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Ralph Sydenstricker began his farm machinery business in 1944 with an Interna-
tional Harvester dealership in Paris, MO. One of his salesmen, Grant Dickson, came
in one day and told Ralph he believed he could sell the Super C Farmall tractor on the
lot, if Ralph would take two registered Angus cows with heifer calves on the trade, and
allow the customer $1,000 a piece for them. Ralph, Grant, and 12-year-old Eddie went
to look at the cows and close the deal.
Eddie and his sister, Betty Jo, became very active showing in 4-H and FFA. Eddie
was involved in forming the very first junior Angus association in the U.S., when,
in 1956, the Missouri Junior Angus Association was organized at Monroe City, MO.
Eddie served as the first President, assisted by Ronnie Rodgers, vice-president; Fred
Blades, secretary; and Liz (Moore) Coon, treasurer. Lyle Haring, regional manager for
the American Angus Association, and Ed Stout, Missouri Angus Association fieldman,
were instrumental in this project. Later, Eddie was selected by Dean Hurlbut, the newly
appointed Director of Activities at the American Angus Association, to participate in
“
An Angus In Your Future,” a film produced by the Association to encourage youth
to get involved with Angus cattle. Eddie continued his involvement in FFA, serving as
State Secretary in 1957-58, and receiving the American Farmer degree in 1960.
Ralph teamed up with Jim and Ray Blades in 1959 for their first production sale.
Col. Roy G. Johnston was the auctioneer, and the ringmen were Lyle Haring, Mark
Dempsey, Wes Hays, Veryl Jones, Ed Stout, and Nick Iman. Ralph continued to have
production sales through the sixties. The top bull in his 1964 sale was a son of TA
Ekonomist 7 that sold for $1,000. Ralph was elected President of the Missouri Angus
Association in 1966. In 1960, the family moved the cattle to Mexico, MO, as Ralph
purchased the John Deere dealership in Mexico. Eddie and Connie were married in
1961,
and lived in Macon from 1965 to 1969, managing the International dealership
they acquired in 1965.
In the seventies, Ralph stepped up the pace a bit, and, looking for a little more
growth, imported several heifers and bulls from Canada. Twenty females with a total
price tag of $21,980 were brought to Mexico, MO, in December 1974. He found Hap-
pyvale Olympic 012H at the side of his dam in June, 1976, and returned later to Canada
to make him the top-selling bull in the Happyvale sale at $20,000.
While Ralph was expanding the cow herd, Eddie and a talented mechanic named
Van Botkins designed and campaigned the Cajun Queen pulling tractor, winning every
National Championship there was. Eventually, John Deere Engineering at Waterloo, IA,
took the engine from this tractor to develop the 466 cubic inch engine that was used
in all the 40 and 50 series tractors made by John Deere for nearly twenty years.
Ralph decided he needed some help with the quality herd he was putting together,
and, in search of a herdsman, scheduled Wayne Kestler to come to Mexico for an
interview on January 6, 1977. Wayne Kestler did come to Mexico that day, as did
many other Angus friends, but it was not to discuss the position of herdsman, it was
to attend the funeral of Ralph Sydenstricker.
Eddie, busy with the dealership for many years, now had a decision to make, re-
garding the farm and the cattle. Obviously, he chose to continue the Angus operation,
known as Sydenstricker Angus Farms, and to hire Wayne Kestler as herdsman.
Eddie wasted no time. In March 1977, he acquired Eisa BAS 89 for $2,000. She
produced the $33,000 SAF Windwalker and the $12,000 SAF Windjammer during her
tenure here. On June 21, 1977, Eddie acquired an interest in Happyvale Marshall Pride
013
G, known as “Mighty Marshall.” He was owned with Erdmann Angus, Wetonka,
SD, and Jim Baldridge, North Platte, NE, and sired the Grand Champion Carload of
Bulls at the 1978 National Western, along with the top-selling pen of heifers at the
1978
Denver Foundation Female Sale. Although Ralph had had several sales over the
years, Eddie began the Annual Production Sale in November of 1978.
An early female who left a mark on the entire Angus breed was Schearbrook Wendy
N023, purchased for $5,100 in June 1978. A son was grand champion and top-selling
bull at the 1981 Missouri State Sale, and she produced many other show ring cham-
pions and top sellers for the program, including a $14,000 daughter. Wendy herself
topped the 1981 sale at $18,750 to Coy Glenn in Mississippi. Today, descendants of
the Wendy cow are some of the most popular in the western U.S., all tracing back to
our heifer calf consignment to the 1987 Missouri Angus Futurity.
Through the seventies and early eighties, Eddie and Connie’s daughters, Kim and
Lee Ann, showed extensively in junior shows throughout the country, perhaps high-
lighted by Lee Ann’s last show heifer becoming the farm’s first Missouri State Fair
Grand Champion Female in 1984, with a descendant of Wendy. Kim and Lee Ann were
both active in the Missouri Junior Angus Association their father helped start, and both
served as officers.
Eddie served as treasurer of the Missouri Angus Association for many years, and
served three years on the American Angus Association Board of Directors. In 1995,
Eddie received the Livestock Person of the Year Award from the University of Missouri
Block and Bridle Club.
The first Annual Production Sale in 1978 was managed by National Livestock Bro-
kers, and the auctioneers were Jim Baldridge, Nick Iman and Al Conover. The ring help
that day were Veryl Jones, Tim Lackey, Paul Gibbs, Mark Dempsey, and John Barton,
as 141 lots averaged $1,332. Also in 1978, Don Simpkins joined the crew until his
retirement in 1991.
One of the most talked-about bulls of his era was Cracker Jack Baros 2459, better
known as “Prime Rate.” On the day Prime Rate was shown at the Iowa State Fair, a
cattleman called the John Deere store, and talked to a parts man not at all knowl-
edgeable about the Angus herd. When the cattleman asked, “What did Prime Rate do
today?” the parts man, wondering why anyone would call an implement dealership to
check on interest rates, replied, “Went up again, I suppose,” and hung up. In the 1981
sale, the first Prime Rate calves were featured at the most successful sale held to that
point. Col. Ray Sims and Col. Jim Baldridge cried the sale, with Veryl Jones, Dean Pike,
Greg Garwood, Tim Lackey, Mark Dempsey, Lyle Eiten, John Barton, and “Doc” Smith
working the ring. National Livestock Brokers managed the sale, and John Rudolph and
John Ponticello served as consultants.
Bill and Li Bowman were an integral part of the program from 1981 through 1989,
exhibiting 34 State Fair champions in 1987 alone, and helping build the performance
base for the herd as we know it today. Ben Eggers joined the team in 1982. Many other
good employees have come and gone through the years, including Charlie Boyd, Lewis
Moten, Dale Randolph, John Ripperger, Randy Graham, Bonnie DeYoung, Todd and
Tracy Ragsdale, Ed and Mandy Raithel, Dan Sharp, Allen Robinson, Randy Ray, Ken
Rhodes, John Schneider, Travis Sharon, Brent Schuering, Matt Gruber, Nelson Groves,
Josh Lewis, Stacy Loyd, Pat McCarty, Nick Schafer, Dave Pickerell, Suzy Harrison, Bub
Raithel, Aaron Ishmael, Anthony Carey, Chris Beedle, Matt Rouse and Tyler Allen.
The eighties were an exciting time at Sydenstricker’s, as the foundations were laid
for many of the cattle we still have. The purchase of three females from the mating of
Brost Power Drive to Leachman Lass 1004, two of them as heifer calf pregnancies and
one as a $19,000 heifer calf, gave us the base to produce such herd sires as SAF Fame.
Also from Jay and Les Leachman, an $18,000 heifer named Leachman Royal Queen
2027
founded the Royal Queen family here, eventually producing SAF Royal Queen
5084.
A Rito 2100 GDAR daughter, Pride Queen T 4155, purchased at the NILE, put
her stamp on the Angus industry with a flush of calves born in 1986 that included SAF
Power Shaft 6021, the $33,000 SAF Pride Queen 6013, and the record-holding highest
selling bull and heifer to ever sell at a Missouri State Sale, the $12,500 SAF Power Fix
and the $40,000 SAF Pride Queen 6012. Then, in 1989, in Manhattan, MT, we outbid
three competing syndicates to acquire two-thirds ownership in VDAR New Trend 315,
the bull who defined multi-trait superiority, and set the tone for the Sydenstricker
program through today.
In 1990, we shocked the Angus community by scheduling the Dispersion minus
Fifty sale, where we sold down to 50 registered females in what turned out to be our
highest-grossing sale to that point, proving that truth in advertising can work, and that
at least 67 bull calves can be sold in Missouri on one day. No sale was held in 1991,
so we used the extra time available to scour the country for fresh genetics to bring in.
The deal to “pick” six heifers from the entire Gartner-Denowh heifer calf crop, on an
alternating basis, turned out to be one of the best things we’ve ever done, as females
like GDAR Forever Lady 178 and GDAR Forever Lady 246 have proven their value many
times over.
Throughout the nineties, we put more and more emphasis on the commercial side
of the industry, stepping up our carcass evaluation of herd sires, exploring new pro-
grams that could benefit our commercial customers, supplying more and more useful
performance data to our customers, and creating the Sydenstricker Influence Sales.
We published our first Herd Sire Directory in 1993, the same year a calf named SAF
Fame topped our sale at $27,000, and actively pursued the direct semen sale market.
We had the first 100-head bull sale in Missouri in 1996, where we also sold the top-
selling bull calf in our history, SAF Focus of ER, at $68,000. In 1997, we received the
CAB Seedstock “Commitment to Excellence” Award, primarily for our focus on carcass
traits equally with performance traits. SAF Fame became the second most heavily used
bull of the breed in 2000.
In 1993, Ben Eggers was elected President of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association,
and served on the Board of Directors of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. In
1998,
he was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Angus Association,
serving as President in 2006. Ben served on the Beef Improvement Federation Board
of Directors for eight years, and was elected President in 2011.
Entering the new millennium, we took a big step. Wanting a distinctive prefix, and
to send the message that we are selling genetics, not just cattle, we changed our name
to Sydenstricker Genetics. In 2001, the first bull to sell with the new SydGen prefix,
SydGen Refocus, broke his full brother’s record to become our top-selling bull ever, at
$100,000.
At the 2001 Beef Improvement Federation meeting, we were awarded the Seed-
stock Producer of the Year Award, the most prestigious award in the seedstock indus-
try, signifying the national impact of the Sydenstricker program. We also joined with
several other seedstock partners to found ORIgen, Inc.
In our most recent decade, we have been a tour stop on the National Angus Tour
and the BIF Tour, as well as hosting part of the LEAD Conference in 2011. We have
been named to the NCBA Top 25 Seedstock Operations listing for several years.
Sydenstricker Implement Co. has received the Managers’ Club Award, John Deere’s
highest award, many times. Daughters Kim and Lee Ann are both involved in Syden-
stricker Implement Company, with Kim working at the Mexico location, and Lee Ann
doing PR for all the dealerships. Grandson Chase Monte, Kim’s son, has exhibited at
the last three Missouri State Fairs, and made his first trip to a National Junior Angus
Show in 2012. Grandson Blake Briscoe attends Vanderbilt University, and granddaugh-
ters Sydney and Paige Briscoe are in their sophomore year at Ladue High.
From the early Sire Evaluation reports printed twice a year, to today when a new
sire evaluation report is on-line every Friday, along with genomic-enhanced EPDs and
the ability to DNA test for parentage and genetic recessives, we have seen technology
change the face of the beef industry. We will continue to keep this herd at the forefront
of the Angus breed, and supply our customers the genetics and the customer service
they need to compete.
Highlights of Sydenstricker Angus History
