About Us
Schiefelbein Farms was started in 1955 by two city kids with a desire to raise the best beef possible and to do it as a family. Frank and Frosty have seen that dream come to fruition as they have watched their boys grow and take part in the farm life. As it stands now Grandma Frosty and Big Frank have sired 9 boys, 32 grand kids and 21 great grand kids. They have also grown the farm to the largest Registered Angus operation in Minnesota and the 37th largest seedstock operation across all breeds. Throughout the expansion Frank and Frosty have kept this a purely family operation. 7 of the 9 brothers work at the farm full time with the 8th still helping on weekends, 4 grandchildren have come back full time with more looking to return after college.
Meet the family
On August 21st 1953, Frank and Frosty said their "I dos" and now 65 years later they are still going strong. Big Frank still does all of the accounting for our feeding program, and also makes time to haul bulls, bid on calves, and cut some hay. Don't let him fool you though, Grandma Frosty stays equally busy taking care of the Schiefelbein cottage, buying presents for all 53 grand and great grandchildren, and going to daily mass.
Frank III (center right) is the first boy and considers himself to be the favorite. At 64 years he manages the steer barn the spray application and can breed a few cows at a pinch. Longevity is evident in the Schiefelbein genome.
Son #2 is Rick (back 2nd from left). You will find Rick day in and day out checking the almost 1000 registered animals on the place. He is also king of getting the best deal for the lowest price. The customers appreciate that he is not in charge of the buy-back program
Brother Bob (middle back) is a jack of all trades master of all. You name it he can do. Primarily, he manages the 2200 acres of crop ground and also acts as Operations Manager. However, he can breed a cow, wire a barn, fix a chopper, and plumb a water line. He is the default call when something goes wrong
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Tom (back left. mustache) would call himself a welder/mechanic. However, that's like calling a prime CAB steak a piece of meat. Tom has designed and built almost every pen, fence and sale arena, often single handedly. He also does dirt work, feeds, and keeps all the equipment running smoothly. Some have said he is the hardest worker, but the other brothers deny it.
Mike (front left) is the only brother who has not made it back to the farm full time. He found his footing the world of trucking and now runs his own trucking business. Don't be alarmed though. He is set up 5 miles from the farm and still comes to the farm on weekends and you'll be sure to hear him on sale day. The perk of having a brother in the trucking business is he is obligated to haul our crops at a discount. Win Win
Now we are on the back end of the Schiefelbein 9 you might think that the younger brothers would rest on the achievements of the old. That is not the case with brother Don. Don currently sits on the Angus Board, The CAB Committee, and NCBA. He still manages to do the book keeping for the entire operation, and provide vision into the future of Schiefelbein Farms.
Tim (middle center) keeps the tradition of hard working Schiefelbeins going. He runs the family buy-back program and the feedlot risk management (so his mood is a good indication of the market). He also heads up the bull sales and works for American Foods Group in the morning. Atop all the laurels of being an expert in the world of feeder calves and bulls, he also is a certified expert bobcat driver. Truly a valuable asset
Now we come to the baby of the original 9, Dan (middle). Dan as the youngest (and Grandma Frosty's favorite) also probably has the most important job of running a seedstock operation. Namely individually matching every animal on the place so genetically and phenotypically our animals can every year rival the best Angus and SimAngus in the country. Breeding season is pretty busy for Dan so we are assuming that "big" smile in the photo is to celebrate its conclusion.
Now we are departing from the original 9 boys and moving into the grandchildren starting with Frank IV. If you guessed he is the son of Frank III you get a gold medal. Frank IV took over the embryo transfer program soon after graduating college. Frank IV is marked by true passion for the cow herd and can usually identify animals without an ear tag. Impressive considering there are approximately 1000 similar options.
Sam (right) is the designated feed man as well as the get out at whatever time and help. Daily he feeds up to 2400 steers as well as 200 cows. His free time is filled with keeping the farm trucks up and running, making sure our equipment is DOT certified, and keeping Big Frank's antique tractor collection up and running. Definitely some major brownie points attached to that last one.
Travis (Right) came back to farm in 2016. He is Tim's second oldest and absolute favorite. The first grand kid return in almost 11 years. He is heading up selling calves on Superior Livestock Auction as well as writing articles for the catalog and flyers, both of which he is excelling at. He is currently engaged to the most beautiful girl and the wedding will August of 2019. Oh yeah, I am also in charge of the website so might as well try to make myself look good.
