About Carstens Farms
The History
of Carstens Farms
The roots of Carstens Farms go back more than 60 years, to when Dean Carstens began building an Angus herd on the family farm as a teenager. After college, he returned home to continue raising livestock and farming the land.
To take advantage of the best genetics available, Carstens Farms has expanded and developed the herd over the years through artificial insemination and the purchase of nationally known artificial insemination sires. The Carstens strive to raise balanced-trait cattle that will perform well for their customers.
The Carstens family now includes Dean’s wife, Melodee, along with their children, Kyle Carstens and Amanda Steward, and their families. Not only do the children and grandchildren help out at Carstens Farms when needed, but Kyle and Amanda and their respective families each have their own registered Angus herds, and grandson Zach Steward maintains his own registered Angus and Charolais herds.
At Carstens Farms, the CEO, secretary, sales manager, and herdsmen are all the same people who breed, feed, weigh, and sort the cattle. It’s a small family operation in which all family members get to enjoy manure on their boots and where everyone is committed to producing profitable cattle and progressive genetics in a commercially oriented system.
Our Philosophy:
Carstens Farms has never been one to chase fads. Simply said, the cow herd behind the bulls and females that we sell is full of sound, eye-appealing, functional cattle. They have bred-in longevity and consistently wean high-performance progeny.
Dean has incorporated nationally recognized genetics into this breeding program. In doing so, the Angus and Charolais bulls developed in this program exemplify the performance genetics that their pedigrees indicate they should possess. They are sound-footed and packed full of red meat and muscle that will add profitability to anyone’s calf crop. Likewise, Carstens Farms’ females have maternal power that does not sacrifice performance, so they will work in any environment and any progressive program.
Our goal is to constantly improve and add value to our herd, which in turn adds value for our customers. We monitor that progress by collecting weights, ultra-sounding, vaccinating, and genomic testing so that our customers can make informed decisions. But the bottom line is that our cows must work like everyone else’s. They are not pampered because we believe this is the only way to determine genetic ability, not feeding ability.
Connect With
Carstens Farms
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