Virgil Lovell, Owner 125 Ankony Farm Drive Clarkesville Georgia AnkonyFarms.com
Lee Leachman Virgil Lovell & Friends & Angus breeders, We are excited to invite you to come join us in Clarkesville, GA on September 26th and 27th at our “Only the Tops” Ankony Farms Angus sale. We are offering a breed-leading set of Angus females that all trace back to 16 of the top cow families in the entire breed. You can take home one of our foundation donors, their latest progeny, or the entire cow family! With over 90 years of combined experience in the Angus breed, Virgil and I have never been more excited about raising Angus cattle! The marketplace signals are very clear—the demand for high quality beef is stronger than ever and growing rapidly. In a recent presentation at the Beef Improvement Federation, Mark McCully, Vice President of CAB® Supply Development, showed that weekly production of prime and premium choice are up by 93% and 73% respectively versus 2010 levels. Despite this huge increase in supply, premiums for CAB and Prime are as strong as ever! Only high marbling Angus cattle can consistently hit these highest carcass quality specifications. Many in the Angus breed express doubts about the accuracy or effectiveness of Angus EPDs – we do not share those views. We believe that Angus EPDs are the most accurate tools available to cattle breeders anywhere in the world. The incorporation of DNA has made them even more accurate than ever. When you combine this with the current ability to rapidly multiply females and the use of sexed semen—the possibilities for genetic improvement are virtually limitless. More than ever, the key questions are “which are the best cattle?” and “what direction should we be selecting?” The answers to these two questions should be driven by profitability. No industry or business is sustainable unless it makes a profit. In our opinion, three things are needed to make Angus cattle profitable in the US beef industry: 1. Cows that eat less, are fertile, and are strong maternally. 2. Feeder calves that gain efficiently to an optimal carcass weight. 3. Carcasses that grade 70% and higher CAB® & Prime. To hit these three targets, we need the right balance of traits. The best way to achieve this is through the use of $Indexes. We believe that our $Ranch index is the best way to build good Angus cows. We further believe that our $Profit index is the best tool to hit the combination of all three of these goals. We are providing these valuable indexes on the entire sale offering and are using these tools to build better Angus. We welcome you to join us at Ankony Farms for good hospitality, good friends, and good cattle. We hope to see you in September. Sincerely,
Virgil Lovell Virgil Lovell Owner, Ankony Farms
Lee Leachman Lee Leachman
Director of Communications