OYFF—Beef Division
When Michael and Nancy Lovoy first met, Michael never guessed that, not only would they end up getting married, but that she would change his whole course of life. Eight years after being introduced to farming by Nancy’s grandfather, today Michael and Nancy stay busy running their own cattle farm on her grandfather’s Etowah County land.The Lovoys have a 2-year-old daughter, Lindsay, and are expecting an addition to their growing family in December. Michael said the family loves farm life, and even though he was more excited about hunting than farming the first time he visited the land, it has since gotten into his blood. “It’s something I never fooled with until I met her,” Michael said. “But I’ve always been an outdoor person, and I just got addicted to it. I thought I’d be a vet, but this is something that just got a hold of me.”Since starting his beef cattle operation, Michael has worked hard to make his farm the best it can be. He currently oversees a large calf operation, but he continues to try to make things better every day, from increasing the quality of beef produced to selling more cattle outside of his local market. Down the road, Michael would like to have purebred stock, which he feels would lead to a marked increase in the quality of his beef. He wants his beef to be of the highest quality available, he said, especially when it has his name on it.”I keep trying to learn what buyers want, to try and tweak the quality of the beef,” he said. “We’ve seen vast improvements, and we just keep trying to make it better.”Continuing to improve his farm occupies much of his time, but Nancy’s father and 76-year-old grandfather are around to help when needed. “I just keep striving to be better…that’s something I’ll do until the day I die,” Michael said.