CENTURY FARM — The Riba family celebrated on Saturday, July 25, the 100 years that their farm in Forest Township has been in the family and being honored as a Wisconsin Century Farm. Shown standing beside the barn that has served as the central hub of their farming operation since 1959, when it was rebuilt following a fire, are the current generations of Ribas, from left to right: Amy and Brad Riba and their two boys Brody and Dillon along with Dale and Sue Riba. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The Riba Farm on 310th Street in Forest Township recently received the Wisconsin Century Farm certificate.
On Saturday, July 25th a celebration was held at the farm, which has seen four generations of Riba ownership, to commemorate the event of the farm being in the Riba family for a hundred years. Over one hundred family members, friends and neighbors gathered at the farm to enjoy the day.
The Century Farm and Home Program began in 1948 in conjunction with Wisconsin’s Centennial Celebration. There are currently over 10,000 Century Farms and homes throughout the Badger State.
According to Dale Riba, his grandparents, Fred (Frederick) and Amanda Riba homesteaded the farm in 1920. They moved from Minnesota after a tornado had wiped out their farm there. Dale said that they apparently had some neighbors that had moved to Wisconsin so his grandparents decided to move to Wisconsin as well.
Dale’s parents, Milton and Myrna (Hill) Riba were married in 1941 and took over the farm in 1945 and operated it until 1975 when Dale and his wife, Sue purchased half of the farm and in 1980 they purchased the other half.
Dale and Sue’s son Brad and his wife Amy bought into the operation about ten years ago, but Brad had worked on the farm for many years before that and also held a full time job at Andersen Windows. At present, Brad and Amy Riba and their two boys, Brody and Dillon, are responsible for the cows and milking with Dale and Brad sharing the fieldwork.
Dale said that his mother’s home place, the former Hill Farm, was within a mile of the Riba farm and that farm was sold to the Hoitomts back in the early 1960s, but they purchased it back in 1969 when Dale and Sue got married. Dale said they lived there until 1973 when Milton and Myrna and Dale and Sue switched houses. Brad and Amy currently live on Myrna’s home place.
“It’s a miracle that we still have it, really,” said Dale of their century farm. “The barn was built in 1920 and the house was built in 1926. Then in 1929 the depression hit and the drought came along in the 1930s. It is incredible how much they had to persevere and the faith they had to have to get through all of that,” Dale commented.
Then in 1959, the barn burned down.
“Dad (Milton) questioned if we should rebuild or get out of farming,” Dale recalled.
Ultimately, Milton decided to rebuild the barn. Dale said that the rough lumber came out of the woods on their land and he recalled the crews that helped build the new barn and set the rafters. “That was quite an accomplishment, there were no cranes back then so a block and tackle had to be used to raise the rafters,” recalled Dale.
Usually the Century farms are honored at a program during the eleven-day run of the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, but because of the COVID-19 virus there will be no state fair this year.
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