Schmidt Farms is a registered and commercial Brangus operation located in Northeast Texas. Our emphasis is on raising good functional Brangus cattle. We strongly believe that cattle raised in our part of the country (by that we mean south of Interstate 70, and definitely south of Interstate 40) need some “EAR” to maximize their potential. Some other American breeds work well in the South, but with Brangus cattle you don't have to give up carcass quality and consistency.

We tried Angus bulls on our crossbred cattle, but our spring born calves quit growing in July and didn't start back until late October. In addition, the Angus crossed heifers did not perform well for us as replacements because they could not tolerate the heat and the environment. They spent more time cooling in the lakes than they did eating grass. We must have cattle that can thrive in this environment. Brangus cattle have been the answer for our operation. We have to convert grass to beef protein 365 days a year to stay in business.

Our experience has been that our Brangus steers can go north or south and perform well in the feedyard. They will gain 3 pounds a day and grade greater than 60% choice. Our heifers will usually bring more money at weaning time than their steer mates and a bred Brangus heifer is “BLACK GOLD”

Our ranch has the capacity to run 1000 cow/calf pairs under ideal conditions. We currently are running at 80% capacity thanks to 2 consecutive years of drought. The registered herd makes up about 25% of our total herd. For the most part we have been raising and using our own bulls for the commercial herd, and we raise and retain our heifers as replacements.

Our registered Brangus herd sires have been purchased from some of the leading Brangus Ranches in the United States including Camp Cooley, Mound Creek, Suhn Cattle Company and Miller Brangus. Our emphasis has been on building a GREAT momma cow and all of our bulls were purchased with that in mind. We strongly believe that the true contribution to the beef industry from the Brangus breed is the COW . You have to have a fertile cow that can adapt to your environment, breed back on time, and wean a good calf to be successful. On the flip side of that is you cannot get a BRANGUS cow unless you use registered BRANGUS bulls.

We use artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) in our program to advance the genetics we think work well for us. In our ET program we try to emphasize the best genetics in the herd. Cows that have proven themselves to us by excelling in our environment graduate into the Donor/ET program. The donor females are expected to flush and then breed back and fall back into production with a natural calf the next calving season. We use our own commercial cows for recipients and most are cows that have been born here on the ranch. For the last 6 years we have used Harley Schneider PhD for all of our embryo work and have been throughly pleased with the overall success rate of the program, with conception rates that approach 70% overall over that time period.

Randy Schmidt is a surgeon and practices general and vascular surgery with Surgery Associates of Texarkana. His passion is the land and the cattle, and he understands that for the operation to be successful you had better be raising most of what those cows eat on your own place. He loves to talk cattle and realizes the best cattlemen are great grass growers who know how to utilize summer and winter grasses as well as clovers and legumes.

Richard Norris is the general manager of Schmidt Farms and runs all the day to day operations. He is responsible for all the cattle, all the equipment and all the facilities. He either does or oversees all the AI and ET work, does all the haying and fixes most if the equipment. His background is in the dairy business so he understands nutrition and milking ability very well. If you come on HIS place he can tell you about every cow on it.

SCHMIDT FARMS is located 30 miles west of Texarkana, TX. We love to have visitors and show them what we are trying to accomplish. We will have registered Brangus bulls and females available to sell private treaty year round. If you are interested give Randy or Richard a call.