Schafer Farms Earns National Pork Industry Environmental Steward Honor
Schafer family members balances cattle, pigs and pasture
on the scenic rolling hills of southeastern Minnesota
To read more about Schafer Farms, click here to view the National Hog Farmer magazine article
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Brandon Schafer of Goodhue, Minn., is a sixth generation livestock producer. Together with family members, the Schafers are 2009 National Environmental Steward.
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Brandon Schafer operates the Schafer Farms swine enterprise, farrowing about 1,600 sows and finishing approximately 38,000 pigs per year.
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The Brandon and Monica Schafer family is active in community and school organizations, and also 4-H where their children, (left to right) Maddie, Max, Kenny, and Kendrah, show animals and take part in many other projects.
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Brian Schafer, together with his wife Heather, brother and sister-in-law Brandon and Monica, and parents Lowell and Pat, are the family members of Schafer Farms, a swine, cow-calf herd and the cropping enterprise that earned 2009 National Environmental Steward distinctions.
Media: to arrange an interview with National Environmental Steward, Brandon Schafer of Schafer Farms, contact Amy Brandel at the Minnesota Pork Board office: (507) 345-8814, amy@mnpork.com.
Schafer Farms, Inc., of Goodhue became the 11th Minnesota pork-producing family to earn the distinction of National Pork Industry Environmental Steward.
Schafer Farms family members include Brandon and Monica, Brian and Heather, and their parents, Lowell and Pat. The brothers are the sixth generation of Schafers to raise livestock and crops on this southeastern Minnesota farm and Brandon is quite certain a seventh generation will follow.
The annual award is the industry's highest environmental honor. Judges who represent pork producers and environmental organizations evaluate applicants on their manure management, water and soil conservation practices, odor-control strategies, farm aesthetics, neighbor relations, wildlife habitat promotion, innovative environmental protection ideas, and an essay on the meaning of environmental stewardship.
Brandon and Monica operate the swine enterprise for Schafer Farms, farrowing 1,600 sows and marketing approximately 38,000 pigs per year. His brother and parents manage the cow-calf herd and the crops.
The Schafers’ take a multi-prong approach to environmental stewardship; with their overall goals including the ability pass a viable, healthy livestock and cropping operation to the next generation and to publically show the compatibility between environmental stewardship and swine production.
To protect the rolling hills and karst topography of Goodhue County, the Schafers keep much of their land in pasture for their cattle herd, and with guidance from their Soil and Water Conservation District, the Schafers have installed terraces and maintain retention ponds to minimize erosion.
Manure from the swine operation benefits both the crop and pasture land with the manure application rates matched to the fertilizer needs of the corn and grass acres. To reduce soil compaction and minimize odors, the Schafers typically apply the swine manure nutrients using a drag-line system and to reduce swine barn emissions, they continually plant trees and shrubs around exhaust fans and other key areas.
Water conservation techniques in the swine barns have resulted in a 20 percent reduction in water usage. Among practices Brandon has implemented to achieve these results are swinging waterers and presoaking rooms prior to hot-water cleaning.
To foster good community relations, the Schafers annually host nearly 200 people at the farm's "pignic." This longstanding event typifies the respect this family has for their neighbors and community.
The Schafers will be recognized by their peers at the 2010 National Pork Industry Forum next March in Kansas City, Mo.
The 15-year-old National Pork Industry Environmental Steward award program is sponsored by the Pork Checkoff and National Hog Farmer magazine. The judges select four pork operations. Other recipients were JAC Pork of Hartley, Iowa; Bryant Worley Farms of Princeton, N.C.; and Sensenig Farm of Mohnton, Pa.
