The Schulmeister Family: "We take pride in seeing our own results"

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For the Schulmeister family near Castor, Alberta, farming isn’t a job, it’s a way of life. Stan and Lorie Schulmeister raised their two boys, Warren and Clinton, on the farm. Stan and Lorie took over the family farm, full-time, in 2009.

Now, each member of the family has a part to play in the success of their operation. Stan and Lorie’s oldest son, Warren, has been on the farm full-time for 3 years. And although Clinton studies Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, he still helps on the farm when he can.

The Schulmeisters take pride in seeing their own results. They don’t do things the easy way, they do it the right way. “We keep long rotations, 4 or 5 years,” Stan explained.

Their rotation includes wheat, peas, oats, canola, and flax. Stan said if there were soybeans available within their heat units, they would be interested in growing those too.

Stan further explained his farming philosophy, “If you want to make it long term, you have to look after your soil and keep long rotations.”

Stan and Warren could be classified as much more than farmers. They are scientists, researchers, and innovators.

This year, they are experimenting with nutrition and fertility. Stan is doing his own experiments with Gypsum and molasses.

Stan and Warren are open minded and are always willing to learn. So, before conducting their experiments, they consulted their local DEKALB®Agronomist, Kerran Clements.

Kerran, who is originally from New Zealand, had experience using Gypsum back home, so Stan was happy to learn from him.

They value the agronomic support that the DEKALB® agronomists offers. “It’s nice to have access to the non-sales driven opinion that we get from Kerran,” Warren explained.

Along with the fertility trials, the Schulmeisters do DEKALB® Market Development (MD) trials with Kerran. This year will be their 5th year doing MD trials.

They like to see for themselves how products perform on their land with their fertility program.

As Stan said, “We are willing to be the guinea pigs.” He truly cares about the success of not only his own farm, but neighbouring farms as well. His trials are visited by many near-by farmers every year.

He is happy that his trials give them the opportunity to see how these products are performing near them. Stan is always willing to share advice and experiences to help other farmers.

When it comes to choosing a canola hybrid, their top priorities are yield and harvestability. Stan said DEKALB® 74-44 BL is a “stand-by” for them.

They like its disease package and the yield potential it offers. But they also like DEKALB® 75-65 RR. They straight cut 90% of their canola acres and they say “it doesn’t get much better for a straight cut product than 75-65 RR.”

They choose to straight cut their canola because they believe it saves in operation costs, and think they are gaining seed size and yield. Stan also said they are short man power at harvest and straight cutting reduces that in half.

Although clubroot isn’t currently an issue on their farm, Warren is concerned that it will be soon. “DEKALB® 75-42 CR excites me,” Warren told us.

He liked its early maturity and how fast it was to flower on their farm. “If you are ahead of the game, it might help in the future,” Warren told us.

A lot of hard work and dedication goes into the success of the Schulmiester farm, but as Stan said, “Hard work pays off.”

Check out the results of the Schulmeister’s canola trial and other farm-managed Market Development trials on DEKALB.ca this fall.