Top Notch was the $33,000 top-selling bull in our 2017 auction selling to Select Sires, Baldridge Bros., and Ray Sikes.  He came to auction with a phenomenal set of credentials, and a phenotype to match.  Top Notch will add some guts & girth to his daughters – save every one he makes!  Top Notch was the #1 $Weaning bull of the entire auction of 112 bulls.

Top Notch came from a tremendous flush, and from the same cow family that brought us Hoover Dam. In fact, this Erica cow family has put a total of 6 bulls in bull studs in recent years.  Top Notch and his flush brothers were all bred, born, and raised at Hoover Angus, all from registered recipient cows.  Top Notch was the #1 adjusted yearling weight ET bull of his crop.

Top Notch was a member of the “Fab Five”, the set of 5 flush brothers that averaged $23,800!  This flush led off our sale, and for good reason.  Two of these flush brothers were selected by bull studs.  Top Notch was noted by many as the neatest phenotype bull of the flush.

Top Notch’s first calves were weaned in the fall of 2018, and the 2nd top weaning weight bull of the Hoover crop was sired by him!  A Top Notch heifer calf of this crop was the 7th top weaning weight heifer calf of the crop.  From only 9 calves sired by Top Notch in this crop, they did extremely well and were one of the top ratioing sire groups.  We are very pleased with the phenotype of these calves.

Donor dam L5 is one of our favorites, and is now owned with Baldridge Bros., in North Platte, NE, where she resides.  She is a slick haired, great disposition, big bodied, superior uddered female with some of the best EPDs of any working donor in the breed.  L5’s six sons to come to auction at Hoover Angus have all garnered over 5 figures, averaging $24,850.

A maternal brother to Top Notch was the 2nd top selling bull of our 2016 auction at $30,000 to Alta Genetics.  This bull, Hoover Ambition, was the #1 adjusted weaning weight bull of our entire spring 2015 crop at 919 pounds.  A full sister to Ambition was the 3rd top weaning weight ET heifer and #1 YW ET heifer of our 2015 crop!

L5’s first daughter in production weaned the 9th top weaning weight heifer of her crop, and recently weaned the 4th top weaning weight bull calf of the spring 2018 Hoover crop.  L5 records 3-105 WR on her natural progeny and 12-102 IMF ratio and 12-103 ribeye ratio.  L5 weaned an 842 pound heifer calf at Baldridges to ratio 107 in a small contemporary group of donor cows’ calves!  This female went on to sell ½ interest for $35,000 at the National Western in 2018!

L5 was the standout heifer of her crop – she was the #1 adjusted weaning weight, #1 adjusted yearling weight heifer at 779 lbs., WR 116, YW 1160 lbs., YR 114.  She turned in a superior scan with a 7.05 IMF, ratio 119, and a 14.6” ribeye, ratio 119.  Among 88 contemporaries, she had the 5th largest ribeye scan.  Breed average ribeye scan for heifers is currently 9.73”.

L5 has a tremendous EPD profile, with top 1% EPDs for: WW, YW, Scrotal, Docility, HP, CW, RE, $W, $F, and $B.  Even more amazing is that she does this with BW and CED EPDs in the best 10-15% of the breed!  Searching the AAA’s database for three of her top 1% traits ($W, $B, and Scrotal), there are only 3 cows in the breed that can top her EPDs!  Add just one more of L5’s top traits such as Docility or HP, and not a single cow in the breed can touch her!

Pathfinder grandam G366 – I could write a book on this cow!  She is truly one of the most incredible females ever bred on our 89 year-old Angus farm.  She has grossed $158,000 in registered progeny sales.  She records 8-98 BWR and 8-107 WR with a 365 day calving interval on those 8 progeny.  That includes stealing flushes four different years!

G366’s progeny have stood up to the test in our past production sales.  Eight of her sons and daughters have been photo features, and 7 of her progeny have sold for $10,000 or more.  G366 and her daughter L5 are the only mother-daughter pair in the herd to have each grossed over $100,000 on registered progeny sales.

Several of G366’s progeny have been among the top weaning weight calves of their crop.  L5, mentioned above, was the #1 WW heifer of her crop.  The very next year, G366 repeated this accomplishment with another #1 WW daughter.  To make it three years running, an ET son claimed #1 WW honors over the entire crop (ET and non-ET progeny) in 2015!

G366 produced the Lot 1 and Lot 2 bulls in our 2017 auction selling for $14,500 and $9500.  G366 was the grandam of both the Lot 1 and Lot 2 bulls in our 2016 auction.  A direct daughter of G366 was the co-top selling bred heifer in our 2016 auction.

Top Notch is being used AI on cows and heifers at Hoover Angus. Semen is available through Select Sires at $25/Straw, $40/Certificate.