Schindler Family Farms
Val and Dolores Schindler married in 1961. They raised their 11 children on the dairy farm east of Red Lake Falls in Gervais Township. They used bucket milkers to milk cows. Their oldest son, Joe Schindler, took over the dairy farm in the fall of 1993 after working in Alaska as a welder for 10 years. He put in a pipeline to replace the bucket milkers. The Schindlers’ youngest son, Carl, joined his brother after he graduated from the University of Minnesota Crookston with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy in 2000. Since then they have operated as Schindler Dairy.
In 2010, Carl married Brenda and bought a neighboring farm where they currently raise their two boys, Isaac and Jacob. As an outlet for poor-quality hay, Carl and Joe started a cow-calf operation at Carl and Brenda’s farm. To allow for more family time, the brothers switched to once-a-day milking. They milk around 130 Holstein cows with a 12-unit flat barn walkthrough at Joe's. They grow alfalfa and corn for silage.
Carl and Joe milk the cows along with all the daily operations of cleaning, feeding, bedding, and raising calves. Isaac and Jacob help their dad and uncle around the farm. They also help their mom raise laying hens for eggs. Brenda runs errands for parts, and assists with AI cattle breeding, calving, cleaning, and record keeping. Between the two farms, everyone helps with growing three vegetable gardens with Brenda and her mother-in-law, Dolores, preserving and canning over 300 quarts of tomato juice and pickles. Everyone also pitches in to help pick chokecherries for syrup.
Carl and Brenda are members of Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Red Lake Falls. Isaac is an altar server and Brenda has volunteered with Vacation Bible School and Eucharistic Ministry. The family is new to 4-H and the Huot Hustlers Club. Isaac and Jacob were in the after-school program last year and attended the Engineer Design Challenge Event in April this year.