AbouT Us

Nine decades ago near the town of Ellston in southwest Iowa, F.W. Hoover purchased his first Angus cows and began what is now one of the oldest Angus herds in the nation. F.W. Hoover became partners with his son-in-law John Kiburz. Bulls carried the prefix "H&K" which stood for Hoover & Kiburz. Today, bulls carry the "Hoover" prefix instead of "H&K". All females now born at Hoover Angus bear "Ellston" in their name to signify the herd's home place. Cow families at Hoover Angus date back up to 18 generations of females bred, born, and raised at Hoover Angus.

The Hoover family homesteaded in 1856, over 160 years ago. The Hoover family was the first family in Union County to receive the Heritage Award at the Iowa State Fair for over 150 years of continual family ownership of a tract of land. Caring for the land and the cattle is not only our sole profession, it is our passion and way of life, and has been for the past 6 generations of the Hoover family.

The Family
Second generation of Hoover Angus, John Kiburz, third generation David & Joy (Kiburz) McFarland and fourth generation Andrew & Landi (McFarland) Livingston currently own and operate the Angus herd. No family members have "off farm" jobs, and Angus cattle support three generations of the Hoover family.

John is now 92 years old, and arrives at the farm at 6:30 am every day ready to feed bulls. Most days he puts in a 10+ hour day mowing hay, feeding cattle, running errands, etc. John still manages the crops grown that are utilized to feed the cattle. David is the farm’s mechanic and jack-of-all-trades and Joy does farm record keeping and helps with outside duties. Andrew works full time with the cattle, and Landi manages the cow herd (breeding, feeding, vaccination protocols, etc), customer relations, and the annual production sale. Currently, Hoover Angus employs 4 full-time employees besides family members.

Present Day
At present, the cow herd numbers around 300 registered spring calving cows and 100 registered fall calving cows. Hoover Angus encompasses over 2300 owned acres in Ringgold and Union counties.

Annual Production Sale
Approximately 110 bulls and 75 females sell in each February's Production Sale, always the first Tuesday in February. The Hoover family writes their own unique sale catalog and manages their own sale. The sale catalog is one of the most in-depth bull books published in the country. Bulls are offered for sale private treaty throughout the spring months. Females are sold once a year in the annual sale. We encourage visitors to come to the farm prior to the annual production sale to look at the cattle with less people and congestion. Please give Landi a call at 641-344-7684 to schedule an appointment, or Joy at 641-344-3234.

Herd Priorities
While it is Landi’s philosophy to have balanced cattle that excel in numerous areas such as calving ease, growth, structure & phenotype, ribeye, udder quality and excellent docility, the high docility is definitely a hallmark trait for Hoover Angus genetics. We have selected for disposition excellence for many generations, and it is one of the main reasons repeat customers come back to Hoover Angus year after year.

We believe in data collection to make improvements to the herd and breed, and have been one of the first herds in the breed to turn in significant amounts of temperament scores and foot scores on all yearling animals, since the American Angus Association started accepting scores for these traits. Of course we participate in submitting data to the AAA on the more common traits, such as birth, weaning, and yearling weights, ultrasound data, mature cow scores, heifer breeding data, and genomic data.

For a detailed Hoover Angus History, click here.