Pictured above is a photo of an area view photo of the Mohrhauser homestead with their previous home that was built in 1911 before building their new home which they moved into in 2017. (TOP) Family farming has changed over the generations for the Mohrhauser family but one of the things that has remained consistent on the farm are the cattle. (Photos/Sara Stadem)

Sara Stadem | Editor

When you think of a family farming business and all of the changes that go along with it, some might think of a father and son duo or brothers working together. Most would not envision a family farm continuing on through a daughter, eventually becoming a mom and handing the reins over to her son.
For Adam Mohrhauser and his family, that’s exactly how the Mohrhauser family farm in rural Hartford has continued.
Adam’s parents, Rosemary and Gilbert Mohrhauser, come to her family farm in 1984 as her brother did not have an interest in farming. “We came up here in 1984 and were farming with Dad until about 1995,” Rosemary said. However, Rosemary explained the family farm started much before then.
Rosemary’s great grandpa, Nis Byg, started the homestead back in 1891, on the same 160 acres of land the farm is still on today with the farm varying in crops and livestock.
Years later, Nis would sell the farm to Rosemary’s grandpa, Nels Byg, who would end up building the home in 1911 that remained on the farm for 107 years.
Rosemary explained that people would always ask her about the house that Grandpa Nels built. “Wasn’t that a catalog house, people would ask me. People said you could order a house from a catalog back in the day and they would deliver it to you,” Rosemary said. “I never heard of that, I would tell people,” she laughed.
The farm continued within the family, moving on to the next generation, Rosemary’s dad, Melvin. Melvin started to take over the farm in 1974 and finished taking it over in 1975.
Rosemary remembers the farm at that time ranging in crops such as corn, beans, oats, alfalfa and the livestock was much more diverse, including cattle, milk cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. “Of-course, you also had horses to work the cattle with but not to get to ride,” Rosemary explained. She continued, “I think the livestock was more diversified back then due to the market. You could be selling different livestock at different times.”
Slowly, the family farm started to make more changes even though still remaining in the family. Melvin started to downsize the livestock to focus more on cattle. Melvin sold off the sheep in the sixties and the pigs and milk cows in the seventies. “The milk cows were getting to be too much for him with most of his help being gone to college at that point,” Adam explained.
From there on, the family focused on cattle and crops for their farm, unless of course, it’s summer time for Adam’s daughter. “Chanel (daughter) is in 4-H and she shows pigs and sheep so we get them around the farm during the summer at least for that,” Adam said.
Rosemary and Gilbert took over the family farm on their own in 1995 and started to make it theirs along with their six children; Trish (Curt), Adam (Ye; daughter Chanel), Nathan (Alisa), Wendy (Kurtis; daughter Karin; son Bode), Crystal (Travis; sons Tyler, Garrett and Colin; daughter Renee) and Dustin (Lauren; daughters Morgan, Delaney and Whitney).
Although all their children have careers pertaining to farming in some way, as the time rolled near for another generation to work towards taking over the farm, it was Adam that was thinking maybe this was for him.
After college, Adam had been working at John Morrell’s from 2000 to spring 2001 where he met his now wife, Ye, who is now a nurse at Sanford. During that time at Morrell’s, Adam bought 40 acres from his parents to start farming to see how it would go.
“I worked nights and farmed during the day. I would start about 4 in the afternoon (at Morrell’s), get home about 1 or 2 in the morning from work,” Adam said. He continued, “Sometimes when it was bad, you would get home at 3 or 4 in the morning and would farm all day. You just did what you had to.”
From there, Adam eventually bought out shares of the cattle from his parents and has been farming full time with his parents ever since.
They continued to focus on the same farming as Rosemary’s dad had with the livestock and crops while still making improvements on the family farm. In 2017, Rosemary and Gilbert moved in to their new home that they built on the homestead next to the home that Grandpa Nels built in 1911.
While they didn’t know what to do with the old home, they let the local fire departments do trainings in it a couple times throughout the year.
“You want the people in the neighborhood talking, you let the cops and swat team out here!” Adam laughed. “They thought it was a drug bust or something.”
A year later, in 2018, they decided to tear the house down.
Although many changes have taken place over the decades at this family farm, there is still plenty that remains the same when it comes to the hard work on a farm. When asked to walk me through a day on the farm, Adam said, “Depends on the day, you just get done what needs to be done.” He added, “During the winter, cows need to be fed until we turn them out to the pasters, caving until the end of January and February. Then there is planting season. You do whatever needs to be done. Whatever season it is determines what needs to be done.”
When talking about the best times on the farm, Rosemary said, “The best part about calving season is that some people just drive by to see the calves running around.”
Gilbert added, “Best part of spring is seeing the baby calves and bottle feeding them when needed.”
With farming there can be many obstacles as well that can cause challenges. Adam said, “There could be a lot of things, unpredictability sometimes is the hardest thing. You don’t know what the weather and the markets are going to do to you.” He continued, “You always have good days and have bad days. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Isn’t that way they say?”
When asked what keeps him going on his tough days, Adam said, “Knowing that tomorrow is another day, it will get better tomorrow.” He continued, “Sometimes when you have a breakdown and get frustrated, sometimes the best thing you can do is walk away and think about what you need to do different.”
As to what keeps Adam farming, “I don’t know, I just love it. You get to do something different every day. There is a different challenge every day to face.”
What’s next for the Mohrhauser farm? Will Chanel be the next daughter to take over the family farm? When asked if he hopes she takes, Adam laughed. “I don’t know. Some days she loves it and some days she doesn’t. When we first have calves, she’s here wanting to see them every day and then it kind of wears off.” He added, “She loves 4H. I know she will end up doing whatever she wants to do, I know she will and that’s what matters.”