WEST ALLIS ‒ The Koepke family story on United States’ soil began in 1875 when the first generation of Koepkes emigrated from their homeland in Germany to the rolling terrain of southeastern Wisconsin, just north of the City of Oconomowoc.
Last week, members of the Koepke family traveled to the Wisconsin State Fair where they were among 30 farms from across the state honored with the Sesquicentennial Farm Award.
“As the third generation, our parents, Harvey and Ruth began their farming journey on April Fool’s Day in 1937. They started us in our current location – at that point, on an unnamed gravel road without electricity,” said John Koepke, one of the current owners of the farm.
Today the Koepke family farm is a multi-generational operation with family members contributing their skills to different areas of the business. Current family management involves the fourth and fifth generations.
“Each generation learns valuable lessons from prior family elders who willingly share knowledge and provide guidance,” Koepke said. “This results in tradition and innovation passed on from one generation to the next, keeping an eye focused on the future while honoring the achievements of the past and present.”
In September, the Koepkes will celebrate their 150-year milestone with a farm event hosted by Tall Pines Conservancy.
Besides the Sesquicentennial award recipients, 69 farm families also came to the State Fair breakfast to receive their Century Farm awards. Among them were Bruce & Kim Sime who are celebrating 113 years of continuous family farming near Stoughton in Dane County.
It all began in 1912 when Bruce’s great-grandfather, J.A. Onsrud, purchased the farm. He passed it down to his son Lloyd in 1943. From there, it went to Lloyd’s daughter Marcia and her husband John. In 1991, Bruce and Kim took the reins and have continued to build on that legacy ever since.
The family had been dairy farming until a couple years ago when they sold their herd of 140 cows and transitioned to raising cash crops.
During the breakfast that honored the farm families Wisconsin State Fair Chair of the Agriculture Committee Susan Crane, who herself comes from a farm that has been in the family for nearly 100 years, says the Sesquicentennial and Centennial Farm Program provides a wonderful opportunity for families to share stories and remember the little things that stand out about growing up on the farm.
“These are stories of perseverance and about how families survived during challenging times,” Crane said.
Crane touched on little things that farm families have in common that non-farming families might not understand.
“Growing up, no one believed their farmhouse was stylish. But we aren’t in farming to be stylish – it’s hard work and we are willing to do without so we can keep the farm going,” she said.
Crane told the farm families gathered at the event that they have much to be thankful for.
“I urge all of you to share your story of passion, hope and fear,” she said. “It’s who we are and we need to remind our family members how we got to where we are.”
Like Crane, many other farm women remembered the many times something broke on the farm and to pay for the repair, they had to write a check and hope the milk check arrived before the check cleared the bank.
State Fair Park Executive Director Shari Black said it is memories like these that bind farm families together. The breakfast was an opportunity for farm families to eat breakfast together and reminisce about the challenges and rewards.
Black, who grew up on a Waukesha County farm and is the Fair’s first CEO who was an exhibitor in her youth, said, “It’s hard for dads to let their son or daughter do a job another way from what they did it. They need to let them make some changes.”
Black said she skeaps from experience, noting that the older generation was accustomed to planting a certain way but today’s farmers are using GPS guidance systems and other technology.
“It’s hard for them to see changes but it’s important for them to accept those changes if they want the farm to keep going in the family,” she said.
The Sesquicentennial and Century Farm Awards Program was sponsored by Hillshire Farm and Compeer Financial.
Sesquicentennial Farm Honorees
Century Farm recipients
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin State Farmer: Longtime farm owners share stories about multi-generational farms at Wisconsin State Fair
Reporting by Gloria Hafemeister / Wisconsin State Farmer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
