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Louis M. “Mick” Colvin | 2009

Updated: Mar 7, 2023

Co-founder of the highly successful Certified Angus Beef Program.

Born 1938 | Artist: Richard Steward Halstead (born 1947)



Impact & Accomplishments


Louis M. “Mick” Colvin may have grown up on a Pennsylvania dairy farm, but he made his mark in the beef industry. After graduating from Pennsylvania State University in 1960, Colvin was hired as herdsman for Mole’s Hill Farm in Sharon, Connecticut. There, he raised the herd’s profile with three International champions and a National Western champion. He earned his first four Angus cows, as rewards for his work, and he also earned the John B. Brown Memorial Trophy for herdsman of the year (1963).


He had similar success managing Longleaf Plantation in Aiken, South Carolina. In 1968, Mick Colvin became a fieldman for the American Angus Association. As imported exotic breeds gained popularity, the number of cattle registered with the association dropped. The changing supply of beef caused the USDA to lower standards for top grades. Colvin, along with Fred Johnson and Harold Etling, developed a strategy to revitalize the market for high quality beef. In 1978, Colvin and Johnson founded the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Program. Serving as executive director of CAB for twenty-two years, Colvin turned the concept of identifying and marketing quality beef into a worldwide brand.


He retired in 1999 to devote more time to Colvin Angus Farm in West Salem, Ohio. Colvin was honored as a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus (1985) and Angus Heritage Foundation Hall of Fame recipient (1994). The same year his Saddle & Sirloin portrait was hung, Mick Colvin was among the twenty-one charter members inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame.


Did You Know?


To earn the Certified Angus Beef logo, the very best of all Angus beef must meet 10 exacting standards, making it more selective than USDA Choice and Prime.


It was the gift of a Hereford heifer from his father at age 11 that sparked Colvin's love of beef cattle.


Colvin went on to study animal husbandry at Pennsylvania State University, where he also worked in hog barns for 80 cents an hour and was an avid member of the livestock judging team. As a sophomore, he married high-school sweetheart Virginia.


“The Certified Angus Beef Program is the most significant advancement in the beef business since carcasses began to be ribbed and graded in 1965 or when boxed beef got its foothold in the early ’70s,” says Tim Hussman, Colvin’s first hire for the brand in 1983 and past president of Newport Meat Co., Irvine, Calif. “Through Mick’s leadership, breeders, feeders, USDA, packers, purveyors and retail stores continue working together to produce and deliver the highest quality beef we know how.”



Courtesy of Angus TV



Courtesy of Angus TV



For more information about the "Man Behind the Brand" click here




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