Brooke Miller — 2025 Angus Board Candidate

Brooke Miller, Washington, Va., is seeking a first term on the American Angus Association Board of Directors.

The elected delegates will choose five directors; a president and chairman of the Board; and a vice president and vice chairman of the Board during the Association’s 142nd Annual Convention of Delegates, which will convene at 10 a.m. Central Standard Time (CST) Sunday, Nov. 2 in Kansas City, Mo.

Visit AngusJournal.net to learn more about each candidate.

To register for Angus Convention, visit AngusConvention.com.

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Transcript

Miranda Reiman (00:02):

Volunteering for the good of the breed takes time and energy, but the Angus breed is fortunate to have members who want to shape the future. There are 10 candidates running for five open spots on the American Angus Association Board of Directors. I'm Miranda Reiman with the Angus Journal team and I'm introducing you to each of them before November's annual meeting. Today, I'm with Brooke Miller from Washington, Virginia. Thanks for joining us today, Brooke.

Brooke Miller (00:31):

Thank you for having me on, and it's so good to meet you.

Miranda Reiman (00:34):

Why don't you start by just telling me a little bit about yourself, your history with the breed and your current involvement.

Brooke Miller (00:40):

Sure. Thank you. Well, currently my wife and I own Ginger Hill Angus in Washington, Virginia. It's about 70 miles southwest of Washington DC in one of the most beautiful places on earth in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I grew up ever since I can remember, I've been in love with Angus cattle and it was my very first passion. Our family started out in the cattle business in the commercial cow calf business, that was in the fifties. In the late fifties, early sixties, we transitioned into purebred registered Angus cattle. The farm was started obviously by my father and my grandfather, so I'm third generation. My grandchildren will be fifth generation to live on this farm and ranch. Didn't really get really active and ramped up in the purebred industry until open AI in the early seventies. That was a big thing for us. We didn't have a lot of funds at that point in time to go out and buy high dollar seedstock, that was right during the transition between what we call the belt buckle cattle into more performance, more performance cattle. And it was really a good thing for us to be able to use open AI and that's when we really started ramping up. Some of my fondest memories are traveling the country with my dad and my granddad looking at cattle all over the country.

(02:09):

I went to high school, obviously graduated from high school, went to Virginia Tech, majored in biology, but took a lot of animal science courses and I was actually on the 1980 livestock judging team. We were national champions in beef cattle and I was high individual in oral reasons. After graduating Magnum law at Virginia Tech in biology, I went on to University of Virginia where I met my wonderful and beautiful wife, Anne, who is a nurse and a nurse practitioner. Completed my four year degree there. Did a family practice residency here in Virginia and then have been practicing medicine for almost 40 years, both a combination of emergency medicine and family practice. We now own our own practice here about a mile from home. So it is pretty ideal situation. That whole time I've been very much involved in Angus cattle in our operation. My father basically turned the operation completely over to me around 1999.

(03:15):

So I have had complete responsibility for management and all the decisions since 1999, and that's where we now stand. I've been very active in advocacy for farms and ranches. I was a founding member of the United States Cattlemen's Association, went on to be on the board and was president of the United States Cattleman Association and currently on the executive committee as the immediate past president of the United States Cattleman's Association. I'm also actively involved in advocacy for patient rights and the doctor patient relationship and honest medicine and am a proud member of the Independent Medical Alliance and also on the board of the American Conservative Union CPAC. So I live a busy life.

Miranda Reiman (04:06):

Yes. And with that background, tell me what are some of the breed and the Association's biggest strengths that you believe we can build upon?

Brooke Miller (04:15):

Well, we have the greatest breed in the history of the cattle business, and we've done a great job as a breed at building on our strengths and also improving what weaknesses we have. We have a diverse membership. Cattle are raised all over the country in many, many environments, so that improves our breed diversity and our genetic diversity. We have a very strong American Angus Association that has been very successful in promoting Angus cattle and basically all the other breeds want to look like Angus. They want to be black, they be, when they take their calves to market, they want to have a black hide because those are the cattle that are most in demand.

Miranda Reiman (05:10):

And let's zoom out just a little bit further, even yet, what do you think are some of the biggest changes you see facing the greater beef industry in the next say five to 10 years?

Brooke Miller (05:21):

Well, as you know, my background with the United States Cattleman's Association advocating for farmers and ranchers, and the thing that concerns me and the biggest challenge that we have is that the concentration in our market, in the packing industry has caused an economic situation where we have lost about 20% of our family farms and ranches over the last several decades. We are now at a national cow herd that is lowest on record. We are now a net importer of beef as opposed to a net exporter of beef. And if you look at the American Angus Association numbers, our numbers mirror those of that, we have lost about almost a third of our membership in the last two decades, and we have probably 40 to 50,000 less registrations a year. So the economics are putting pressure on the cattle business, and if commercial cow-calf producers cannot make a profit year in and year out, then we won't have anybody to sell our seedstock to.

(06:35):

So I think that's the biggest issue. And I look at it on a national scale. I'm part of the American Conservative Union, and I hammer this home all the time. This is a national security issue, and if we become dependent upon foreign countries and foreign companies to produce our food, that is not a good situation. We've seen that in manufacturing. We've seen that in energy. We've seen that in a lot of things. So I think that's our biggest hurdle right now. We have a lot of pressures. We have a lot of environmentalism pressures. Unfortunately, with the environmental movement, there is an agenda behind it. And those that pay for the science actually get what they pay for. It's the same thing in medicine too. We have the same problems in medicine, so they're very, very similar problems.

Miranda Reiman (07:24):

It sort of a follow-up question to that. What do you think the Association needs to be doing today to position the breed and our members for success to be able to face those challenges?

Brooke Miller (07:36):

Well, we need to continue to promote Angus cattle, but I think even on a larger scale, we need to become involved with national policy. We need to be active in Washington to make sure that our legislators and the bureaus understand the challenges that we're having and why we're having them. And I think that we need to make it very clear that we need a free and competitive market. We don't need a market that's dominated and monopolized by four multinational corporations.

Miranda Reiman (08:10):

And it's perhaps obvious based on how you've answered the last questions, but why are you running for the Board or what do you hope that you can contribute?

Brooke Miller (08:19):

Well, the short answer is I want to make a positive impact both in the Angus breed and the cattle business and rural America. I see rural America is so dependent upon agriculture and the cattle business, and as the economy of farm and ranch goes, the economy of rural America goes, I've been in this thing a long time and I've been very busy in my life, and now I've reached a point, point in time in my life where I'm able to do this and I'm able to have the time to do this. And so I want to give back and I want to really, I'm at the point of the time in my life where I've got more in the mirror than I do in the front windshield, and I want to leave a better place for the next generation.

Miranda Reiman (09:06):

Well, we appreciate members getting involved. That's what makes a strong association. Is there anything else that you'd like people to know before November's annual meeting?

Brooke Miller (09:14):

Well, I want them to know that as with the United States Cattlemen's Association as a director, I will try to encourage the association and I will personally be as completely transparent. I'll have an open ear and an open line for anybody that wants to talk to me, and I encourage member input on all major decisions. And I want to try to involve the membership more on decision making than what has been done in the past.

Miranda Reiman (09:45):

Well, we'll look forward to people getting to know you better between now and the events in Kansas City in November. Thank you.

Brooke Miller (09:52):

Thank you very much, Miranda

Miranda Reiman (09:54):

Elections will take place at the 142nd annual Convention of Delegates during the annual meeting on Sunday, November 2nd in Kansas City, Missouri. Not registered? There's still time. Visit angusconvention.com to learn more. To read full biographies, and for the latest news and stories from the breed, visit angusjournal.net. And while you're there, subscribe to the monthly Angus Journal magazine. You'll get ongoing Angus convention coverage and the latest news, Association updates, stories of fellow breeders and more. Visit angusjournal.net to subscribe today.