PLYMOUTH

second,” said Mark Held. “He was at the Chicago International Stock Show exhibiting his shorthorn steers from 1940 into the ‘60s; in 1964, he showed the top Angus — and was never home for Thanksgiving turkey for those 20-plus years. During the winter, he went to the Houston and Ft. Worth shows. In the summertime, he hit all the county and state fairs.”

Howard, Mark, and his brother, Dick, sold their breeding bulls and replacement females from their farm and sale barns from 19792017. At one time, Mark was selling 30 bulls each year, which were the best of the 130 cows and five bulls in his Angus herd.

“Angus, with each generation, grade faster,” said Held. “We liked them for their easy calving ability. Our first sale was at Sioux Center at the sale barn, and then we went to the Stockyards for a couple years, and then Bleil & Chapmans Livestock Auction between Kingsley and Moville.

“The final three sales we had on the farm. I decided to end our cattle business in 2020 after 80 years, since the profit for the cost of raising a 2-year-old bull just wasn’t there. My brother had passed away, and our son Ben went to college. Everything gets harder as you get older, so kneeling to pick up a calf, or to help with calving just got to be too much for one person.”

B.F., Howard, and Mark also sold Chester White boars under the name of B.F. Held & Sons; Chester Whites are a breed of pig that originated in Pennsylvania.

“The strengths of the Chester

White breed are mothering ability, durability, and muscle quality,” said Held.

B.F. Held exhibited his sows also, winning a champion sow award in 1954 at the Spencer Fair.

The Helds also have 800 acres of crops — a corn and soybean rotation, 640 acres since 1922 and another 160 acres purchased when an uncle passed away. There were also 130 acres of pasture.

“With 200 head of cattle, it didn’t take long for that to get eaten up,” said Held, “so we had to supplement.”

Before B.F. Held & Sons’ Angus, and Chester Whites, came the early 1900s Held Brothers’ Coach Horses when they were still operating the Mondamin Stock Farm. The brothers imported German Coach horses. Mark has a “German Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse Association of America” document framed that certifies a horse foaled in 1914. These horses, as the name suggests, are bred to be strong and heavily built, so they can draw a coach — a very important breed prior to the popularization of the automobile. It’s the humble beginnings of a German immigrant family that matched the needs of the times.

Mark and Kaye’s son, Ben, 36, is a track coach at Minnesota State University in Mankato, and their daughter Danica, 39, is a the Hinton

“I was honest with Ben about the pros and cons of farming,” said Held. “Although farmers are their own bosses, they can't quit early or take off on weekends when cows are calving, and fieldwork waits. The financial incentives aren't there anymore.”

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

Imagine walking from Des Moines to Pocahontas County. That’s how Dianne (Lundeen) Oswald’s great-grandfather John O. Johnson began his journey to own farmland in northwest Iowa more than 130 years ago.

“In the late 1800s, my greatgrandfather John O. Johnson came from Sweden, arrived in New York City and traveled to Des Moines,” said Oswald, whose family owns a Century Farm in Bellville Township in Pocahontas County. “He walked all the way from Des Moines to Pocahontas County with a couple other fellas.”

One of Oswald’s oldest cousins visited with Johnson’s daughter Jennie (Johnson) Lundeen and documented this history about the John O. and Christina Johnson family.

“They walked from Des Moines to Pocahontas County carrying all they owned to the land office, there being offered the parcels of land to purchase, clear and someday be able to farm,” Oswald said. “The notes were sketchy and brief but quite emotional for me.”

Johnson and his companions proceeded to cut timber to clear a spot where they could build a sod house on each man’s property.

“Great-Grandpa Johnson cut trees to build make-shift tables and chairs and a place to sleep,” Oswald said.

Johnson’s sod home in Pocahontas County served its purpose until he could generate enough income by working as a carpenter building homes for others until he could build his own frame house when he married Oswald’s Great-Grandma Christina.

Upon their death, the Johnsons passed down their land, including the 80 acres that would eventually become the Century Farm, to their daughter, Jennie (Johnson) Lundeen and additional land to her sibling brothers and sisters. Through the years, various family members sold the other parcels.

“My father, Laurence Lundeen, farmed the bare 80-acre Century Farm,” said Oswald, who noted

POCAHONTAS Oswald Century Farm

Established: 1890

Township: Bellville Township

Acres: 170.8 (originally); 80 acres today

Century Farm Award: Given in 2022

Generation: 5th generation farm that the farm had never had a farmstead. “When Grandma Jennie passed away in 1959, my father purchased the 80 acres from his siblings and began improving the land by tiling and fencing the property.”

In 1985, Oswald, her husband, Dan, and their family moved to Osceola to partner with their family on land purchased in the mid-1970s. This land was a grass and pasture farm, which was much more conducive to cow-calf operations.

“We’ve lived here for 38 years now and raised our four children here, our daughter Lisa Oswald Lueders and our sons Brian Oswald, Jon Oswald and James (Jamie) Oswald.”

The Oswald sons are die-hard cow-calf producers who have separate operations in Clarke County. Brian and Mindy Oswald own High Point Genetics and hold an annual auction at the Oswald farm in an historic barn built in the 1930s by an Osceola doctor, C.R. Harken, who was also a cattleman and friend of J.C. Penney, the famous retailer.

Jon and Amanda Oswald own Split Creek Cattle and sell stock year-round through private treaty sales and online. Jamie and Tiffany Oswald own Oswald Family Farm and hold an annual private treaty bull sale.

“Combined, their sales are well over 200 head of Angus, Simmental-Angus, and Simmental bulls annually,” Oswald said. “Also, the twins, Jon and Jamie, sell delicious Angus grill-ready beef processed by the best processing locker companies around.”

ABOVE: Pictured, left to right, are: Iowa Secretary of Ag Mike Naig, Brian Oswald, Seth Oswald, Tiffany Oswald, Jamie Oswald, Dianne Oswald, Jim Lueders and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Brent Johnson. In the front row is Lisa Oswald Lueders.

LEFT: Jennie (Johnson) Lundeen (front row, center), is shown here with her family, including her son Laurence (front row, left). Laurence passed the Century Farm land to his daughter, Dianne (Lundeen) Oswald, whose family raises cattle in southern Iowa.

Though the family’s farming operations are based in southern Iowa, Oswald’s Century Farm in Pocahontas County still holds deep meaning for her. “I’ve done nothing to deserve inheriting these

80 acres, so it's very humbling to be the only blood relative of my great-grandfather John O. Johnson to still own this parcel,” Oswald said. “It makes me teary, to say the least.”

By KRISTIN DANLEY-GREINER Farm News writer

After Robyn Snyder Engstrom’s great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, he bought farm ground in the Cambridge area that has remained in the family since 1871.

Located at 16120 N.W. 29th St., the farm has been recognized as both a Century Farm and a Heritage Farm.

“My grandfather had applied for the Century Farm status, and I wanted to make sure we received Heritage Farm status, too,” Snyder Engstrom said. “It’s been an honor, especially for my mom, who was able to be present at the ceremony during the Iowa State Fair. My dad used to hire a lot of Iowa State students to help work on the farm and they’d stay on the farm. A couple of those guys came and stood in for my brother who had COVID and had to miss the ceremony.”

Growing up on the family farm with her parents and siblings, Snyder Engstrom shared that part of the 320-acre farm was lost during the Depression, but her maternal grandfather bought the 75 acres of land back. The family farmhouse was built in the early 1870s and multiple generations lived there.

“When I was little, my greatgrandparents lived in the big farmhouse and we lived in a smaller farmhouse on the same land. Then later on we moved into the big farmhouse.

“We had lots of horses and my great-grandfather imported Percherons from France that he showed at the Iowa State Fair. He

Polk

had several champions,” Snyder Engstrom said. “Lore is that he sold one to JC Penney.”

The farmhouse didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing until after World War II in 1946.

Snyder Engstrom’s mom, who is 92, still lives there and spring cleans every year.

“The farm had cattle and hogs plus crops, but right now there’s no livestock on the farm. One brother bought land a quartermile from the main family farm and he lives there while my other brother is a mile down the road on his own acreage. I’m 2.5 miles away. One brother still farms the land while my nephew moved onto the farm a couple years ago and lives in a third house on the farm. He’ll follow the tradition and farm,” Snyder Engstrom said. “We have 500 acres now with 435 tillable.”

Tradition is strong for the Snyder family — they’ve hosted a Norwegian lutefisk and lefse dinner every year since 1971, although the meal was modified during the 2020 global pandemic.

“I remember walking beans as a child. Dad would get us up early, like 5 a.m., to drive the hogs and walk the beans. I never had to detassel the corn though,” Snyder Engstrom said.

“My brothers had the brunt of baling hay and driving tractors. They’d plant six rows or whatever on the side of the road of sweet corn and I remember my great- grandfather, my dad and my brothers would go out and pick up loads of sweet corn. They’d sit outside and shuck it while the women would stay in the hot kitchen and can it.”

She also recollects her relatives’ huge gardens and canning with her great-grandmother using zinc lids.

“We have so many incredible memories growing up on the farm,” Snyder Engstrom said.

“The summer after she graduated from high school, my granddaughter Jade Engstrom from North Carolina came to work on the farm and pollinated corn for Monsanto. That makes seven generations that have lived and worked on the farm.”

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

WALL LAKE — When Jack and Carol Nuetzman’s ancestors purchased land in Sac County, this region was the frontier of western Iowa.

One of these farms came into the family in 1879, when Carol’s great-grandfather, George H. Wade, purchased 80 acres of land from the Iowa Railroad Land Company for $528. “This was wild, untilled land,” said Carol Nuetzman, 87, who noted that her great-grandfather lived in Clinton County, Iowa. His son Charles Wade moved to the Clinton Township farm in the late 1800s.

When Charles built a new barn on the farm in 1900, the north third was designed for horses, the middle area accommodated hay storage, and the south side housed dairy cows. There were many new beginnings for the family at this time, said Nuetzman, whose father, Ralph, was born on the farm in 1898.

When Ralph was a young man, he married a fellow Sac County native, Iola Jemima Paul (19031997) from Odebolt. Ralph and Iola raised their two sons and youngest child, Carol, on the farm. “I was my daddy’s buddy,” she said. “I loved horses and drove the team that we used to put loose hay in the haymow.”

There were plenty of chores to keep Nuetzman busy, from caring for the chickens to feeding the calves to helping milk 10 to 12 dairy cows. Carol loved the barn cats and her St. Bernard dog, Princess. “Whenever I did chores, Princess was right there with me,” Nuetzman said.

Nuetzman remembers her dad butchering hogs and pulling up the carcasses with a block and tackle in the corn crib so he could cut the meat. She also recalls how students from the nearby country school, would come to her family’s farm to pump water from the well, since the school had no running water.

Music was another key part of daily life for Nuetzman. “I still have the 1912 piano I learned to play as a girl,” said Nuetzman, who accompanied vocal soloists at Wall Lake High School, where she graduated in 1953.

Carol’s husband, Jack, grew up on a farm near the Wade family’s farm. After he and Carol started dating, they married in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956, when Jack was serving in the U.S. Air Force. The young couple moved back to Sac County to the Nuetzman farm in January 1958. They managed a 25-head dairy herd and stayed in the dairy business for 20 years. The couple also raised their four children on the farm, including Steve, Randy, Danny and Debbie.

The Nuetzmans purchased their south 80-acre farm in the 1980s. “Interest rates soared to 24% and 25% during the 1980s Farm Crisis,” said Jack Nuetzman, who continued to farm and also took a second job at Cookies Food Products in Wall Lake, where he worked for 31 years. The Nuetzmans converted their barn for hog production, said Carol Nuetzman, who handled the hog chores and an off-farm job at Twilight Acres (the nursing home in Wall Lake), where she worked for 52 years. “There were many sleepless nights back then, but we made it through,” she said.

The Nuetzmans were able to keep both of their Century Farms, including their Century Farm in Clinton Township from Jack