My father started with a purebred Angus beef herd in the 40's. Her purchased a $2000.00 (calculate how much that would be in today's money). He brought her home and she promptly dropped dead.  
  He ciphered you could put your money in two places. Either you could purchase grain and put you money into making average cows look good or you could put all the money you could into purchasing the best bulls and have genetically superior cows. He chose the latter.
The objective in these days were to have the calves wean and make the 500 pound club. He worked hard and was successful.  
  In 1970 he crossed the herd with a Charolais bull to increase weight gain. All the sudden he was in the 600 - 700 pound club.

In 1976 he started using Simmental to increase the frame size. It took a toll on many of the smaller framed Angus cattle. He sired many 4H steers at the NY State Fair and his offspring won the carcass class several times.

 
  In 1980 he switched to Limousin to capture where the beef market was headed... lean beef. The offspring contiunued to accell in the show ring and on the rail.
In 1985 I bought the herd from my father and bought a Simmental, in 86; I bought a 0.01 back fat Angus from Ballentrae Angus, in 88 and 90 I bought a Simmentals.  
  In 92 I bought a Limousin and another in 95. About that time I noticed that no matter how much corn I jacked into my calves, I could never get a nice tasting piece of meat at the supper table.
About that time I also realized that my children were no longer able to take calves to the fair as they were so wild. I also bean to notice that my fences were no loner able to keep the herd where they were supposed to be. Seeing I didn't like fixing my neighbor's lawns, the Limousin program came to an abrupt halt.  
  In 1988 our last purebred Angus cow was shipped to market.
In 1998 I returned home to Angus bulls  
  2002 We purchased our first two purebred Angus (sight unseen) from Gallagher Dispersal Sale. Both were poor mothers and had disappointing calves. We also started fall calving that year.
In 2004 we looked at our herd and decided that not only in addition impressive carcas data, we needed to improve the fleshing ability of our cattle as the only feed we give the cattle is hay. We had a severe winter resulting in a disasterous calving season that year loosing 68% of our calves. Of course this was the first year in a decade when calves were actually worth something.  
  2005 we purchased a yearling heifer from Three Trees Farm production sale... sight unseen again ... (in fact we still haven't seen her) based on her carcass data. We hope she looks good.
We also purchased our first semen tank in order to begin our embryo program.  
  The insustry needs people like me. I buy very expensive cattle and sell very cheap offspring. What is wrong with this picture?