Historic Family Farm info new at the Holmes County Fair
An aerial of Boyd Acres LLC, a farm located in Berlin Township that has been in the Boyd family since 1832. It is one of a dozen registered Historic Family Farms in Holmes County.
While driving through Ohio’s scenic agricultural areas, you’ve probably seen signage posted at farms denoting it’s a historic century, sesquicentennial or bicentennial Ohio farm. If you want to find out how your own farm might qualify, learn more at the 2024 Holmes County Fair.
Anita Hall, Holmes County recorder, along with volunteers and staff will be able to help answer questions about the Historic Family Farm Program during the Holmes County Fair Aug. 5-10 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“I have been given space in the Shreiner barn at the fairgrounds,” Hall said. “I’ll be using that space to showcase registered farms. I feel it’s important to let the public know about these farms, and I’m also hoping this will spur other families to apply for the designation.”
In order to enroll in the Historic Family Farm Program, a farm must be documented to be in the same family for at least 100 years with complete copies of deeds showing the transfers between generations of the family required with each registration. Ohio Department of Farmland Preservation staff will check the deeds to ensure consistency of the property description and also look for an unbroken chain of title with your family. Family members can be blood relatives and related through marriage or adoption.
Rita Boyd owns one of the 12 registered Historic Family Farms in Holmes County, located north of Berlin.
“My aunt had done a lot of genealogy work already, which made applying for the Historic Family Farm designation much easier. One of the interesting things regarding our farm is that the original deed from 1832 shows Sarah Bird (and it) should say Sarah Boyd,” Boyd said, referring to her paternal great-great-great-grandmother. “It’s possible that with their Irish accent, the name was misunderstood. As you might guess, it was unusual for a woman to purchase land back then, but we think this happened because within a few weeks of arriving in America, Sarah’s husband Thomas Boyd passed away.
“It was also interesting to discover how the farm changed over the years, with additional acreage purchased at times, and then when the farm was passed down, those acres would go to one family member, and our original 160 acres managed to stay in our family line.”
Rod and Bobbi Hunsberger are fourth-generation dairy farmers who own another Historic Family Farm in Holmes County located on County Road 1 just south of Shreve.
“In 1916 Bird and Myrl Wells bought the farm, (and) in the early 1930s, Bird and Myrl established the dairy farm,” Bobbi Hunsberger said. “While farming with horses, they milked 10-15 cows by hand. The milk was bottled in Bird Wells milk bottles and delivered to the residents of Shreve. Their only child Eileen would deliver the milk to Shreve in the mornings before going to high school.”
In 1937 Eileen married Raymond Hunsberger. They took over the dairy in 1938, and her father Bird left to work in what is now the Ohio State College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. During this time Raymond and Eileen switched to milking Jersey cows, and the milk bottles were rebranded as Jersey Dairy.
In the 1940s when a diseased cow infected the herd and with a new pasteurization law coming into effect, the decision to stop bottling milk was made. The Hunsbergers transitioned to milking Holsteins and selling the milk to Ideal Dairy in Wooster.
Rod Hunsberger bought the cattle and machinery from his parents, Maynard and Sherry, in 2006. At present Gateway Holsteins is milking around 170 cows.
“Rod and I reside on the old homestead on County Road 1, and the bank barn houses some of the heifers, and corn is grown on the land,” Bobbi Hunsberger said.
The Boyd and Hunsberger farms are two of over 2,000 registered Historic Family Farms in the state. According to the Ohio Department of Farmland Preservation website, the program was designed in 1993 to commemorate legacy farms and honor farms that have been continuously owned by one family.
From eight farms in the inaugural year, the number has grown to over 2,100 with at least one farm in all 88 counties. Ohio's founding farm families contribute greatly to the state's history and legacy of agriculture, which is the No. 1 industry in Ohio, contributing more than $100 billion annually to the state's economy with 1-in-7 jobs in agriculture.
“More and more families qualify for historic status every year, and our program serves as a benchmark for farmers to strive toward,” said Erin Dillon, program administrator for the Ohio Historic Family Farms Program in Columbus. “We aim to pay tribute to the strength and tenacity of the family farmers who have endured through the years to continue their commitment to agriculture.
“The level of enthusiasm from farm families receiving their historic designations is indisputable. The success of the Historic Family Farms Program can be solely attributed to families who proudly continue their farming heritage. It’s our duty and honor to acknowledge that perseverance.”
If an application is accepted, the family is mailed an heirloom certificate signed by Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge to keep with their historic documents and to pass down to future generations. The program is free with only a small fee for a customized sign.
A complete list of Ohio’s bicentennial (200 years or more), sesquicentennial (150-199 years) and century farms (100-149 years) is available at https://agri.ohio.gov/programs/farmland-preservation-office/ohio-historic-family-farms.
To learn more about the Historic Family Farm Program, call 614-752-4505 or email centuryfarms@agri.ohio.gov.
Barbara Lang serves on the advisory board of the Ohio Department of Farmland Preservation as the Northeast Ohio farmer representative succeeding Lucille Hastings. She and her husband Loren own Pine Hill Farm, a historic farm that has been in the Lang family since 1943. They look forward to applying for the Ohio Century Farm designation in 19 years.