Fun Facts
Schmidlin Angus Farm is a family run Registered Angus Operation that has been at the Vernonia area location since 1977. Mike, Susan and Marilyn have maintained a high performance herd specializing in herd sires and replacement heifers for commercial herds.
The farm is located in the Oregon Coast Range and has large fields used for open range foraging. The hay fields grow grass hay that is used for feeding through the winter time. The hay that is made on the farm is used on the farm. We know what our herd is eating because we are the ones that grow the feed.
You may notice that things are slightly askew. You are very perceptive.
This sad sack in the bull pen happens to be the next big project for the farm. This barn will be replaced with a newer model that will have a cement floor for hay storage. The new barn builder has promised the new structure will not lean to the left.
The animals watch when the mower is started up. They know that they will soon be getting a treat. Fresh grass clippings in the spring can bring the whole herd to stand by the fence and salivate.
Later on in the year, overgrown fruits and vegetables are chopped up and fed. They are always devoured with rabid enthusiasm.
Visitors to the farm get roped in to lending a helping hand. Weeding the garden, assisting when resetting fence posts, moving groups of cows from one field to another, or like in this picture; Vivian feeding Samson his bottle when just a couple of weeks old. Samson was born on a neighbor farm and was abandoned by his mother. We adopted him because the owners of his farm were not able to care for him. In the beginning, Samson needed to be fed every couple of hours during both day and night time. Eventually the bottle feedings were only twice a day until weaning time when he was about 6 months old. At one year of age he weighed about 900 lbs. and has been purchased to be a herd sire starting when he is 13 months old.
Meeting the animals up close and personal is one of the best ways to connect with the farm as a family friendly place to visit. This animal lover got the opportunity to scratch #69 Mulberry when he came into the barn for a snack and tempt a mother cow with a handful of hay.
We like Angus too, dad bought 2 heifers one year 1955 I think and we put them in a pasture on the neighboring property and since they had plenty of feed and water we only checked on them every week or so. Well I went to check one afternoon after school and surprise, surprise we had 4 not two.
So round up time to bring them closer, to the barn area so we could keep an eye on the calves.
Round ups are not always an easy deal, and new moms can be cantankerous when you pick up their babies.
Cantankerous critters used to be a common occurrence around here. When we got tired of fixing fences and being chased around pastures, we weeded out those with tempers and breed only good-natured stock. It is an ongoing process for we find issues pop up once and a while.