Boettcher family
Family ownership of a portion of the Boettcher farm dates to 1877 when Curt Boettcher’s great-grandfather, Frederick, purchased 80 acres. Frederick’s son, Otto, deeded his daughters Ruth and Dorothy and their husbands each 40 acres of that parcel. Ruth’s 40 acres have been family owned since 1877; Dorothy’s land fell out of family ownership for four years but is once again family-owned. Ruth and her husband, Victor Boettcher, moved to the homestead in 1939. They raised their three sons on the farm. Their youngest, Curtis, took over ownership of the farm in 1972. At that time the farm consisted of 276 acres with 100 of those acres rented. Curt and Cheryle’s sons, Brian and Chad, joined the operation after graduating high school and a partnership was formed in 2012.
Over time more land was acquired by the Boettchers and today the family owns 900 acres and rents about 100. In 2013, a robotic milking system was installed. The family currently milks about 300 cows; fresh cows and treated cows are milked in the old double-10 parlor. The family also raises oats, corn, and alfalfa. The farm’s milk is sold to AMPI.
Curt mixes feed for the animals and does fieldwork; Cheryle helps with milking and does bookwork while both feed the calves. Brian and Chad do a little of everything around the farm. Brian focuses on cropping and equipment and Chad oversees the animals and their care. Curt and Cheryle’s daughter, Nichol, works a full-time job but helps on the farm after work. Nichol and her husband, Paul Arndorfer, have two kids, Kayla and William. Kayla helps with evening chores. Chad and his wife, Amanda, also have two children: Cora and Ruby.
The Boettchers hosted the first Fillmore County Breakfast on the Farm in 1993. Twenty years later, in 2013, the family hosted Fillmore County’s Dairy Night on the Farm.