The Front Gate
It's all about family.
Next to our faith, there’s nothing more important than family. So, I believe it’s only fitting that my first column focuses on that topic — both my own family and the American Angus Association family.
Let me begin by telling you about my family. My wife, Venetta, and I have two grown sons — Lane and Ross. Lane is a technical writer for Accruent, a software company in Austin, Texas, where he’s also working on receiving his master’s degree in business administration (MBA) next summer. Our youngest son, Ross, attends Trinity University, where he is finishing up his MBA. Ross will graduate in May and then move to Houston, where he’ll be working for Deloitte, the large tax-consulting firm.
Allen Moczygemba, CEO of the American Angus Association, spoke at the Angus Means Business National Convention & Trade Show in November.
I’m a fourth-generation Texan. My father’s side of the family came from eastern Europe in 1854 and settled in south Texas. My dad, like many of your parents and grandparents, attended the same one-room schoolhouse that his mother did a generation before. Needless to say, our roots in the cattle business run deep.
But our story isn’t unique, because I’m guessing it’s a lot like yours.
As with most family histories, one is able to look back in time to where a fateful decision was made to leave home for a new opportunity in a distant land. Ranching and raising cattle is a direct link to that past, to that sense of family and commitment along with the belief that one’s hard work will pay dividends and create new opportunities.
No guarantees
There’s no guarantee of success. There are no guarantees that what we did yesterday nor what we’re doing today will even be in existence in five years, much less a generation from now.
That’s why we form organizations like the American Angus Association, to help each other out, to pool our resources and know-how, to build something significant that wouldn’t be possible without the collective contributions of each and every member.
Less than 150 years after George Grant brought the first Angus cattle to America, you and your families have built this breed and this Association into one of the great success stories in American agriculture.
Angus today enjoys a 65% market share in the genetics marketplace. Premiums for Angus cattle have never been higher. Thanks to Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), there’s now nine consecutive years of record-setting growth.
It’s all driven by the efforts of the American Angus family — members and staff — that share a collective commitment to improvement of not only the Angus breed, but also to the rural communities that we live in and the beef industry as a whole.
My job is to ensure that our growth continues — to see opportunities for our members to expand and to ensure that the Association’s resources are focused in ways that continue to drive demand for your cattle. So even though today we’re celebrating unprecedented success, this Association won’t be resting on its laurels, because we all understand that there are no guarantees. We’ll continue pushing forward with the same shared commitment to advancing the interests of Angus, while finding ways to expand market share and market relevance.
In the end, however, it’s all about families. Our Angus family is strong and will continue to serve as the foundation for growth.
Editor’s Note: Allen Moczygemba is the CEO of the American Angus Association.