This week I drove through some beautiful mountain scenery to Virginia where I met with Steve Furrow, Beef Specialist for Select Sire Power and fellow Angus breeder. For two days we visited influential beef cattle breeders throughout the state.

Our first stop was to Quaker Hill Farm where we visited Charles Rosson. We spent a couple of hours looking at bulls, fall calving cows, yearling heifers, show cattle, pigs…everything he had on the place I think! Charles has 5050 and Predestined sons that look very good. Charles was appreciative that I finally made it to his place and I really enjoyed the visit. He is a good thinker and marketer.

 Next we visited Tommy Clark at Mystic Hill Farm. He is an Angus and Braunvieh breeder who appears to have established a great commercial following. His focus is on females… good udders, feet and legs, longevity, fertility, etc. with a little emphasis on carcass traits. We were delighted to see that he used Regis last year and we saw several babies on the ground. He said he planned to continue using Regis as he was definitely calving ease and that he liked the direction of SS recently. It made me feel good that some of these new bulls were capturing the attention of respected breeders like Tommy Clark.  

 The next day we visited Mike McDowell at Locust Level Farm. He is an impressive thinker and gave us a great history lesson on what he has contributed to the Angus business for the last 30+ years. He was one who emphasized that he liked doing business with SS because of the people. He used 2020, Limelight and Regis last year and gave Steve Furrow a nice order for Mentor, Capitalist, Answer 71, Confidence and ND454 before we left.  

Next we visited Buddy Shelton, George Winn, Hank Maxie and several of their relatives at the bull feedlot. This crew also demonstrated great allegiance to SS. These guys were so fired up about us being there and each presented me with the data on their bulls. They made Steve and me feel like celebrities. They asked tons of questions and were very curious about the young bulls we acquired this year. We saw sale bulls sired by a variety of proven and young bulls from SS. What an impressive set of bulls that are deserving of attention on a national level, in my opinion. There was a particularly impressive Game On out of Limelight’s dam. After we finished looking at bulls a group of about 12 assembled at the local diner for a buffet lunch and we enjoyed great fellowship. If we could get all beef producers around the country as devoted to SS as this group was, it would be smooth sailing! What a great experience and good cattle!

 In summary, there is much to be positive about in Virginia and I left with a greater appreciation for the loyalty many customers have for Select Sires…very cool. Everywhere we went customers seemed to be asking about the new bulls, the Connealy bulls in particular.

I'm headed to several states in the Southeast next week with Pat Garrett. Gibbs Farm, AL and Deer Valley Farm, TN are a couple of highlights on the list. Then we'll see you in Louisville the week after. Thanks for reading! AA