Aldinger Family Farm
Roger Aldinger’s great-grandparents, Michael and Emma Aldinger, purchased the 150-acre farm in southeast Minnesota in 1919. The couple rented the farm to their son, Eric, who eventually bought it. Eric brought 10 cows from the home farm and started raising cattle, hogs and chickens with his wife, Lucy. Eric and Lucy’s son and daughter-in-law, Allan and Maxine, eventually took over the farm. The current Aldinger farming operation is run by the next generation of the family, Roger and Teresa.
Hogs and chickens were phased out in the 1960s and the family has since concentrated on dairy cows. The herd has grown from the original 10 cows to 115 without the Aldingers ever purchasing outside animals. Corn and alfalfa are raised on the land to supply feed to the cows.
Roger and Teresa own and operate the farm and provide the bulk of the labor. Their daughter and son-in-law, Adriana and Josh Herricks, and their son, Lincoln, live on the farm and have off-farm jobs but help when they can. Adriana and Josh would eventually like to own the farm. The Aldingers’ daughter Hannah helped on the farm while growing up but now lives in La Crosse, Wis., and works as a medical assistant at Gunderson Health.
Roger is on the family’s church council and teaches Sunday School. He is also a member of the county Farm Service Agency committee. He is president of the Witoka Cemetery Association and the Winona FFA Alumni. Roger served for 18 years on the Winona County Dairy Herd Improvement Association. Teresa is president of her local homemaker's group and has volunteered at Ridgeway Community School.