History written in Herefords

BUFFALO LAKE — Since 1917, Hereford cattle have roamed the land owned by the Klucas and Schafer families in Sibley and Renville County. Lester “Les” and Kathleen Schafer bought the Klucas family farm in 1962, where they have made raising a family and tending to cattle their primary objective since.

John Schafer, the couple’s only son, found his cattleman calling early on while working the gates on the farm alongside his father from a young age. John was followed by three sisters: Carla, Laurie and Mary.

“Up until one year ago, Dad worked the head gate when we were processing cattle,” John said. “He’s put a lot of years in. … Probably nobody else in the world has spent more years performance testing than what Dad has. I hope to break his record.”

At 99 years young, Les resides at a senior living residence in Hutchinson, not too far from the home farm where he and John now talk business. Schafer Herefords are still thriving, leading the industry in performance breeding since the 1960s.

“What may seem ordinary today was not a common concept back then,” John said. “There were a few other operations around the country who were weighing and testing for performance, but not many.”

The American Hereford Association established the Total Performance Records in the early ’60s. Seeing the benefits, they added yearling weights, birth weights, ultrasound carcass data and, later on, DNA testing, which has been a key technology. Les’ Herefords were among the first enrolled in what is known today as standard practice among purebred seedstock cattle suppliers.

“Meat science had a lot to do with how we conducted our breeding program,” John said. “We started ultrasound carcass testing in 2000. It was fairly expensive, but it told us the meat quality; the cutability; how much lean, fat and marbling there is. The genomic information from DNA testing used today is a much more accurate tool, and the more we do it, the more accurate it gets.”

John graduated with a degree in animal science from the University of Minnesota in 1979, among 14 others in the Schafers’ extended family who also continued their education in the agriculture sector at the university. He said that even in college, meat scientists were exploring various ways to test live animals, and ultrasound was by far the best.

“The problem the industry faced is that you couldn’t kill the cattle just to get their data,” John said. “But marbling has become very important today for palatability (tenderness) of the product.”

Les’ brother, Robert, also a Hereford cattleman, graduated from college and was hired in 1956 to manage Schermerhorn Farms, one of the largest Hereford operations at the time.
Schermerhorn Farms was later purchased by John T. Oxley, who developed it to be one of the most influential seedstock herds in the country, calving over 400 cows a year. Oxley has since passed away. The operation was handed down to his family, who carried his legacy until dispersing the herd in 2003. There are new owners but Robert has stayed connected and continues to help. The connection goes further than family; it has been a crucial component in the Schafers’ breeding program ever since.

“In our business, there are a lot of people who go to a lot of trouble describing their cattle,” Les said. “Those of us who have been around a while know which ones give you the straight information.”

The Schafer men — Les, John and Robert — all know their top bulls by number. Sire OXH Mark Domino 0125 originated from the Schermerhorn-Oxley genetics in 2001. Since then, 0125 sired LJS Mark Domino 0945, bred by Les, who produced many high-selling bulls. The next generation Les bred gave them LJS Mark Domino 1321, the bull that put Schafer Herefords on the map.

“Dale Venhuizen, the owner of Churchill Cattle Company, one of the biggest operations in the country, called and said, ‘Les, what can you tell me about that 1321 bull?’” Les said. “I told him what I thought. … I tried not to stretch it any. When the bull finally got to Montana and he’d had him about two weeks, he called me up and said, ‘Les, that’s way more bull than I ever thought it could be.’ When he saw the EPD (Expected Progeny Difference) information across the board, he couldn’t believe we had concentrated it (DNA) that much.”

EPDs predict the future performance of an animal for a trait relative to its peers. Genomic EPDs are based on genotyping. Breeders use EPDs as a tool to select breeding stock to fit their specific needs.

Churchill Cattle Company bought a 75% interest in 1321, while Schafer Herefords retained 25% interest. LJS Mark Domino 1321 sired top selling bulls for Churchill Cattle Company and many other leading herds. In 2024, a great-grandson of 1321 became the highest-selling Hereford bull in the country that year. He was ranked third in the entire breed and first among first crop sires for the number of calves registered in 2025.. His influence was significant, contributing to Churchill Cattle Company’s record-breaking dispersal last fall.

There were only two things in Les’ lifetime that took him away from the farm. In 1945, he was drafted to serve in the army of occupation in Germany shortly after World War II had ended.

“I took typing in high school,” Les said. “In the army, it was basically men, and there weren’t any typists … I’d say I got a little lucky there.”

For two years, he worked as the company clerk for an engineering company.

“I typed all the trip tickets; … our company had four big trucks that picked up materials and took them to the job site,” Les said. “Our army literally rebuilt the bridges and overpasses on the autobahn that had … been blown up by our troops, and part of them the Germans blew up when they were retreating.”

After his service, Les was given the opportunity through the GI Bill to attend college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He became the first Schafer or Klucas family member to go to college. He worked the highest-paying job on campus, shoveling manure into a drop-down wagon, which he then hauled to the compost pile. The university used horses for a lot of different things on campus, Les said, so he had work year-round.

“You didn’t need to be very smart,” Les said. “But you had to have a pretty good back.”

Tending to the university’s livestock reminded him of life on the farm. One summer, Les worked an extra job as a herdsman for the Meline brothers, out of Red Wing, who had a purebred Hereford cattle operation. They showed at multiple state and county fairs throughout Wisconsin, South Dakota and Minnesota.

“If you think that isn’t work, … they didn’t have blowers and clippers like they do today,” Les said. “You had to work the hair and get it to lay just right. Burt Meline and I rode in the railroad car with the cattle, … 19 Herefords ranging from 6 months to a year old and three nurse cows. We had a small corner where you could lie down and sleep.”

Les still remembers a competition where they bested High Pointe Farm, a big-time Hereford operation from Michigan.

“We had a yearling heifer that we showed in the show string,” Les said. “Our heifer beat High Pointe’s $10,000 heifer. I remember he (the owner) was as mad as all get out about that.”

History written in Herefords was in the making, and it all started with John Klucas and his brother-in-law, who traveled to Garner, Iowa, where they each purchased four registered Hereford heifers.

“Herefords were the most popular breed of beef cattle at that time,” Les said. “In 1917, you just didn’t hop in the truck with a trailer and go pick them up. They had to be delivered by rail car. … A few people had cars at that time, but not many.”

In 1919, Les’ ancestors moved to Buffalo Lake. John said he was told that his great-great-grandfather (John D.) was the first to bring Angus cattle to Renville County. Les’ father, Henry, the oldest of nine, married Frances in 1925. Overcoming tuberculosis in 1933, a time before antibiotics, Henry suffered a ruptured appendix that killed him shortly after. This left Frances with no other option but to move back to her parents’ farm with her two sons, Les and Robert, where her brother, Emmett, also lived. The Schafer and Klucas families farmed the land and raised livestock on the two home farms.

When Les was drafted, it stretched the family thin, although his time spent in the service played a crucial role in shaping his life going forward. In 1951, he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in animal husbandry and returned home to the farm. In 1954 he married Kathleen and started a family.

A life dedicated to cattle has left the Schafer name sprinkled throughout countless livestock committees, councils, organizations, associations and other programs throughout the years. Les and Robert have both been inducted into the Minnesota Hereford Breeders Hall of Fame and the American Hereford Hall of Fame. The siblings stand alone as the only two brothers to each make it with their own operations into the Minnesota Livestock Hall of Fame.

Les’ 75th and final crop before moving off the farm was in 2025. Today, John runs the farm and manages the herd primarily on his own. The farm has about 50 head of purebred Herefords, which, at the peak, was closer to 100 head of cattle. John spends his days working cattle, feeding cattle, hauling manure, fixing fences and planting crops.

“I generate a lot of data (EPDs) for each individual animal because buyers evaluate that to help them decide what they should buy based on their needs,” John said.

It has become important to have cattle to be optimal for traits, meaning they do not need to be any bigger, but John said when it comes to marbling, the more the better, and the sky is the limit.

Cattle themselves have changed considerably as well, John said. In the 1960s, finishing steers weighed 900 to 1,000 pounds. Today, muscle mass has improved, and they are much leaner and weigh closer to 1,400 pounds. John said he has plans to breed another top sire before he thinks more seriously about a semi-retirement for himself.

“This is my bread and butter,” John said. “This is where we make our mark on the world. When I think of where all this selection information has come in my lifetime, I can hardly think of what it might be in another 25 or 50 years.”