Editor’s Note: This continues a series of monthly articles celebrating pride in our town and its surroundings. If you have suggestions of people to be featured, contact The Elgin Review.
By Jane Schuchardt
Special to the Elgin Review
Q – Why live here?
A – “People care about you. It’s a great place to raise a family.”
That’s the word from Dave Hoefer, born and raised here, and exceedingly proud to live on the Hoefer home place just south of town purchased by his great-grandfather in 1901.
In his sixty years, he’s been away a couple of years to Curtis where he earned an associate degree in production agriculture from the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, plus a short time as a hired farm hand near Gothenburg.
“I just love farming,” Hoefer gleamed as he faced into the Nebraska wind to survey a cattle herd he had just fed.
Together with other family members, Hoefer puts beef on our tables and also grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa in both commercial and organic operations. Previously, hogs and chickens were a part of the Hoefer agriculture business.
As a fourth-generation Nebraska farmer, Hoefer fights back emotion recounting hardships faced. He recalls tough talk about the ‘30s told by his grandpa, severe drought in the ‘50s and the economic slump in the ‘80s. Here and there “things have been really tough, but our family managed to hold on to the land,” he said pointing out the Bar U Farms insignia on his shirt, the cattle brand established by his dad.
Hoefer is not a stranger to hardship, and the resilience it takes to face each day. Losing his dad, brother and a grandchild, along with health issues in his family, all take their toll. How do you deal with adversity? “You better have faith when you walk out the door in the morning,” Hoefer said. “St. Boniface (the Catholic church in Elgin) means the world to us. My family helped start both the church and the Catholic school (in town)” of which he is a high school graduate. To read the full story, turn to this weeks edition of the Elgin Review.
