Farmers for life

TAOPI  — Mark Schaefer never considered being anything other than a farmer.

“I’ve never left,” Mark said. “While I was going to (a local community) college, I was still farming. I didn’t have the true college experience, but it worked for me.”

Mark raises pigs, beef and crops alongside his wife, Laura; their sons, Lucas and Paul; and two full-time employees and one part time employee; on a farm near Taopi that straddles the Minnesota and Iowa border. They are also assisted by several custom pig growers. Up until 1998, they also had a dairy herd, which their beef cattle eventually replaced.

Lucas and Paul both work full time on the farm and are partners. Their brother, Jared, works full time off the farm for CHS Inc. but is also a partner and helps when he is able. Mitch, the fourth brother, works for Hueber Feed LLC and farms on his own. Laura has helped on the farm as well, but much of her time for 42 years before her retirement was spent driving to the Mayo Clinic to work in the cardiac intensive care unit.

With two sons a daily part of the operation, the Schaefer family has started the process to make and implement a formal, multi-year transition plan.

“It’s a living plan,” Mark said. “It’ll go on for a few years, but we need to start. … It’s good for the boys that they know everybody’s expectations.”

Mark said he jokes that, as the next generation lifts some of his responsibilities, he will finally have his “college experience.”

“(I) told my sons, ‘You guys had the college experience,’” Mark said. “I’m going to have mine (at) some point, and it’s getting closer to happening.”

He said working together with his sons is rewarding yet has challenges.

“Through that whole thing, you lose some individuality,” Mark said. “You’re part of a bigger thing, … but you don’t have 100% say anymore.”

The change of management is the biggest aspect of the transition plan to navigate according to Mark.

“Who’s going to take over … the day-to-day operations?” he said.    “It seems like Dad has to be willing to let go. I’m fine. They’ve been here; they know what they’re doing.”

The Schaefer sons are carrying on a tradition of raising hogs that started with their grandpa, Raymond “Buzzy” Schaefer, who raised pigs and first rented their family’s farm in 1958. Today, the family has three pig nurseries and nine finishing sites that raise pigs from wean to finish from about 2,400 sows.

Since the early 2000s, after custom raising dairy heifers for a few years, Mark has also raised Holstein crossbred beef cattle from 250 pounds to finish. His sons raise beef separately.

The family’s crop operation is focused on raising feed for the beef cattle and pigs. They are able to raise about 60% of the corn they need for the animals on 1,800 owned and rented acres.

Over the years, Schaefer said there are several management choices that have been key to the farm’s success. One of these decisions was the switch from farrowing their own piglets to having shares in a sow farm. Originally, the Schaefers had an 800-sow farrowing facility. However, they decided an investment into a cooperative in Illinois was a better business choice with better resale value.

The Schaefers receive piglets every 15 days. Their barns are all-in, all-out. The piglets are about 22 days of age and 12 pounds when they arrive.

Another important farm management decision was hiring an outside firm to do their commodity marketing.

“I’m at heart more of a production person, and that’s been beneficial to us,” Mark said.

The Schaefer family has also worked to implement new technology on their farm.

“We try to keep up on technology to the extent that it will help our bottom line,” Mark said.

For the last three years, they have used drones to do their fungicide and fertilizer application, which is more cost effective than other methods.

“Five years ago, … (I thought), ‘What’s the purpose of a drone on a farm?’” Mark said.

Over the years, there are lots of good memories Mark said he has made during his farming career.

“I always enjoy a big crop,” he said. “I always enjoy a good litter of pigs (or) the first cow that ever milked 100 pounds here. You remember those days.”

Outside the farm, being involved in the community is something Mark prioritizes. This summer, he was named to the Mower County Fair’s Livestock Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Mower County Cattlemen’s Association and Paul is president of the organization. Mark is also active at his local church, is a member of the Knights of Columbus, is a member of the Mower County Pork Producers board and has been part of a barbershop chorus for 15 years.

One of the community roles he especially values is his seat on the township board. Mark is a member of the township board because he said he believes decisions are made by the members of the community who show up.

“You just got to get active just to protect your livelihood,” he said. “You can’t just not show up and think … ‘It’s going to be OK.’”

In Mower County, Mark’s local, three-person township board can make rules limiting agriculture that are stricter than the county itself.

“If it doesn’t go your way and you’re not there, you don’t really (have anybody) else to blame but yourself,” he said.

Looking to the future, though Mark is just beginning a formal transition to his sons, he already is thinking hopefully of a generation or two after them. His young grandchildren’s plethora of farm toys at Grandma and Grandpa’s house betrays a possible early interest in farming.

“If they can make another generation, that’d be great,” Mark said.

Mark said his career has been demanding and he has had to make sacrifices, yet he continues to farm like he always has.

“I just enjoy farming,” he said. “Dad helped me (get started), and if we can keep it going, what could be better?”