Carl E. Kastendieck, Billings, Missouri

The 1981 Dairy Cattle Breeder Award goes to Carl E. Kastendieck a Guernsey Breeder, at Billings, Missouri. Carl and his wife Erna, with the help of their three children have in the past 25 years bred and developed one of the outstanding Guernsey herds in the nation. The Kastendieck herd is strictly home bred and emphasis is on high production per cow rather than a large number of animals. The milking herd averaged about 35 herd.

It all began when Carl’s parents, at an early age, gave him a Guernsey heifer. He added a few more heifers as his finances permitted. He was born at Billings in 1925 and graduate from Billings High School. Carl served in the United States Army, being located in Hawaii and the Philippines, during World War II. He bought his present 265 acre farm, of which 230 acres are in crops and pasture, in 1950. He and Erna were married in 1954. The Guernseys had been housed with his fathers cattle in a father-son partnership until 1956 at which time Carl moved his cattle to his own farm and began development of the Cloverdell (farm prefix) herd.

A program of testing for production, the use of high production bred sires, and good feeding and management has been followed throughout the years. The herd has been on DBIA and DHIR test for 26 years. It has been Officially Classified 15 times. The 1979 Classification resulted in 19 animals rated “Very Good” and 14 “Desirable” all but one Cloverdell breeding.

For years the herd has averaged high in production. For the five ears from 1975 to 1979 inclusive the average production for 35.2 cows s 13,281 pounds of milk, containing 634 pounds of butterfat. The year of 1979 was the best with 33.0 cows averaging 14,055 pounds milk and 681 pounds of butterfat. In the past 26 years Cloverdell Farm has had 11 Gold Star Herd Awards, including four Double Gold Stars; 7 Gold Star Dam Awards, and 5 Elite cows. In 1979 the herd ranked fourth in milk production, and third in butterfat production with an average of 14,812 M, 704 F, 305-2 X1 ME on 29 completed records.

The Kastendiecks owe much of their success to the development of an outstanding cow family. One cow, Cloverdells Cindys Sandy was a national class leader three times including 26,150 lbs. milk, 1,150 lbs. butterfat in one year as a five year old. Sandy had 9 lactation records totaling 206,260 M 8,496 F. In addition she has two daughters, both over 20,000 lbs. milk, and one granddaughter that were class leaders. It is estimated that 60 to 75 percent of the Cloverdell herd trace to Sandy.

In early 1980, Carl and Erna realizing that with their herd in the limelight it would be a good time to sell the mature animals, keep the young stock, and take a “breather” from milking. This sale held September 15, 1980 was one of the nation’s highest average sales; 47 head all ages averaged $2,066.91 for a total of $97,145.00. Cloverdells Sugars Sherill, a granddaughter of old “Sandy,” topped the sale at $8,600.00 to make her the second top selling Guernsey female at 1980 auctions. The cattle went to 27 buyer in 12 states. This sale illustrates again, how a young man can start from scratch with dairy cattle and by good breeding and management, build a source of wealth and comfortable retirement. The nice part of it is, the Kastendieck’s have the young stock, rich in the Cloverdell breeding, and a new herd on the way.

The Kastendiecks have three children, Randy 23, a computer technician in Tulsa, Okla.; Paul, 18 just out of High School, and Mary 20, a music major at Drury College, Springfield.

Carl is an Honorary FFA member; a Director in the Missouri Guernsey Breeder’s Association; member of the American Legion; the American Guernsey Cattle Club, and the Farm Bureau. The family is active in the St. Peter’s United Church of Christ.

Carl says, “If I were starting over, I would start again with a fawn-and-white cow as she has been good to my family and me.”