Schwartz family to be honored at farming banquet

The Joe Schwartz Sr. family will be one of four families honored at the 32nd annual Farm Recognition Banquet scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Inn in Sikeston Mo.

Schwartz Farms, a corporation owned and operated by members of the Joe Schwartz Sr. family, is in north Scott County and south Cape Girardeau County. The business consists of 350 dairy cows, a feed lot that annually feeds out 900 steers for slaughter, and 2,600 acres of row crops.

Joe Schwartz Sr. started farming in 1951 and feeding out cattle in 1955. He lost money on the first 17 head of cattle he fed out, but made up for that the next year.

Joe and Genevieve Schwartz have four sons, Charles, Joe Jr., Mike and Rick, who from the time they were old enough helped out where they could. As the boys got out of school, they came back to the farm. They bought and started the dairy operation in 1982 with 34 cows. In 1992, they built a new dairy barn and increased the milking herd to 228 cows.

Mike left the farming business in 1988 and went to work for Heartland Industries in Morley, Mo. Rick left the farming business in 1999 and now works for Southeast Fabrication in Cape Girardeau.

Joe Sr. still buys and sells cattle. Joe Jr. and his wife, Yvonne; Charles and his wife, Becky; along with Joe Jr. and Yvonne's son, Eric, manage the farming operation. Yvonne is the bookkeeper for the Schwartz Dairy, while Becky is the bookkeeper for the Schwartz Farms and Spalding Trucking Inc.

Joe Jr. and Yvonne take care of the dairy facilities. Charles oversees the feed lot and row crops. Eric has a degree in animal science from Southeast Missouri State University. Genevieve provides all the moral support she can.

With the help of six full-time employees, Schwartz Farms raises Holstein replacement heifers for its own herd, and grows corn, wheat, milo, soybeans and hay.