Hertel Dairy Farm, also known as Sunny Hill Farm, began with Robert Hertel, a weaver who immigrated to Rhode Island from Germany in the late 1880s. However, Hertel arrived to find the textile mills fraught with labor strikes, so he set his sights instead on a farm at the top of Ashburnham Hill Road in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Hertel bought the 40-acre height of land and farmhouse in 1811 and began farming in 1898.

Though the Hertel family had little knowledge of agriculture, they were able to expand their operation through the advice of friends and neighbors. They sold milk — delivered in horse-drawn wagons or available in jugs by the dipper full — and were early adopters of pasteurization.

Most of the farmwork was conducted by Robert’s son, Harry Sr. Though Harry Sr. was drafted into the Army in 1917, he returned home from his base in Ayer, Massachusetts each evening to help with the milking. He also introduced artificial breeding to the farm, and increased the size of the herd by raising all the farm’s cows.

Upon Robert’s passing in 1955, Harry Sr.’s son Norman purchased the farm with his wife Evelyn. They continued the dairy operation until 1998 when the herd was sold. In an effort to continue the farm’s legacy, the family placed the farm under an Agricultural Preservation Restriction.

The “century farm” has now been owned by the Hertel family for 112 years. Fourth-generation owners — Norman’s son and daughter-in-law, Andy and Kerrie —purchased the farm in 2016. Their siblings and children help till 70 acres of hay fields. Andy and Kerrie also own the 50-acre Maple Heights Farm in nearby Westminster, Massachusetts, where they raise beef, pork, and chickens.

Photo: facebook.com/Sunnyhillfarmlabradors
Sources: Edibleboston.com, telegram.com, MA Century Farms