The American Simmental Association (ASA) recently honored Darrell Stiles, Cushing, Oklahoma, with the World Simmental-Fleckvieh Federation (WSFF) Golden Book Award, the Association’s highest honor. Selected by the ASA Board of Trustees, recipients of this award are lifelong promoters of the Simmental breed. Stiles was recognized during ASA’s Fall Focus event, on Saturday, August 23, in Columbia, Missouri.
Darrell Stiles is a pioneer of the Simmental breed, holding membership number 1638. Growing up on his family’s dairy operation, he took an early interest in cattle and became one of the first artificial insemination technicians and teachers in the country. This work brought the Simmental breed into his life and led to the formation of Cabin Creek Farms.
Early in his career, Stiles worked as a field man with Kansas State University’s Kansas Artificial Breeding Service Unit (KABSU). Artificial Insemination was bringing new genetic advancements to the cattle industry, and he was on the first team of instructors to train farmers and ranchers how to AI their own cows.
As a part of the Sunflower Simmentals partnership, Stiles bought semen on two of the first four bulls imported into the United States: Fern and Capitan. The group worked with cooperator herds to breed cows and purchase the heifer calves at a nickel above market price. In the spring of 1969, during those first pregnancies, Stiles returned to his family’s centennial farm, Cabin Creek Farms, in Cushing, Oklahoma. In the Spring of 1970, he and his wife, Billie, received their first ten weaned halfblood Simmental heifers from their partnership with Sunflower Simmentals, which started their own herd.
Stiles bred some of the first black Simmentals through his upgrade program, which utilized grade Holstein cows from the family dairy. The Simmental breed had started transitioning to black at the time, and Darrell raised two very well-known and used sires, DarBill U Bad and DarBill Bad Monday.
Today, Stiles is helping his family continue the Simmental tradition.
Founded in 1968, the American Simmental Association is headquartered in Bozeman, MT. ASA is committed to leveraging technology, education, and collaboration to accelerate genetic profitability for the beef industry. In keeping with its commitment, ASA, along with its partners, formed International Genetic Solutions — the world’s largest genetic evaluation of beef cattle. Learn more at www.simmental.org and internationalgeneticsolutions.com.
