A Little History

This might be a little longer of a blog post than I will usually do, but if you’re here looking around I figured your probably looking for some reading material! Here’s some history on our century farm:

The land where the current Schuiteman Feedlot now sits was purchased on June 6, 1878 by Hendrik and Hermina Rensink, who were our great-great grandparents. The farm was then stewarded by Aart and Mina (Rensink) Schuiteman who also purchased the farm next door to ours and expanded their family. From them, our family’s portion was passed to John A. and Henrietta Schuiteman. They built a new home in 1941 and that house is still lived in and well loved to this day. After John retired, his son Arvin was next to farm. He married Wilemina Kaemingk on June 29, 1955 and they made their life on the home place. Arvin was lost too early in life and Wilemina was left with five young children and all the responsibilities of running a farm. Their oldest son Joel, who was 16 at the time, became the man of the family and the rest is history.

Joel continues to run the feedlot with the help of his brother Paul, son-in-law Nathan and full time farm hand Andrew. This hardworking bunch is assisted by many other hardworking people, but it’s just too many to list! The farm wives also assist however and whenever they can. Daily life consists of feeding the cattle, checking cattle and treating any issues that arise, griding hay, hauling manure, fixing in the shop and many other custom farming related jobs. No two days are the same around here!

We like to think that our ancestors would be proud to see how the farm has grown. We now have two monoslope buildings to raise cattle instead of open dirt yards. The farm doesn’t raise hogs anymore, but there are still some chickens running around. Paul’s wife Ashley is always scheming up new ways to get animals on the farm and Henrietta’s china is still used for holidays and special occasions.