When a family operates a farm and hangs onto it, it doesn’t take many generations to cover 100 years. This is one that is into only the fourth.

The Osage County farm was purchased by Lawrence J. Mertens, a single person, from Alphonse Deltence and Josie Deltence on Aug. 12, 1913. The farm contained 240 acres more or less. Later in life, Lawrence Mertens married Lena Niekamp and to this union, five children were born. In 1959, he sold the farm to his son Nelson. Nelson’s sister Bernadine married into the Kliethermes clan and her son is Osage County Western District Commissioner Larry Kliethermes. 

In 2018, Larry’s son, Ryan, and his wife Robin (Loehner) Kliethermes purchased 95 acres from Nelson Mertens, and in 2019 Larry Kliethermes and his wife Martha (Buechler) Kliethermes bought the 145-acre balance. Nelson Mertens died in 2018.

Today, Ryan Kliethermes, his wife Robin, and Larry Kliethermes with his wife Martha continue to operate the farm together, raising hay and beef cattle. So, the grandson and great-grandson of Lawrence Mertens are still maintaining the place, keeping it in the family.

In the early days, the land was an all-purpose farm, providing subsistence for the Mertens family and income at market. They raised hogs, chickens, and cattle. Later, it was a dairy operation. Nelson Mertens and his sister, Marie, raised produce and sold much of it at local farmers’ markets.

Ryan and Robin have two sons, Nolan and Joseph, and are expecting a daughter, in April. That’s the prospective fifth generation.

“I enjoyed spending a week in the summer on the farm with grandpa and grandma along with my uncle and aunt when I was growing up, tagging along with Nelson and Marie doing gardening and farm work, especially milking because my parents did not have a dairy farm,” said Larry Kliethermes. “When I was older, I would help Nelson during the harvest season. In the earlier days, this was done using a thrashing machine and stationary baler, as time went on this was done with modern equipment. Today, my grandchildren enjoy spending time on the farm playing and helping with chores.”

The Kliethermes Mertens Farm was certified a Missouri Century Farm by the University of Missouri (MU) Extension, the MU College of agriculture, and the Missouri Farm Bureau in 2021.