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Brian Schafer
Cattle Farmer

Name: Brian Schafer
Location: Goodhue, Minnesota
Years farming: That all depends on when you start counting. I have lived and worked on our family farm all of my life, but I have been farming full-time since my return from college in the spring of 1997.
My family: My wife, Heather, and I have three children; Ethan is eight, Anika is six, and Alexa is four.
How I came to be a farmer: Simply put, it’s what I have always wanted to do. Growing up on the farm and having the experience of working side by side with my parents and siblings, and grandparents, I developed a great appreciation for everything that farming entails. However, simply having the desire to farm doesn’t make it happen. Our farm had to grow and expand to make it viable for my brother and I to join the family farm. In the mid to late ‘90s, we expanded both our cattle and hog enterprises to allow us to return home upon completion of our college studies.
The best thing about being a farmer: Without question the best thing about being a farmer is the atmosphere that it offers to raise a family. Farming offers a boundless classroom to teach our kids about the importance of family, the value of hard work and responsibility, to be good stewards of the environment, and to appreciate the simple, every day miracles of life.
My personal philosophy on farming: It is difficult to concisely define a simple philosophy on farming. However, I think that one of the main philosophies that must drive any farm is the recognition that farming is a business and must be managed as such. All of the wonderful benefits associated with the farming way of life are accentuated when a farm is profitable. Besides being a source of great pride, being the sixth family generation to farm this land is also a source of immense responsibility -- the responsibility to ensure that the business decisions that I make today preserve the legacy of previous generations and keep our farm profitable and sustainable for the seventh generation.

Beef Production in Minnesota and the United States

• Minnesota ranks seventh nationally in total production of red meat.
• Stearns County has the most cattle of any county in the state of Minnesota.
• In Minnesota, 85 percent of cattle farms have been in the same families for more than 25 years.
• Beef is a nutrient-dense food and is the No. 1 source of protein, vitamin B12 and zinc. Beef is also the No. 3 food source of iron behind fortified cereal and grains.
• Cattle farmers conserve the land by implementing natural resource management practices that include soil tests, brush and weed control programs, grazing management plans, minimum or no-till systems, and range quality and grass utilization monitoring.
• A three-ounce serving of lean beef is an excellent source of protein, supplying more than half the protein most people need each day.
• The protein in beef is a complete, high-quality protein, which means it supplies all of the essential amino acids, or building blocks of protein, the body needs to build, maintain and repair body tissue.

For more information about cattle farming in Minnesota, please visit www.mnbeef.org.

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