were not his most important contribution.

“It’s been the recognition he has brought to our herd because breeding a bull like that is something that doesn’t happen everyday. It’s a once in a lifetime type of bull,” Livingston said. “People see the Hoover prefix on this bull. If they really like this bull named Hoover Dam, they come to our place looking for other genetics.”

She said Hoover Dam brought visitors from all over the country and overseas who bought semen, not only from Hoover Dam, but from other bulls and bought cattle as well.

“I think the greatest thing that Hoover Dam has done is to put Hoover Angus on the map as far as being a breeder that can produce outstanding genetics,” Livingston said.

Livingston has been in charge of producing those genetics, in part since she was a teenager, and full-time since she graduated from college in 2006. Hoover Dam was among the bulls bred during Livingston’s first full year back on the farm, making the decisions on which cattle to breed to which bull.

Unlike some farms where a bull is bred to groups of cows, Hoover Angus chooses its genetics on a cow by cow basis. Livingston said she looks for the phenotype — characteristics that can be seen — along with the expected progeny differences — a value used to quantify genetics in the beef cattle industry — to select breeding partners. Her goal is to correct any faults the cow might have and to strengthen its good qualities.

The women of Hoover Angus

Hoover Angus has been able to support its family for four generations. None of the members of the family have “off farm” jobs and Hoover Angus employs four full-time employees in addition to the family members.

Walt Hoover, Livingston’s great-grandfather, established the homestead in Ellston in 1856. Hoover Angus has been passed down through three generations of women beginning in 1928. Hoover’s daughter Barb and husband John Kiburz became partners with Hoover using the prefix H&K. Barb passed away in 2017, but 93-year-old John still oversees the crops, checks on the cattle and pastures, and does errands for the farm.

Barb and John’s daughter Joy and husband David McFarland carried on the traditions of working on the farm and passing it along to their daughter. Both of them still work on the farm.

Joy and David’s daughter, Landi now owns and manages the farm with her husband Andrew.

Landi met Andrew Livingston when he came to work on the farm in 2012. They were married in 2014 and are raising their children on the farm — including 1-year-old son Ty and their oldest, a daughter, 2 1/2-year-old Gwen who Landi said has already shown an interest in cattle.

“She loves cows and doing chores,” Landi said.

The family hopes to continue the tradition of passing the family farm and operations along the female line when Gwen is old enough to take on the responsibility.