Hoover Angus celebrated well-known brand with a “barn bash.”
Landi Livingston and Hoover Angus welcomed friends and family to their Ellston, Iowa, operation June 4, 2023, for a barn bash to celebrate the facilities being painted with the iconic Certified Angus Beef® (CAB) logo.
As the crowd arrived to the sixth-generation family farm, Troy Freeman applied the final brushstrokes to the barn. This was the 80th logo Freeman brought to life.
Livingston took guests on a hayride tour of pastures, explaining herd genetics and breeding objectives. Festivities continued as CAB beef was featured for dinner as a live band performed.
“Our goal of the barn-branding celebration was to not only invite our customers to our new sale facility to see the painting, but to also share the rich history of both Hoover Angus and Certified Angus Beef so our customers could develop a stronger connection to both,” Livingston says.
Her passion for the CAB brand came after she was selected as the 2005 CAB Colvin Scholarship winner. With this experience, Livingston’s understanding grew of what CAB does for the beef industry and for consumers. Ever since, she says she’s searched for new ways to advocate for the brand.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of CAB. In its early years, CAB certified one to two carcasses a week. Fast forward to present day, CAB certifies roughly 10 carcasses per minute.
“This brand started with a dream,” Livingston says. “If the story of CAB is not the American dream, then I don’t know what is.”
As for Livingston and her family, they are living their own version of the American dream. What started with humble beginnings has become an Angus operation with more than 24 bulls being placed in international bull studs.
The longevity of the operation’s success was on display as items, ranging from registration papers to family portraits, were mounted against worn paneling, boards that had been resurrected from barns of generations past.
Guests topped off the evening with a slice of Joy McFarland’s famous Iowa State Fair-winning cakes. With Joy’s recipes and a quickly drying logo outside, the night encapsulated CAB’s ability to bring people together for a shared love — beef.