Bill and Bev Wachtel of Big Prairie, Ohio were awarded the 2015 Master Breeder award at the National Guernsey Convention on Thursday, June 18. The National Guernsey Convention marks the 139th Annual Meeting of the American Guernsey Association, and was held in Walnut Creek, Ohio. 
Master Breeder recipients are Bill and Bev Wachtel, pictured with the 2014 National Guernsey Queen Robin Kime and National Guernsey Princess Laura Jensen. Photo by Purebred Publishing.
The Master Breeder award is given each year by the American Guernsey Association to recognize an active member who has bred outstanding animals for many years and therefore has made a notable contribution to the advancement of the Guernsey breed of cattle. The Wachtel's Spring Walk Farm has been a family operation and home to Guernsey cattle for over 100 years. The farm currently milks 150 Guernsey and Holstein cattle and grows 700 acres of crops.
Bill and Bev inherited Spring Walk Farm from Bill's parents, Floyd and Eileen. Today, their son Kurt helps run the farm. Kurt was the recipient of the National Guernsey Outstanding Youth Award in 1986. Their herd has always had cows that would make any Guernsey owner proud, but one of their greatest was Lantz Farm Tiller Icy. Icy was a #1 CPI cow, had a class-leading record of over 39,000 pounds of milk, was an All-American in 2002, and was the dam of three Excellent daughters and four sons in A.I. Her best daughter, Spring Walk Icy Sherbert, is the dam of the breed's top active A.I. PTI sire today, Spring Walk Sherberts Toro-ET.
The Wachtel family emphasizes milk production in their cattle and has long been one of the top-producing herds in Ohio as well as the United States. They are also a consistent source of genetically superior bulls sent to A.I. companies. Twenty percent of the top 15 sires on the April 2015 PTI list come from Spring Walk Farm.
Bill and Bev are active in the industry as well as their community. Bill has served as a judge at state and national Guernsey shows, has been the president of the Ohio Guernsey Breeders Association, and has served on various boards of directors within the industry. Bill and Bev have served as 4-H advisors, and are famous in the area for their outdoor Christmas light display.
The American Guernsey Association is based in Columbus, Ohio and is dedicated to the advancement and promotion of Guernsey dairy cows and products.
6.26.2015