SALEM, Ohio — John Vidovich had a relationship with the Wilson & Good Cattle Company out of Bernard, Kansas for some time. They often bought and sold cattle from each other. That relationship led him to a Maine-Anjou/Angus crossbred bull he purchased for $68,000 last March.
The Calcutta, Ohio cattleman had his eye on W/G Boardwalk Empire, classified as a Mainetainer, who is 3/8 Maine and 5/8 Angus, for some time. The bull has the all black coloring of an Angus with a stout, wide base and powerful build.
“I saw him as a calf, and I liked him as a calf, but it was one of those deals, you weren’t sure what he would turn out to be,” Vidovich said. “I thought he had great potential.”
Potential turned into success. Boardwalk Empire won grand champion titles at the National Western Stock Show as a calf and state fair titles in Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kansas, Arkansas and Illinois in 2024, plus a win at the Keystone International Livestock Expo.
The champion Mainetainer bull will be present at the Genetic Pathway during the Ohio Beef Expo, March 13-16, in Columbus, Ohio. The Pathway is housed in the breeds barn and offers cattlemen the chance to buy top genetics, live cattle, semen and embryos.
Mainetainer
Boardwalk Empire is registered through the American Maine-Anjou Association, which recognizes four categories of Maine-Anjou cattle based on bloodline percentage. Anything from a 25%-75% Maine-Anjou bloodline is classified as a Mainetainer, and the latest recognized category is a Maine Angus cross.
“Maine-Anjou is a good breed to use as a cross with others if you’re looking to add versatility to your herd or the calves,” said Hannah Carter, a fellow Maine-Anjou breeder, who manages the brand, helps at shows and exhibits livestock for her father’s herd, Y-Not Cattle in Pleasant Plain, Ohio.
“The purpose of that cross is what the Maine-Anjou Association calls ‘the power cross,’” she said. “Anytime you cross something with this breed (Maine-Anjou), it seems to increase performance.”
Vidovich and Chad Wilson, of Wilson & Good Cattle Company, have their views on why this bull has so much potential.
“This bull’s true,” Vidovich said. “The bull’s not fake — the judges always call him a free cat because he’s just so big, massive and free-moving. He’s sound. There’s no doctoring done on him. He’s 100% real.”
Wilson feels W/G Boardwalk Empire might be an asset in commercial operations as well as producing quality show stock.
“He could go both ways,” he said. “He’s functional, got a lot of flesh and ability, low maintenance and structurally sound — then he’s an eye-appealing package, correct and square.”
Shows and sales
Getting all those ribbons titles required an extensive and well-coordinated travel schedule.
“We show a lot,” Vidovich said. “When we go on the road to show, we coordinate it as a family vacation. We don’t go to Disneyland. We go to the highest state fair.”
Vidovich, a third-generation cattleman, farms 450 acres of hay on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. He and his father raised and showed cattle extensively. Now, he raises and shows cattle with his two sons through HJF Horse, Hay and Cattle Company.
“We used to run 125 pairs of Angus and Hereford,” Vidovich said. “After he passed, we had to make some changes and kind of backed off with the cattle. Right now, we’re running 50 pairs.”
Vidovich is counting on Boardwalk Empire’s genetics for herd improvement.
“We have everything bred to him, and we’re just waiting for the calves to hit the ground at the end of March,” he said. “I don’t personally care what kind of cattle you’ve got as long as they’re good. That’s our objective, to raise good quality sound cattle.”
Success in the show ring has translated into high demand for Boardwalk Empire’s semen. Currently, he’s partnered with Cattle Vision, a multibreed online semen distributor, where they have sold over 3,400 straws of semen since the fall of 2024. Vidovich is also selling a 25% revenue interest in the bull, with the option to double it to own 50%. This type of sale allows him to keep possession of the bull while he shares the revenue generated from breeding sales.
