The Farming Families of Minnehaha County- September 2020

September 2020 | www.AgeMedia.pub

of Minnehaha County

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

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Story on page 26.

September 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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ADVERTISING SALES Garrett Gross, AGE Media (515) 231-9367 garrett@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural southeastern South Dakota. All rights reserved. Content in this magazine should not be copied in any way without the written permission of the publisher. The Farming Families assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Content in articles, editorial and advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by The Farming Families and Age Media & Promotion.

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FROM THE EDITOR

PERSEVERANCE INGRAINED IN THE FARMER’S SOUL

By Bob Fitch

“A resilient stalk of corn defied the odds this summer, sprouting from the concrete and asphalt of 57th Street near Minnesota Avenue. And it's quickly become not only a symbol of hope in the chaos that is 2020, but also a Sioux Falls landmark.” So wrote reporter Makenzie Huber in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on Aug. 17th.

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Maintaining hope and defying the odds is what we all hope to do in 2020.

Production agriculture has been through a lot this year and, unfortunately, it’s hard to know when today’s rough road might become a little smoother.

But years of facing the twin storms of uncertain markets and uncertain weather has ingrained perseverance into the soul of Midwestern farmers. Like a corn stalk that grows in the inhospitable environment of one of Sioux Falls’ busiest intersections, farmers are the very definition of the word perseverance: •

“Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition: the action or condition or an instance of persevering: steadfastness.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

• “Continuing in a course of action without regard to discouragement, opposition or previous failure.”

(Wiktionary) •

“Continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory; sometimes called final perseverance, and the perseverance of the saints.”

(Webster’s Dictionary, 3rd definition)

Finally, consider these words as we face the final months of the year 2020: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-4 NIV

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September 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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HUTCHINSON COUNTY FAMILY

DYNAMIC DUO FINDS WAYS TO SMOOTH LIFE’S ROUGH ROAD

By Bob Fitch

Lynell and Pauline Hofer have enjoyed a lifetime of cattle, corn, coaching, teaching and board service. But the ideal day now for the Freeman area couple might involve a visit to the zoo followed by an evening picking peaches with their grandchildren.

“We had the grandkids over two days ago and we picked two pails of peaches from the one tree.

They’ve got a new peach variety called ‘Contender’ that’s hardy in our part of the world,” said Lynell, who has planted 60 acres of various trees over the years, 100 of which are fruit trees producing apples, cherries, pears and plums.

While frost hurt the apple crop this year, “The peach trees are loaded. In fact, I had to brace them up because the branches started breaking from the weight.

“I got into fruit trees five or 10 years after we got married. Then when the grandkids came along, they love planting fruit trees and picking apples and cherries. It’s definitely a family outing,” he said.

Lynell and Pauline Hofer with one of the peach trees in their orchard.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

Their son, Kerry, farms with them.

He and his wife, Lori, live just across the road with their four children, Cadence, Reeslyn, Jamison and Kendric. Lynell and Pauline’s daughter, Britt, is a pharmacist in Chandler, Ariz., where she lives

with her husband, Orlando Franklin, and their children, Kaleb and Kyler.

Cousins Jamison and Kaleb are both 7; and Kendric and Kyler are both 4. Pauline said, “Needless to say, when those cousins get together, they have a good time. What one doesn’t think of, the other does. When they were younger, I overheard Jamison and Kaleb having a bragging contest. Kaleb bragged: ‘My dad can lift CORN.’ What that meant, nobody knew. Well, Jamison thought for a moment and he said: ‘My dad can lift the WHOLE FIELD.’ They had no idea I heard,” she laughed.

“The best times are those we spend with the kids and grandkids,” Lynell said.

“Grandkids are a good reason to wake up every morning. I just wish we could spend more time with the ones in Arizona.”

Pauline and Lynell Hofer; their daughter Britt Franklin (right rear) holding her son Kyler; and, grandchildren Kendric, Jamison, Cadence, and Reeslyn Hofer; and grandson Kaleb Franklin (front and center).

Of course, playing with the grandchildren and tending the fruit trees doesn’t pay the bills. Lynell is a long-time cattleman, running a cow-calf operation with his son, Kerry, along with producing corn and soybeans. They raise the calves to about 900 pounds and sell them around April 1st each year. “We don’t want to finish them off, because that’s the time of the year when we’re busiest – planting is going on – plus we’d be bidding against somebody in Kansas who’s got 5,000 or 10,000 on the lot.” The cow-calf pairs are run both on pasture and in a dry lot.

operation’s success. “Pauline’s been a very intricate part of our operation. We have a lot of people who work for us or with us, and we always felt that if someone’s going to work with us, they should eat with us. She’s cooked for everyone.

Ageknow Media Qtrpeople Page Color 7-12-19.pdf 7/12/2019 You get to better 1that way11:22:43 and AM you probably get more work out of them, too. It’s a good experience.”

The operation has employed high schoolers for many years.

“I like to hire kids when they’re about a sophomore in high school and keep them for three years,” Lynell said. “The first year is kind of a learning year and then they work for another two years after that.

“I keep in touch with the young people pretty well. It keeps you young at heart. A lot of them, we’ve hired are from our church. I’ve been told it’s kind of the prize job if you get hired by us. I pay them good, but they also have to listen to my critique of their life. We work on that a little bit. I like to prepare them to go out to the workplace and get a good job.”

Lynell described their hired man, Adam Lee, as a second son.

“I hired him when he was a sophomore in high school. After high school, he went to school for diesel mechanics, came back and worked for Fred Haar for five years. Then, as we were getting older and not getting more active, I went to him and asked him if he’d like to come work with us again, and he said yes. I knew I made the right decision in hiring him. After one week, I came in and told my wife ‘He can fix anything I can break. We’ve got to keep him around.’”

He praised his wife for the vital role she’s played in their September 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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The couple both attended the University of South Dakota and graduated with degrees in education. Lynell put his degree on the shelf and came back to the farm where he grew up. But Pauline taught country school for five years before stepping down to raise their own children.

Pauline said, “I’ve always loved kids and I loved teaching. I taught at the last one-room school in the Freeman district. Having gone to one, I knew what to expect.

Otherwise, it would have been quite traumatic. You have five, six grades of reading and math – it’s a lot of work correcting stuff.” She said the best part of the year at Hillside country school was the Christmas programs. “Those kids thought they were on Broadway.”

Lynell agreed. “People would come from everywhere to watch them

because it was the last country school Christmas program. And she had three guys who were kind of characters who played Santa and the elves. It made for a pretty good night.” Steve Graber, who was 6-feet-4-inches tall and had red hair, was the regular Santa Claus.

“Mary Wollmann was our teacher.

When she knew it was going to be 30 below, she’d just have us huddle around the stove in the middle of the room; we found ways to entertain ourself while staying warm, and we called it school for the day.”

Both Pauline and Lynell attended country school themselves growing up before going to Freeman Academy for high school. He said, “I had five different teachers my first year because it was the beginning of the Korean War and the teachers kept getting drafted or called in. So it was pretty traumatic for a little first grader, but we survived. You could learn a lot more in a country school because you could listen to the classes above.

Lynell remembered that recess at country school always involved a game of baseball or softball. Even though he still bears a scar over his eye where he took a baseball bat to the head one day at recess, his love for a good ball game has never diminished. He coached the Freeman Blues men’s fastpitch softball team for 20 years and even brought home the state championship one year.

“All those country schools had windows on the north side – worst idea you could have,” he said.

Pauline coached girls softball in the Freeman summer recreation program for 17 years and coached volleyball for two years. Son Kerry

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and daughter-in-law Lori carry on the tradition by coaching girls softball. Kerry was part of four state championship football teams at Freeman High School. Daughter Britt was a pretty good player on the volleyball, basketball and softball teams.

“We had a lot of good times. We got to know the parents of the other kids on the team really well.

We’d sit together and got to be good friends that way,” Lynell said. “Whether our grandkids are involved or not, we still go to all the sporting events we can at Freeman Public.”

Also off the farm, Lynell took part in a lot of community service. “I was very involved with various boards. I enjoyed it. You learn more than you contribute a lot of times.

“I started with the township board, then the co-op board and, for 31 years, I was on the Southeastern Electric board. I was on the school board for 12 years, plus have been on church boards. The church boards can be tough – because every person knows God’s on their side. But the school board was probably the toughest. Everybody’s got kids and everybody thinks their kids are probably not treated

Pauline Hofer taught at Highland country school for five years when the couple was first married. Highland was the last country school in the Freeman district. The school is pictured here in May 1971.

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as fairly as they should be. I always thought there’s just one thing to remember – do what’s best for the kids. I tried to live by that.”

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Tough board work was matched with tough times on the farm now and again. Lynell said, “In the early 1980s, it was dry for about five years in a row. I decided it was not going to work here where the soil is a little bit lighter. So I hired a guy from Milbank to come down and do some ‘witching’ for water for me. We hit three very good wells. So I learned everything there was to know about irrigation and how to run the systems. You love the irrigation when it’s dry and you hate it when you have to work on the system.

“I was the first guy in the community who irrigated from a well. There was a lot of question about whether it was going to work or not, but it never affected anybody’s wells. That was almost 40 years ago and we still haven’t dropped the water level. The ‘80s were tough. I spent a lot of money on irrigation and paid 18-21 percent interest. But it paid off.”

Kerry said both his dad and grandfather were ahead of their time in staying connected with the world while out in the field. His grandpa was a ham radio operator and would even take the radio with him while doing tillage work and talk to people from all over the country and the world.

Kerry said, “I remember you had a little TV on the tractor.

You were ahead of the iPad generation.” Lynell said, “You could get channel 11, although there was a little snowstorm involved in the reception. But, yeah, we were watching TV while we were working. I kind of think outside of the box sometimes.”

Diabetes and arthritis limit Lynell’s mobility somewhat, but they don’t limit his upbeat attitude. He said life on the farm is good because he has “a great wife, a great son, good people who work with me, and fantastic grandchildren.”

Pauline said, “We both need each other. I help him with his scooter and he drives because I have glaucoma really bad.

We’re a dynamic duo!”

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Pauline laughed about how they thrive as a couple. “How do we get along together? We get along really well because we both have our own DirectTV receiver. We never watch the same thing.” Lynell said, “She’s a Yankee fan and I’m a Dodger fan. So that’s the issue right there. In fact, they were in the World Series together many years ago and she went out to listen to the game on the car radio so she wouldn’t have to watch it with me.” She agreed: “Yeah, I listened to the game while I was road hunting pheasants.”

Lynell said, “It isn’t always a smooth road,” but, Pauline said, “We find ways to make it smoother.” Reliance on a good, close-knit family; good friends; and a good church (Bethany Mennonite) help the dynamic duo navigate life’s road.

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KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

TELLING THE STORIES TO MAKE HISTORY COME ALIVE

By Bob Fitch

A museum is generally defined as a collection of objects … objects which might include art or artifacts or baseball cards or musical instruments or automobiles … the possibilities are endless. But collections of objects don’t become truly enlightening or educational until the stories behind those objects are told. “When the stories are paired with the artifacts, that’s when the objects come alive and then that’s gold. Unless we are doing a darn good job telling those stories, the history isn’t really preserved,” said Marnette Hofer, executive director at Heritage Hall Museum in Freeman.

Over the past five years she’s been connected with the museum, Hofer’s focus has been on uncovering, preserving and sharing these stories before the tales are lost in history.

The Heritage Hall Museum & Archives tells the story of Germans-from-Russia immigrants – as well as Norwegians, Danes and others – who settled in Dakota Territory in the 1870s.

Lured by the Homestead Act of 1862, settlers with Lutheran, Reformed, Hutterite, Amish and Mennonite backgrounds all brought with them their religious traditions, strong work ethic, and determination to survive the hardships of life on the prairie. “There is a lot of that story we striving to tell even better. Our curators, Terry Quam and S. Roy Kaufman, have been doing a good job gathering those stories and creating explanatory labels to provide a better museum experience for our guests,” she said.

“This is the only the place in the world where you had three Anabaptist groups – the Low German Mennonites, Swiss Amish and Hutterites – settle together in one community,” Hofer said.

Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in the 1500s.

The early Anabaptists formulated their beliefs in the Schleitheim Confession, in 1527. Anabaptists believe that baptism is valid only when candidates confess their faith in Christ and want to be baptized. This

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Marnett Hofer, executive director of Heritage Hall in Freeman.

believer's baptism is opposed to baptism of infants, who are not able to make a conscious decision to be baptized.

Anabaptists were heavily and long persecuted starting in the 16th century by both Magisterial Protestants and Roman Catholics.* Related to this religious history, perhaps Heritage Hall’s most valuable antiquity is a Rechenschaft, a rare hand-written manuscript of an important confession of faith originally written by Peter Riedemann (15051556). Rechenschaft was written on behalf of the Hutterite community of which Riedemann was a leader and pastor. Written while imprisoned for his faith, Riedemann’s writings explain Hutterite beliefs about the Apostle’s Creed and also address beliefs and practices unique to the Hutterite community. The manuscript is believed to have been copied and bound around 1770.

There are only two known copies of the Rechenschaft in the world – one is in a primatial library in Hungary and the other is in Heritage Hall in Freeman.

Other parts of the museum’s collection are perhaps not so auspicious, but, nonetheless, showcase important objects and experiences of the immigrants who settled in the area.

There is a pristine wedding dress worn by a German bride when she was married in Russia in 1826. On the other end of the spectrum, there are Native American arrowheads, German sausage grinders, tractors and trucks and implements, printing presses, silent movie projectors, a full-fledged blacksmith shop, an outhouse, a reproduction of a general mercantile store, and batsa bricks. Early homes built by the Germans-from-Russia were sometimes built with the 5x10-inch sun-dried batsa bricks. In addition to prairie clay and dirt, “If you look closely at the bricks, you can see that they used whatever – hay or straw or cow manure – it all went in there,” Hofer said.

The museum includes a complete “summer kitchen” built in 1910. Structures such as this one ranged all the way from crude utility shacks for canning, washing and butchering to rather refined rooms in which people did their cooking, eating and even much of their lives during the summer months.

One of Hofer’s innovations at the 2018 and 2019 Schmeckfest was the introduction of “Heritage Pickers” – a takeoff on the stories about antiques told on the show “American Pickers” on The History Channel. She invited local people who knew the stories behind particular artifacts and asked them to give 10-minute presentations. “I had no idea it would be as popular as it proved to be. There would be 30 or 40 people gathered around one of the speakers.”

A casket proved to have chilling tale behind it. During the wake or visitation period, bodies would lie in the open “cold air casket,” secretly packed in ice to temporarily preserve the body. Holes in the bottom of the caskets allowed the melting water to drip through. “Some of the old-timers remembered being in a room with one of these caskets and hearing the tap, tap, tap of the melting ice – and thinking it was the blood of their grandfather dripping out of the body.

It was traumatizing to them as a child. Through this Heritage Pickers program, we’ve discovered things like that we never knew.”

The museum started more than 100 years as a simple collection for local students. According to the 1912 Freeman College catalog, a friend of the college began a “Museum of Geology and Minerology” at the school in the winter of 1911-12. Described as “a helpful collection of specimens,” this small assortment was the genesis of an extensive and varied collection.

Growth at the college in the mid-1920s allowed the museum to include not only rocks and fossils, but also Native

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American artifacts and various items used by pioneers in the earliest days of white settlement. By the 1950s, it was an eclectic conglomeration of items – plows, copper kettles, wooden rakes, cabbage cutters, mud bricks, oxen yokes, a street lamp and much more. “You go through the list and discover just about everything that a community uses found its way here to our collection,” she said.

Heritage Hall includes a large taxidermy collection of wildlife that is found – or used to be found – in the Hutchinson County area.

Flash forward to 1975 and the museum finally had a home of its own just south of the Freeman Junior College & Academy campus. Dr. Ralph Kauffmann, a retired psychology professor who grew up on a local farm, essentially served as the museum’s first director and curator when the newlychristened Heritage Hall opened in 1975. He brought a degree of organization and professionalism to the museum and was largely responsible for the character of the museum as a repository of community artifacts.

Additional construction in 1998 almost doubled the floor space available. Heritage Hall also includes an archival library which preserves more than 10,000 books, maps, periodicals, documents and photos pertaining to local history.

Take a step back 80-100 years to an example of a local general mercantile shop.

One large room at Heritage Hall is devoted to a display of trucks, implements, motorcycles, and machinery such as this 1933 IHC F-12 Farmall tractor.

Outside of Heritage Hall, several historic buildings have been moved to the museum complex to help add a greater depth of understanding about the early years of the greater Freeman community. The Diamond Valley Country School served students from 1896-1969. The Johannesthal Reformed Church held services from 1902-1967. The Bethel Mennonite Church was in use from 1920-1992. Finally, the Ludwig Deckert pioneer home was built in 1879 west of Marion and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hofer said, “That is a very architecturally important structure because it’s very typical of the homes of Germans-from-Russia. The house has been a focus for us again lately because we had to move it to a new foundation. The Russian oven in the center of the building was very heavy and was sinking.

“Around the same time, we had a local farmer who offered to donate a relatively untouched barn to the museum. So our plan is to have a (non-working) farmstead-type site on the east side of the museum. The farming community is what built this region and so many of those small farms are gone.

Nobody does that anymore where they have a few ducks, a few geese, a few cows … we want to preserve a snapshot for folks,” she said.

Heritage Hall Museum & Archives relies heavily on volunteers and is funded solely by admission fees, memberships and the generous donations of supporters.

Because of Covid, the museum is currently only open on weekdays from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, visit www.heritagehallmuseum.com. *Anabaptist information source: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptism

Early homes built by the Germans-from-Russia were sometimes built with the 5x10-inch sun-dried batsa bricks. In addition to prairie clay and dirt, the makeup of the bricks might include hay, straw, or cow manure.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

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TURNER COUNTY FAMILY

HIS FAVORITE THING: TALKING ABOUT CATTLE

By Bob Fitch

The Anderson family: Mike, Will Sam, Joan and Greg.

What does a devoted Turner County cattle feeder do for relaxation? If you’re Greg Anderson, you drive out to your west river land to look at the stock cows.

Greg and Joan Anderson, along with their son, Mike, farm west of Turkey Ridge and southeast of Freeman. In addition to raising corn and soybeans, they feed cattle. After selling some of their local pasture to Mike to break for cropland seven or eight years ago, they purchased a pasture out at Burke. Joan said, “Our Sunday thing is to go out to Burke and check on our cows out there.” Greg said, “See, don’t we live an exciting life?”

He continued, “We had people who asked us ‘What in the world were you thinking buying land out there? It’s so dry.’

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

Greg and Joan Anderson.

But in the last few years, they’ve been wetter out there than we’ve been here. The grass has been unbelievable.”

Joan agreed, “It seems every year we go out there we say the grass is better this year than it’s ever been. I’m sure one day it will turn around and be dry again.” Burke is in Gregory County, about 120 miles west of where the Andersons live.

Greg said, “It was a dream of mine to own a little bit of history, the old west. This pasture is a full section. You can drive around it and you can see all over. It’s so pretty.”

Raising cows, feeding cattle, and talking about cattle is what Greg likes to do. “I really like to surround myself with people who enjoy cattle. My father-in-law fed a lot of cattle. He shared a lot of good information with me. We used to go to the sales together and buy cattle,” he said. In fact, Joan said, “When we were dating, I asked him ‘Do you really want to date me or do you really like my dad?’ He liked to spend a lot of time talking cattle with my dad.” Her parents were Herb and Myrna Huber. Joan works at Cor Trust Bank in Freeman where she coordinates the Cor Club tours for seniors.

Greg recognizes that talking about cattle is not the same thing as making money on them. “Normally, I hedge everything. But earlier this year, I said ‘Let’s hold them. The prices are still going up.’ Of course, then everything crashed and we didn’t get locked in. But we haven’t sold anything yet.

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Mike, Will and Sam Anderson.

“You can make it, but you better listen to your banker. There have been some tough years where our banker told me I wasn’t making any money feeding cattle. I’ve got a super good relationship with my banker, so he allows me to feed cattle,” he laughed.

He said there have been a lot of changes on their farm since he was young. “When I was a kid, half our crop was oats. We fed some of the

oats to the hogs, sold the rest, and baled the straw.

years. That was pretty lucrative.

That was pretty good money.”

"In the early 1980s, that’s when soybeans came in. We were one of the last ones to plant beans.”

Their son, Mike, worked off the farm in medical laboratory science for eight years after college before he came back to farm full-time in 2014. “I was going to go to medical school, but farming was too much for me – I couldn’t give it up. I sold my pickup my sophomore year in college so I had the money to buy nine cows at Stockmen’s Livestock.”

Greg started farming with his parents, Lawrence and Sharon Anderson, right out of high school in 1977. In addition to the cattle and crops, “We did farrow sows for many years. We quit that in 1995.

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Coming back to the farm in 2014 probably wasn’t the best timing, Mike said. “Since I started farming, I’ve seen the worst drought in history, the worst flood in history, the highest corn in history, and now a big drop in corn prices. But, all in all, it’s worth it. You can’t take the farm out of the farm kid.” Greg said, “Last year was probably the worst calving conditions we’ve ever seen. This spring, it was probably one of the best calving springs we’ve ever had.”

Mike expects times to get better and said the Anderson family will continue to focus on honesty, a good work ethic, and respect for their neighbors and business partners. Mike's brother, Matthew, lives in Kansas City, where he is the assistant superintendent for the Kansas City School District. While he left the farm, “He sure took a lot of those values and that work ethic with him,” Joan said.

Mike’s sons, Sam and Will, represent the sixth generation of the family to farm in Turner County.

Greg’s great grandfather started the farm. His dad retired 20 years ago, but still lives on the farm and at 84 years old is still doing well.

“Dad’s best advice was always ‘Be patient.’ You know, a young farmer,

you’re always in a hurry. The best thing is to be patient and things will come about. But, as a young person, it’s got to happen now – I can’t wait.

“For the small towns around, livestock is very, very big. For the area, I sure hope we can maintain the livestock,” he said. Joan added, “You could pay crop farmers more for their commodities if there were more livestock in the area.”

Greg said his favorite time of the year is when they’re cutting silage.

“It’s just a fun time of the year. But the biggest thing is trying to find someone to drive trucks.” Joan said, “You get what you pay for when you hire someone to drive truck,” noting with a chuckle that she laid one their trucks over on its side one time when she was driving.

Off the farm, Greg has been on the township board for close to 30 years and Joan has been the township clerk for many years. He used to be involved on the Turner County Pork Producers board of directors. He also used to help Joan waiting tables at Freeman’s Schmeckfest. But, Joan said, “Greg spent more time talking to people than he did waiting tables.”

In addition, they and Ken and Lynn Wintersteen and others were very involved in a group called Hope for Cattlemen. It was formed after the Atlas blizzard which devastated western South Dakota in early October 2013. The National Weather Service said the blizzard’s most staggering toll was livestock losses. Cattle were still in summer pastures far from shelters. After being soaked by rain, then chilled by the snow and wind, the cattle drifted for miles and many suffered heart failure or wandered off embankments into creeks and drowned, or suffocated in snowdrifts. Hope for Cattleman helped collect money, hay and feed, and replacement cattle to help ranchers restock their herds.

Finally, the Andersons are longtime members of St. Boniface Idylwilde Catholic Church, a 133-year-old rural congregation they can see from their house.

“You have to have trust and faith in God. Here we borrow so many thousands of dollars to put a crop in and feed this livestock, if you don’t have that faith, what are you doing? Somebody bigger and better than me is watching over us,” Greg said.

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25

MINNEHAHA COUNTY FAMILY

TACKLING AG’S CHALLENGES ON AND OFF THE FARM

by Bob Fitch

On and off the farm, Greg and Julie Hammer see the challenges small farmers face today.

Greg’s great grandfather was a Norwegian immigrant who homesteaded the land between Baltic and Garretson in 1873. In addition to growing corn, soybeans and alfalfa, Hammers have a cow-calf operation and raise some seedstock bulls to sell.

Julie is the executive administrative assistant for the Sioux Empire Fair. She joined the fair about 10 years ago after having worked at CitiBank for 13 years. Between her time at CitiBank and the Sioux Empire Fair, she was back helping on her family’s farm (which was about a mile away as the crow flies), assisting her dad with calving and harvest.

Her parents, Dale and Judy Thompson, are now retired after 40 years of farming.

They raised corn, soybeans and alfalfa; plus farrowed sows year-round and had 50 cowcalf pairs.

Greg took over the Hammer farm from his late father, Jerry, and his mom, Jean, who now lives in Dell Rapids. Greg also works off the farm for Bakker Consulting of Rock Valley, Iowa. The nutrition and consulting company strives to enhance profitability for livestock producers as well as agribusinesses through customized livestock and plant nutrition and management.

Greg specifically works in swine, beef and agronomy consulting in eastern South Dakota as well as Lyon and Sioux Counties in Iowa.

Julie and Greg Hammer with their dog Whiskey.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

Greg said, “It’s getting harder for the small guy. But, working in the nutrition business, I have learned that, even if you’re a small guy, you can compete. If a couple smaller guys band together to boost their buying power and their marketing power, they can compete. But, like everything else, it seems like you have to get bigger.”

He’s fearful for the future of many pork producers with the brutal cash market right now. “The Covid thing is really hampering the true family farmer. Right now, it’s no fun for just about everybody,” he said.

At the height of the Covid crisis when Tyson and Smithfield plants in the region were shut down, Greg saw local hogs being shipped to small processors as far away as New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Idaho, Texas and Montana. “People elsewhere in this country don’t normally have access to good pork. Hogs were going everywhere. When the hamburger in the grocery store was $8 a pound and pork was high too, that’s when neighbors were getting together and butchering three to five pigs.”

The Covid crisis also impacted the Sioux Empire Fair. Unlike a number of county, regional and state fairs, the Sioux Falls-based fair still went forward. “It wasn’t a barn-burner, but it was definitely worth having,” Julie said. “We gave those people who wanted to be at the fair that opportunity. The people who were there wanted to be there.”

Outside of working for the fair and on the farm, Julie has volunteered for 16 years at the Sioux Empire Livestock Show which is held at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls in January. She’s also on the Minnehaha Funeral Home Board of Directors and the Southeast South Dakota Tourism Association Board. In addition, she’s on the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Council. The couple has also volunteered for The Banquet when it’s been sponsored by the Farmers Feeding Families organization.

While Covid altered the achievement competition schedule this year, she said 4-H is still going strong at the Sioux Empire Fair. In Minnehaha County, 4-H is close to reaching the 700-member mark. “There are a lot more projects that aren’t livestock-related. The 4-H robotics program has become really big,” she said. Greg said shooting sports as a 4-H project is also getting big all over the state.

Greg was a local 4-H leader for 25 years and continues to help out, especially at fair time. He said, “4-H teaches responsibility, especially tending the livestock. There are responsibilities with the chores.” He’s proud that a vast

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He said Bakker Consulting and Ralco Feed take the approach of “doing what’s best for the farmers. We put our best foot forward to provide the most economical, quality feed product we can.”

He brings hands-on livestock experience to his work at Bakker.

Along with the cattle herd they run today, they raised pigs and milked cows on the Hammer farm in his younger days.

Greg went to Mitchell Technical College for two years before transferring to South Dakota State University. He left SDSU to go to work for Farmers Hybrid Hogs. “I wish now I had finished school, but the job was too good to pass up.” Later he joined the John Morrell Co. as a hog buyer and later was a facility manager. He’s now been with Bakker Consulting for nine years.

He’s farmed all through his off-farm career changes.

Their son, Kyle and his wife Laura, live on the original farmstead now. “He thinks being at the farm is great. Both Kyle and Laura help us a lot. They’re always there to help sort cows and help in many other ways. If he’s not around to help when we need it, Laura’s right there and pitches in,” Julie said. Kyle works for Johnson Feed Inc. and Laura works for Hobby Lobby.

They joked that their dog, Whiskey, is also a big help.

“Sometimes we need her to cross the creek to chase the cows. She’s just the best dog, I don’t know what we’d do without her,” she said.

Also helping out this spring, when school was out of session because of Covid, were the neighbor children, Riiker, Castynn, Jocelyn and Braxton. While the four live in the country, they are not farm kids. But they had several in-the-field science class opportunities with the Hammer family.

Julie and Greg’s neighbor kids – clockwise from top left: Riiker, Jocelyn, Braxton and Castynn – got real-life science lessons at the Hammer farm this spring when they helped care for the bottle calves.

“They came over regularly to bottle feed the new calves,” Julie said. Plus Greg took Riiker and Castynn and two other Baltic School District friends, Carson and Cale (and their moms) to Dells Veterinary Services to see one of their cows have a C-section. Julie said, “I’m a strong believer in connecting consumers with where their food, clothing, and other daily things come from. Farming and ranching is one of the best classroom settings where everyone, young or old, can learn and reconnect with your roots.”

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LINCOLN COUNTY FAMILY

Judy and John Anderson at Baudette, Minn., near the Canadian border during one of their many motorcycle adventures. Photos courtesy Judy Anderson.

GOT TO KEEP MOVING ALL THE TIME

by Bob Fitch

Interviewing John Anderson is a good trick because he just doesn’t sit still for very long.

Constant motion is a trait that goes back to childhood. During the winter of 1969, heavy snows forced Hudson schools to close for 14 straight days. “When school started again, I lived with Bud and Mary Fullenkamp in town for a few days.

I got so bored, I started scooping snow on the sidewalks in town for a buck an hour.

“I still can’t just sit around. I’ve got to be up moving all the time,” he said. In the wintertime now, he’s not scooping sidewalks in Hudson, but he does plow the 39 miles of road in Eden Township, a job he’s been doing since 1985.

Sue and Don Olson on their farm near Colton. Photo by Bob Fitch.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

“But we don’t have near as much snow today as we used to. It’s unbelievable the difference. Like in ’69 and ’62, there were a few milkers on this road over here.

They just dumped the milk on the ground because they couldn’t get anywhere.”

John’s wife, Judy, grew up near Larchwood, Iowa. John has called Hudson his home his entire life. He grew up about three miles north of where they live now. “I went to country school for six years. I helped Dad farm. I almost could drive a tractor before I could read.”

Most of their farming career has been focused on corn and soybean crops. “Dad’s livestock was all gone by the time I got old enough to help. Judy and I used to raise hogs and fed a few bunches of cattle,” John said.

Today, in addition to their own land, they rent crop ground from several local families. “I’ve had landlords I’ve worked with for years. They’ve been good to me and I try to be good to them.

You build trust. A couple of the landlords, I’m on the third generation. One of them, my dad had before me. One family, this was my 45th crop I’ve farmed for them.” Just like the long-standing relationships he has with landlords, John and Judy’s marriage has stood the test of time. They will reach their 40th anniversary mark next year.

Starting out in the 1970s and 1980s was not easy. “Because of drought, I got 1.2 bushels of corn to the acre the first year I was farming in 1976. I went to work at Alkota Steam Cleaners and Power Washers in Alcester. To be honest, I’ve pretty much had a part-time job ever since.

I drive truck for Carter Horner – I’ve been with him for over 20 years.” Horner Trucking hauls grain and feed ingredients. John also used to haul livestock back in the 1970s for Haverhals Trucking. Judy has worked part-time cleaning Premier Bank in Hudson for almost 20 years, is president of the local American Legion Auxiliary, and worked as an election judge during this summer’s primary.

“Everybody’s gone through the same ordeal that I went through,” John said. “The ‘80s were tough. And it’s pretty tough for a lot of guys today, too.” While the Andersons bought the acreage where they live now in 1985, banks didn’t want to loan them the money to buy the rest of the land. He decided to pass on the Land Bank’s offer to loan them the money at 13½ percent interest.

But they were able to eventually buy the adjacent land in 1992. “Things were different in ’92, they were looking better,” he said.

Both of their sons have maintained strong connections to the farm by helping during planting and harvesting seasons.

David is an underwriter for Farmers Mutual Insurance Association in Hull and Jared is the manager of the Hudson branch of Premier Bank. David and his daughters, Neely and Sumiya, live in Sioux Center; while Jared, his wife Melissa, and children Espn, Peyton and Mya, live in Canton.

The five grandchildren are pretty central to their lives, but Judy admits, “It was a lot more fun when they were little.

Farming didn’t seem like work then when they were here more often. The boys were outside with John and David and

John and Judy’s oldest son David and his daughters Neely and Sumiya live in Sioux Center, Iowa.

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Judy and John Anderson riding the bike trails with their grandchildren Espn, Neely, Mya, Peyton, and Sumiya.

Jared, and I had the girls in here helping me with things.” Espn used to spend many hours in the combine with John and would be heartbroken when the harvest season ended. Today, John and Judy enjoy attending sporting events for all of the grandkids.

Son Jared and daughter-in-law Melissa spend much of their off-work time as youth coaches. “We could go to a game every night really,” she said.

The couple also enjoys travel and have ventured to places such as Mexico, Alaska and the Dominican Republic. And John scratches his itch to “be moving all the time” by motorcycling throughout a large part of the United States. Judy said, “We’ve taken quite a few motorcycle trips. We’ve been to the Smokies twice and Colorado quite a few times, plus Nashville, Niagara Falls, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The first place he took me was Memphis because I’m a big Elvis fan. When we go on motorcycle trips, you meet so many great people.”

John and Judy’s youngest son Jared, his wife Melissa, and their children Espn, Peyton and Mya live in Canton.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | September 2020

John has also cycled to the Snake River in Idaho and Washington; Canada; and Glacier National Park four times. In addition, he’s ridden the entirety of the Great River Road, a collection of state and local roads that follow the course of the Mississippi River through

10 states. “I’ve been to Sturgis so many times that now when that’s on, I go the other direction. I still want to see the big trees in California before I quit,” he said.

The Andersons also spend time camping and boating; plus used to take their kids on snowmobile trips to places such as the Black Hills, Colorado, and the Big Horn Mountains.

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH & TAXES

Even with their affection for travel, John doesn’t see parking his tractor and combine any time soon. “I’m just trying to figure out where all these years have gone. Even when I do start on Social Security, I’ll keep farming. I’m figuring on it anyway. What else am I going to do?

“I like being my own boss. I just don’t like the manipulation of the markets. It’s kind of tough not knowing what you’re going to make in a day when you get up. It would be a different deal for the city people if they got up and went to work and didn’t know that day if they were going to make $5 an hour or $10 or $2 an hour,” he said.

“But it’s a good life. I just like putting the crops in the ground and watching them grow. I always have. You got to keep going. How many times have you heard of someone who retired and they were dead within six months?”

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