Berend Raterink had raised horses in his native Germany before he arrived in America. He soon discovered there was a great demand for horses at this time. He soon purchased a couple of stallions and a number of mares and began raising draft horses and buggy horses on his farm. His son John later joined him in this business. In 1897 John purchased the farm from his father and operated a very successful farming operation with his family.
The corn was cut with a corn binder and then run into a silo filler, which chopped it and blew it up into the 12x35 foot silo. The hay was baled with a small square hay baler.
In 1965, the 80-acre Boetsma farm next door to the original farm was purchased. Alvin added more cows and larger tractors and bigger farm machinery in order to feed the added cows.
Alvin added 30 more milking stalls to the main barn, and a bulk milk cooler to hold the additional milk. He also built a bunker silo to hold all of the additional silage needed to feed the cows. When he retired in 1984 and sold the farm to Steve and Mary Nienhuis, the herd had increased from 12 cows to 66 cows. In 1989 Steve and Mary built the present day double 9 milking parlor with a larger bulk tank.
Steve continued to expand the herd to over 200 cows by building more barns to house the cows and he also rented more land to grow crops to feed them. Changes were taking place in the raising of farm crops and harvesting them. The moldboard plow was replaced by the chisel plow. The square hay balers were replaced with larger round balers. Milk production per cow also increased dramatically from early days of farming, from 30 pounds of milk per cow to 90 pounds.
In 2009 Steve and Mary sold the dairy farm to Andy and Michele Nienhuis. Many changes have taken place from when they purchased the farm to the present. Some of the changes had to do with technology and the use of the computer in keeping records of the cattle herd, as well as larger and more sophisticated farm machinery.
Last fall I was able to take a tour of the Andy and Michele Nienhuis farm, and to watch the corn harvest in person. Below are some pictures and more information about the processes and machinery used in modern farming.
Farming methods in Borculo have changed dramatically since Jacobus Klanderman arrived as the area’s first farmer in 1868. Harvesting crops have gone from the scythe and the sickle to high-powered farm equipment like the forage harvester and the combine. Some of us have witnessed the change from horses to the use of the farm tractor today.
The early steam traction engines of Henry Wesseldyk and Albert Bosch were replaced by the high-powered gasoline and diesel tractors of today. Dairy farming has gone from milking cows by hand to the milking machine and the milking parlor. The 10-gallon milk can was replaced by the bulk milk tank.
The small family farm as it was known has disappeared, but it is remembered by pictures and stories that give us a glimpse of what farming life was like.