The History of Schmig Simmental Ranch

The Schmig Simmental Ranch (SSR) was built by Dennis Schmig of Stockholm, SD, and his wife Joanne. In his early career, he was an AI technician and sold semen for an AI company for twenty-five years and learned the world of genetics and breeding. When he started farming, he bought commercial cattle, mostly Shorthorn, Angus, and Hereford. However, he knew if he was ever going to survive in the beef cattle industry, he would need to sell more pounds of beef and he started breeding in Charolais and Simmental bulls into his operation.

When he got to the first generation of half-blood Simmentals, he converted the operation entirely over to Simmental cattle and joined the American Simmental Association in 1975, ASA Number 7100. The cattle herd now consist of purebred, polled, red and black Simmental cattle. Dennis held his first production bull sale at the ranch in Stockholm, South Dakota in 1984, where it continued until March 2023.

In September 2022, Dennis passed away and his grandson, Gared Moorse, stepped forward to help with the cattle and to keep the operation going. Gared shares a similar passion for the Simmental breed that his grandfather did and values the importance of the already established genetic line. Gared graduated from Lake Area Technical College with a large animal technician degree and following college worked as an AI technician. During Gared’s time in college, he worked with Dennis on the ranch and learned about the business and the genetic line. In March 2023, with the help of Joanne, family, friends, and neighbors we held the final Schmig Simmental Ranch Annual Production Bull Sale in Stockholm, SD.

In September 2023, Gared and his wife, Kira, bought the SSR cattle herd from the Schmig Estate as Joanne had passed away in May of 2023. We see the years of hard work and dedication Dennis and Joanne put into establishing the SSR cattle herd and the relationships they built within the cattle industry. We strive to continue to build the SSR cattle herd the way Dennis did by prioritizing strong genetics to produce strong, reliable cattle.

We are excited and honored to have the opportunity to continue the legacy Dennis & Joanne Schmig built. Please feel free to reach out to us for any questions, inquires, or to share stories of how you knew Dennis and Joanne.

-Gared & Kira Moorse, SSR Cattle