In His Own Words | November 2025

By Cheryl Kepes and Scott Sandeen

photos courtesy Sandeen family

Reflections from the heart and hand of Sandeen Genetics owner Scott Sandeen.

Sandeen Genetics, Blakesburg, Iowa, produces the type of cattle that many producers dream about. Their Simmental and SimAngus females possess a perfect balance of maternal power and beauty. Not to mention, they fetch jaw-dropping sale prices. For instance, Sandeen Donna 8302 brought $262,000 for half interest in 2023.

The Stockman reached out to the owner of Sandeen Genetics, Scott Sandeen, and asked him to offer insight into his agriculture roots, strategies for breeding, and the roadmap for Sandeen Genetics’ success. He graciously shared the following in his own words.

The story of Sandeen Genetics traces back to 1948 when my great-grandfather, W.L. Swaim, first purchased the original 160-acre piece of ground that we still live on today. Actually, our history goes back a few years prior to that, when he was managing what was known at the time as the Doc Pearson farm. A beautiful grass farm that would have been perfect for W.L.’s dream of raising and selling his registered horned Hereford bulls. After several unsuccessful attempts to acquire that farm, the opportunity arose to purchase what is now the headquarters of Sandeen Genetics.

Though W.L. was unable to purchase the property he originally had his heart set on, things fell into place allowing us to buy it some 60 years later, during the Great Recession of 2008. Now it all ties together with the home place, making a contiguous 1,200-acre spread of lush, green rolling hills, dotted with solid black and black baldie cows. Though my great-grandfather may have preferred Hereford cows, I think he would be proud to have his entire family living and working on the same ground that he strived to acquire many decades ago.

Family is the Foundation

I’m Scott Sandeen and my wife, Jill, and I represent the fourth generation, and our two sons (along with their cousins) are the fifth generation on this land. We raise and market registered seedstock genetics. I believe that’s something that’s just in your blood. You either have it, or you don’t.

My children share the family’s passion for agriculture. Jill and I’s oldest son, Logan (19), currently attends Iowa State University. Our youngest, Lawson (16), works tirelessly every day on our operation without missing a beat in his high school endeavors.

In addition to running the Simmental and SimAngus cattle operation, in 2020 we purchased a Titan West Livestock Equipment dealership. We enjoy selling the brand of equipment we have used on our operation for 30 years.

Many facets of the family are foundational to the inspiration and success of Sandeen Genetics. My mother, Rhonda, comes from a family of great stockmen, firmly rooted in the commercial cattle industry. I rely heavily on the mechanical expertise of my brother, Eric, who owns a diesel shop and ensures the farm’s equipment keeps running. Eric and his wife, Julie, are also very involved in the farming operation, as are their children, Kennedy and Wyatt, who do much of the AIing of the sale heifers these days.

In the Genes

I was only 2 years old when W.L. died, but I seemingly inherited his love for studying and understanding genetics and his appreciation for quality stock. He was said to have been a man of vision and one to take action when it came to searching out and acquiring the best seedstock possible to improve his registered horned Hereford herd. These were the traits that my dad, Tim, obviously attained from his many hours spent learning from “Pa,” as he referred to his grandfather.

My dad’s father, Fred Sandeen, also had a heart for agriculture, particularly row crops. His farming career took at tragic turn when my dad was 13 years old. Fred became paralyzed following a surgery he endured to remove a brain tumor.

Invaluable Lessons

I lost my dad (who I worked side-by-side with daily) two years ago. As I reflect on him, he too was undoubtedly a man of vision and action. When I was a young boy growing up in the 80s and 90s, we would occasionally go to a sale. At the sales I always wanted to try to buy, what was considered, the really good cattle at that time. But Dad would usually shut me down.

Fortunately, I had two things working in my favor, but I didn’t realize or appreciate them at the time. First, I didn’t have the funds to buy what I thought I wanted, and second, my dad would preach to me that those are not the kind of cows you want. It aggravated me that he wouldn’t get on board with the idea, but looking back it’s obvious - he was right. Those cattle were tall, gutless, hard-doing, and poor-structured. He knew they were not what we needed to make a herd of cows out of. He also knew we simply didn’t have the resources to supplement a herd of cows like that.

Dad had already learned these lessons out of necessity, as he was unexpectedly handed the reins to the operation when his grandfather, W.L., died of pneumonia, in 1983, at the peak of the 1980s farm crisis. At that point, Dad had to figure out, real quick, how to make a living with a herd of Hereford cows, when money was tight in the country and nobody wanted to buy a Hereford bull.

Immediately, he pivoted to a commercial operation and bought some of the more moderate framed Angus bulls he could find at the time to breed to his grandpa’s Hereford cows. The resulting replacement heifers from that forward thinking move, would become the cow herd that I would grow up with and learn from.

It took me a few years to figure out Dad’s train of thought of not wanting what was popular at the time, but it eventually sunk in when I started to evaluate those black baldie cows he had raised. As the years went on, I noticed how easy-fleshing and productive they were and how long they lasted. Many of them produced well into their teens and a few hitting 20 years old.

I learned to study and appreciate the good structured, economically efficient, commercial stock that we had at the time. I also realized along the way that if I wanted those really high caliber Simmental cattle that I had my eyes set on, I was going to have to try to become a really good breeder and raise them myself. We certainly couldn’t buy our way there. Looking back, that was probably the single greatest thing that could have happened to me.

Art of Genetic Selection

I’ve learned over the years that there truly is an art to breeding good cattle! I absolutely admire the rare ones that we can consider to be master breeders. The true artists in breeding cattle are getting fewer all the time. Many breeders are becoming dependent on a computer making their breeding decisions for them, and it’s causing the true stockman to become a dying breed.

I’m all for technology and the use of scientific methods as a tool, but not as a total replacement of a true stockman’s well-trained eye. My dad always preached to me to “breed for females that will make great cows, and you’ll always stay in business!” But there are many traits in making great cows that are hard to quantify with a number.

That stockman type mentality is probably what’s kept us in business all these years. We expect the stock that we sell to have all the fundamentals in check to go out and make a highly functional cow for many years to come. But I think one thing that makes our cattle somewhat unique, is that we’ve worked very hard to blend the most functional, maternal type genetics with an extra attractive phenotype, so you can be proud to go out and see what you’ve got grazing your pastures.

I’ve had numerous customers tell me that their freeze branded Sandeen cows are always the ones that visitors ask about, and that’s quite a compliment to us! Although we’ve really never spent much time in the show ring, we’ve always worked hard to breed cattle that stand out and have that certain look about them, so you know that’s a Sandeen cow.

All in the (Cow) Family

Cow families are extremely important to us. Over the years we’ve narrowed it down to just a handful of cow families that have consistently produced those particular traits we deem non-negotiable in our breeding program and have continued to do it generationally.

Likely the most recognizable of those cow families would be the Donna tribe. Derived from the Angus strain of this cow family, which has been further developed and vigorously utilized by the Coleman Angus Ranch in Montana. They have gained worldwide notoriety for their exceptional maternal oriented characteristics and massively constructed phenotype.

When we saw the original Donna J311 cow in one of Coleman’s first sale ads we believed that was one of the greatest Angus cows we had ever seen. The following year, Coleman highlighted their ad with Coleman Donna 386, the direct daughter of Donna J311, which was perhaps even more impressive. At that point, Dad and I both agreed that we needed to somehow harness the goodness of those Donna cows to begin a new genetic line in the Simmental breed.

We were extremely fortunate that everything fell into place to allow that to come to fruition when Sandeen Donna 8386 emerged. She represented the original half-blood SimAngus matriarch that nearly all of our Donnas trace back to today.

Constant Genetic Improvement

Within each of the cow families that we utilize today, we try to recognize the very best individuals that we believe will have the ability to further progress the characteristics we desire for the next generation amongst their family line. The most efficient way we’ve found to do this is by using a rather intensive In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) program.

We have done most of our genetic multiplying work through Trans Ova Genetics for nearly 30 years with very consistent, successful results. We will generally work anywhere from 12 to 20 donors per year, with many of them being partnership cows owned with other breeders from across the country.

In the partnership scenario, we feel the fairest way is to split the embryos. So, you have your embryos, and we have ours. Then when it’s time to market the progeny from those embryos, we offer the option for the partner to sell their embryos or offspring back through our annual Buildin’ a Brand sale, held the second Saturday of December each year. We feel that helps give a little security to the folks who might be buying a new donor, if they know they have the option of a built-in market to help sell their product if they need it.

Guiding the Next Generation

We were very fortunate when we were just starting out in the Simmental business to be surrounded by some really good, established breeders like Larry Drake, Denny Cason, and Reck Bros. who were willing to help a young guy out. I’ve never forgotten that, and we’ve always tried to do what we could to help a young or new breeder get a jumpstart with the best genetics possible for their budget.

One thing I want the young Simmental or livestock enthusiasts in general to know… Many of the “big name” breeders you see advertised in all the livestock publications or the ones standing in front of the backdrop holding a grand champion banner, came from a very humble beginning and just worked their tail off to get to where they’re at. So, don’t ever be intimidated or too afraid to talk to them to ask for advice. Most have been right where you are today and would love to help.

Upcoming Sale:

Saturday, December 13, 2025

12:00 PM - Blakesburg, Iowa

learn more www.sandeengenetics.com