Gengler

Parker, Dekker and Tucker Bottjen taking charge of the 1466 International the family uses in tractor pulls.

Service is Our Business

2 South Marion St, Remsen, IA 51050 | 712-786-2234

Nathan graduated from the diesel mechanics program at Iowa Lakes Community College. He worked for John Deere and Titan for about 14 years, hauling equipment for John Deere and working as a mechanic for Titan. “As he progressed with Titan, they focused him on a lot of the electronics, which is nice because now he’s got a general background in everything. There’s not too many things he can’t do.” Nathan’s wife, Sarah, is a high school English teacher at MMRCU in Marcus, but also takes overnight shifts keeping an eye on the cows during calving season. Ronda said their daughter, Nicole and her husband Christian Christianson, live in Madison, S.D. She’s a middle school and high school English teacher in a nearby district. Christian is going back to college to become an elementary school teacher. Garry and Ronda’s other son, Ryan, works in law enforcement in South Dakota.

Ronda is in her fourth year of working at the MMRCU Little Royals Pre-School in Remsen. “I like the little kids, they’re not sassy yet,” she said. Ronda also volunteers at the Plymouth County Fair by maintaining a large flowerbed and helps at the fair gate. On the farm, she said she’s “usually the 2 a.m. shift during calving. But I’m trying to get away from that. I got that shift years ago because my mother-in-law said I was going to be up with kids in the night anyway.” Their grandson, Parker, showed his first bottle calf at the fair this year. Nathan, Ryan and Nicole were all involved in 4-H growing up. Garry has a lot of plans involving a wrench when retirement eventually comes around. “I’ve got a tractor sitting down in the machine shed which I’ve bought a lot of parts for. That’s going to take me some time. Someday I want to go and ride in tractor rides.”

He learned his way around a wrench from his brother and put those skills to work on farm equipment, trucks and in the world of tractor pulling. Their pulling tractor was one his dad purchased in the 1980s which Garry put his “heart and soul into fixing.” The tractor was originally an International 1466, but the rear end is from an old 706 they used to pull the feed wagon. “That tractor has a history on this place. We’d never sell it. Farmers are kind of stupid about their iron. They almost have a love affair with it. This tractor is one of them. It took a few years for us to get it built – it was a little crude when we got started.” Going to the tractor pulls was an activity which involved the whole family. Looking forward, change is a constant in farming, but Garry and Ronda are hopeful Nathan and Sarah will be able to succeed. Garry said, “That’s what I want and that’s what he wants. He loves the cow-calf side. And he’s got at least one son for sure who will want to farm. If Sarah keeps teaching and he keeps trucking, it will all work out. A second income is an absolute must on the farm.”