Dec. 20, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Jaclyn Clark, director of events and education
816-383-5147
Virginia Angus Farm Recognized for Historic Angus Herd
Skyview Farms has raised registered Angus cattle for nearly 72 years.
Father and son duo Wendell and Fred Carter ventured into registered Angus in the fall of 1946 when Wendell bought his son two registered heifers from a small Angus herd sale as a surprise. The heifers made such an impression that Fred became a member of the American Angus Association® in 1948, and today, the heifers’ descendants are part of the Polling and Scriver Herds in West Virginia.
The Association is proud to recognize Skyview Farms and the current owners Fred and brother James Carter as recipients of the Historic Angus Herd Award as a way to showcase their commitment to the Angus breed. This award is presented to active Angus breeders and immediate family members who have been in continuous production of registered Angus cattle for 50 years or more.
With the success of the two heifers, Wendell and Fred continued to grow their commercial herd through regional and state sales. One purchase was a registered bull named Buxom Bandalier AH that became the cornerstone of their breeding program. After Wendell died in 1956, James joined Fred to run the business a few years later, and in 1960, James also joined the American Angus Association.
“I observed that many cattle have black hides; however, I found myself partial to the Angus breed due to their hearty nature, ability to consume rough food and capacity to produce heavier calves,” Fred said. “One of the strengths of our business that is true still today for breeders is the caliber of key individuals involved in the breed.”
Fred and James began selling their performance-tested breeding stock free of dwarfism, and their clients received detailed performance records for every Angus purchased, which was not commonplace at that time. In the fall of 1967, the Fred and James held the Skyview Farms’ first pure-bred, registered Angus heifer sale, and these sales continued every fall for 18 years before transitioning to private sales.
Skyview Farms has been recognized for the quality of its herd through a couple key awards, including the 1987 Virginia Seed Stock Producers and the Top Bulls Redhouse Test Station, Virginia, award in the early 1970s.
Starting in the mid-1960s, they purchased more acreage and ran approximately 175 cows until the late 1990s, and they scaled back to approximately 100 cows from 2000 to 2013. The brothers ran the family cattle business together until they retired in 2013.
Visit www.angus.org for more information on the Historic Angus Herd Award and to view a list of awarded members since the program began in 1988.
— Written by Rachel Robinson, Angus Communications
ANGUS MEANS BUSINESS. The American Angus Association® is the nation’s largest beef breed organization, serving more than 25,000 members across the United States and Canada. It provides programs and services to farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the power of Angus to produce quality genetics for the beef industry and quality beef for consumers.
For more information about Angus cattle and the American Angus Association’s programs and services, visit www.ANGUS.org.
###