Three generations of beekeepers live the sweet life

Beekeeping began in the 1970s, for Cornell resident John Nohr, after his friend got him interested in the career path. Submitted Photo

By Ginna Young

As part of Nohr Honey Ranch, hives of bees don’t just stay in Wisconsin, they are also wintered in Florida, and also are shipped to California, for pollination efforts.

y n If you’ve ever picked up a bottle of pure honey at Walmart or Costco, it’s possible that honey came from Nohr Honey Ranch, located in Cornell. While the family’s operation is based at 24434 County Hwy. E, their bees end up not only in Wisconsin, but also Florida and California.

The three-generation business is primarily run by Israel Nohr, who has taken over the day-to-stay operations from his father, John Nohr.

“My dad’s always had bees,” said Israel.

John started his outfit in 1976.

“I had friend who was doing it and I helped him one summer,” said John. “And he was running bees for a guy from Florida, who was one of the biggest beekeepers in the world at the time.”

That beekeeper told John if he ever wanted a job, to look him up, which is just what John did. He was given bees to run from Florida, and the family’s beekeeping life began.

“And it just kind of snowballed,” said John.

John ended up buying his own bees from the Florida man, but when his oldest son was born, John says he didn’t want to go back and forth to Florida all the time. He then tried to winter the bees at home, but the mites that plague hives in the Midwest, made it all but impossible.

After that, John did construction for some time, then got back into it in the 1990s, and after Israel came along, had a helper by his side and someone to pass the knowledge onto.

“Nobody knows everything there is to know about it,” said John. “It’s just kind of a miracle.”

While the ranch provides a significant amount of raw honey, that’s not the Nohrs’ primary focus. Mainly, the family focuses on pollination efforts, for cranberry bogs and orchards, with hives located in Soldiers Grove and Door County, as well as other sites across Wisconsin.

“The one guy takes almost like 1,000 hives,” said Israel.

To combat the mites, each year, at the end of July or so, the hives are brought home, treated for mites and “fed up” to make their winter weight, with a liquid sugar soup. They’re then shipped to Florida for wintering, around mid-October. The Nohrs go back to Florida, in December, where the hives are treated and fed again.

They return again in January, to feed the bees, then send those who meet the grade to California to pollinate.

“It keeps us pretty busy,” said Israel. “We’ve gotten quite a bit bigger in the last 10 years, for sure. This is all I do.”

John says having an understanding wife and a good, dependable hired man have been integral for the ranch. According to John, there’s always been divine the rough times. John recalls what , vine intervention, even during at his friend always said: You know, beekeeping is just one crisis after another.

“Sometimes, it seems like that,” said John, "but it's been a blessing to enjoy my occupation and to learn some life lessons from God’s creation. We’ve had many generous landowners willing to let us use a spot for a bee yard.”

Israel said people call the ranch need something pollinated, but or two hives on a plot of land is feasible for the company. Only so many nch if they that one not feamany bees can sustain themselves within a certain area. Israel recommends only locating 72 hives within a couple miles of each other.

“We’re always looking for places to put bees on if people have something,” he said. “It’s nice to have options to put bees out.”

When the bees are shipped home from Florida, in the spring, the ranch starts with about 2,500 hives (700 on each semi).

“Then what happens, is we set these in there (dark room) for awhile and they’ll heat up overnight,” said Israel.

The “cap” is then cut off the frame and run through an extractor with rotating knives. The raw honey is piped to an old bulk milk tank the family purchased and filtered out for bottling.

“If you were to just do it on a small scale, you’d scratch the frames off by hand and it would take not very long,” said Israel. “We don’t retail any honey.” Instead, the Nohrs have a local honey exchange program, along with a packer in Georgia, who buys most of the raw honey. Whatever honey is left from pollinating in Wisconsin, is brought home at the end of July, so they can start extracting honey that was collected during that time frame. Israel says their home bottling system is not set up for mass producing or processing. “In the past, we’ve done once a year, but now we do it twice, because we bring them back from Florida,” he said.

If the family ever decided to bottle their own honey, they would need a partially automated system to handle the volume. They also don’t sell their beeswax that is collected from floating on top in the bulk tank, but they do have some in storage.

“There’s a pretty good market for it, but we don’t produce a ton,” said Israel. “It’s 1,000 pounds a year, maybe.”

When working with the bees, sometimes the keepers wear suits and sometimes not when maintaining the hives. Solar fences are situated around the hives, to help protect them from animals.

“The ones that don’t pollinate, those we put in yards and make sure they have enough boxes on them (to maintain the population),” said Israel. “Each hive has one queen. That’s kind of the standard procedure. Then, if they get too crowded throughout the summer – if you don’t get around to them fast enough or…the older the queens are, the easier they swarm. We lose some that way.”

Weather definitely plays a factor; if it is hot and humid, the bees don’t need as many bodies in the hive to keep it warm.

As they continue to grow each year, Israel and John now have a third generation beekeeper to learn the ropes, with Israel’s 10-year-old son, Logan, by their side.

“He’s pretty good help,” said Israel.

With the full-time work, Israel says it is interesting and keeps the ranch busy as the Nohrs see the years pass by. John agrees, and is grateful that he’s been able to support his family. “You couldn’t ask for a more interesting occupation,” said John.

[caption id="attachment_266698" align="alignnone" width="300"] Nohr Honey Ranch has now been operated by three generations – John, Israel and Logan, 10. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="241"] As part of maintaining their hives, the Nohr family makes certain there is enough room for the bees in the frames. They’re also fed with sugar “soup” to fatten them for the winter.[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="241"] More than 2,500 hives are loaded on semis and shipped back to Wisconsin, after wintering in Florida, for Nohr Honey Ranch in Cornell.[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="114"] A cutter takes the cap off frames, to get at the raw honey inside. Photo by Ginna Young[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="241"] As part of Nohr Honey Ranch, hives of bees don’t just stay in Wisconsin, they are also wintered in Florida, and also are shipped to California, for pollination efforts.[/caption]   [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="241"] Once the frame caps are off, an extractor removes the honey, before piping it to a bulk tank for heating and eventual bottling.[/caption]