A love of farming

FRAZEE, Minn. — You can take the man away from the farm, but you can’t take the farm away from the man. At least, that’s the case for Gilbert Hoehne.

Hoehne, 92, has been retired from dairy farming for 32 years, but he still finds himself back on the farm almost daily.

“I just enjoy getting out and being active, and I think, if you want to live longer, you’d better stay active,” Hoehne said. “I watched farmers retire at 65, move to town, put their feet up and do nothing. Six months later, the undertaker had them.”

Hoehne Dairy is run by his son and grandson, Steve and Skylar Hoehne. They milk 65 cows and farm 300 acres.

After retirement, Hoehne moved into independent senior apartments in Perham, and he drives the 14 miles every day to and from the farm to help out.

Inside the tractor is where Hoehne feels most at home. In the spring, he is busy working the fields, and as the year progresses, he is running the chopper for hay and silage and then doing fall tillage.

“It’s peaceful, sitting out there in the tractor,” Hoehne said. “At the end of the day, I can look and see I got the field all worked up. It’s a good feeling.”

Recounting all the years he was actively farming, Hoehne acknowledges how far equipment has come, but he’s not exactly keen on embracing it at his age.

“I thought I had it made when I got (a tractor) with a cab on it,” he said. “Now, the tractors have air conditioning. It’s like sitting in the living room. I don’t like to run the big (tractor). The equipment is so wide; when you get older, you don’t have good depth perception, and they’re not very happy if you come in dragging a fence post or see a cultivator half up in the tree someplace in the corner.”

Up until this year, Hoehne also helped clean out the barn, bed the cows, scrape the gutters and clean the feed alley, but he doesn’t like going in the barn much anymore, joking that the other residents at his senior apartments don’t care for the smell of barn on his clothes when he comes home.

Hoehne enjoys sharing his farming experiences with some of the other residents. Usually, three of them eat together for a meal each day, where Hoehne shares farming updates and past experiences.

“We always find something to yap about,” Hoehne said. “I always get to tell them what I did and what I am going to do (for the day).”

But, after the meal, it’s off to the farm for Hoehne. Sitting in town all day playing cards and visiting isn’t Hoehne’s ideal way to spend his time. Moving around and getting things done is more his style and something he credits to his longevity.

“The biggest thing is being born with good genes; then, you’ve got to keep busy, stay active and don’t die,” Hoehne said.

Hoehne has been farming for as long as he can remember. His dad, Roy, bought the farm in 1928, and Hoehne started milking cows after he returned from the army in 1965, officially taking over the farm in the 1960s.

Hoehne recounts the progress the dairy has gone through over his lifetime. His parents milked by hand when he was young before upgrading to a Surge machine. Eventually a bulk tank and pipeline were added.

“I spent all of my life on the farm, minus the two years I was in the service,” Hoehne said. “I was always on the farm, always wanted to farm.”

Although he continues to slow down in what he can assist with, Hoehne points out that the best part of farming at this point in his life is watching his family continue to be involved.

“That’s the only reason I come out (to the farm),” Hoehne said. “Skylar is here, and that would be my dream if it were the fourth generation to keep it going.”