The Farming Families of Hutchinson and Turner Counties (SD)—August 2021

August 2021 | www.AgeMedia.pub

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

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Story on page 20.

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SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH & TAXES

PUBLISHERS Garrett and Mindy Gross, AGE Media (605) 690-4071 EDITOR Bob Fitch, AGE Media (712) 551-4123 ADVERTISING SALES Garrett Gross, AGE Media (515) 231-9367 garrett@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural southeastern South Dakota. All rights reserved. Content in this magazine should not be copied in any way without the written permission of the publisher. The Farming Families assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Content in articles, editorial and advertisements are not necessarily endorsed by The Farming Families and Age Media & Promotion.

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HUTCHINSON COUNTY FAMILY

Levi Wollman takes a break from the hog operation to have some fun with some children at the New Elm Springs Hutterite Colony.

NEW ELM SPRINGS COLONY EAGERLY MODERNIZES IN BOTH PRODUCTION AND MARKETING PRACTICES

By Garrett Gross

Levi Wollman is the hog boss at New Elm Springs Colony located seven miles east of Dimock. He oversees every aspect of the hog operation with five other people working with him. Other members of the team include his father, Mike, and brothers, Mike and Allen.

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New Elm Springs Colony is a true farrow-to-finish hog operation with all the farrowing, nursery and finishing barns on property. They also have a plant where they mill all their own feed for both their pigs and their turkey operation. This selfreliant approach is not uncommon for Hutterite Colonies and especially for this specific group of people.

The history of the New Elm Springs Colony in the area dates back to the 1870s when families first settled at Maxwell Colony, south of Menno.

This was during a time, following the Homestead Act of 1862, where more than 100,000 Germans from Russia

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

immigrated to the United States, many of whom came to what is now South Dakota.

Hutterites are pacifists; this was one of the primary reasons for leaving Russia. In 1870, the Russian Czar proclaimed all who lived in the area would have to serve in the military if drafted. Subsequently, many Hutterites migrated to the U.S. Then, in 1917, during World War I, the U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service Act which enabled the government to institute a military draft. This was against the Hutterites’ pacifist beliefs and many colonies relocated to Canada.

In 1930, the families at Elm Springs Colony moved to Alberta for six years. These were challenging years during the depths of the Great Depression in both Canada and the U.S. In 1936, several families consisting of about 50 people moved back to the land along the James River. This was during a time when South Dakota was experiencing lower tax revenue and state government welcomed the Hutterite families back to the land they originally homesteaded. “Those were not easy times and our people were not wealthy at all. Our people worked very hard for many years to build up the colony,” explained Levi.

Ninety years and several generations later, New Elm Springs Colony is what it is today. There are about 100 people living there and the colony’s fiscal house is in good order. The colony has been delivering the majority of their hogs to the John Morrell/Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls for many years since returning from Canada.

Age Media Qtr Page Color 7-12-19.pdf 1 7/12/2019 11:22:43 AM

Two views of the facilities of at the New Elm Springs Hog Farm

Levi is a board member of the South Dakota Pork Producers Council and an active participant in the We Care program which is an initiative put forth by the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council. The checkoff-funded We Care is a program that focuses on the modern approach to pig farming centered around principles of animal wellbeing, environment, food safety, people, community and public health. “We practice the We Care principles every day because we have so much riding on this. Safety, caring for the environment and animal well-being are crucial to everything we do,” says Levi.

All the pigs and turkeys receive fresh, quality water which runs through a reverse osmosis purification system on the property as the colony goes through over 40,000 gallons per day for both livestock operations. New Elm Springs also has been using a product that ties up the ammonia in the pits which drastically reduces the smell on the property.

New Elm Springs does have a butcher and processing facility on site and they sell a wide variety of pork and turkey products. Levi’s father, Mike, oversees the butcher shop and they sell products to commercial and retail customers. Many of the butcher shop's products can be purchased at Dimock Dairy as well.

August 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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About 100 people live at New Elm Springs Hutterite Colony.

Levi and Mike Hofer with Mike’s son, Simon, in the butcher shop at the colony.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

The pig barns at New Elm Springs.

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KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

1947 Renner Monarchs.

Back Row: Chuck Berg, Leland Nelson, Alton Nanson, Verne Reed, Lloyd Johnson, Donnie Nessan, Harold Crooks, Merle Toft.Front Row: Shorty Oyen Mgr., Adrian Nelson, Richard Christenson, Ken Kessinger, Russell Brende, Gene Johnson, Roy Nanson, Charles Peterson, Jimmy Benson Business Mgr. Bat Boy: Ron Peterson

SOUTH DAKOTA’S BASEBALL CAPITAL

By Garrett Gross

Nearly every small town is known for something. Freeman celebrates its German roots with Schmeckfest and Viborg celebrates its Scandinavian roots with Danish Days. And in Dell Rapids the town kicks up its heels with Quarry Days. It seems every community has something for which they are proud.

In the small town of Renner, located just north of Sioux Falls, the community is known for baseball.

It's been said the size of a town can be measured by the number of stoplights it has; Renner doesn’t have any, but it has a great baseball park. The 2021 season marks the 100th anniversary of local teams playing at the current site.

Renner area farmer and life-long resident Steve McGee and others have taken an active role in maintaining this history and putting it on display at the Monarch Lounge located adjacent to the ball diamond. In the Monarch’s 10

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

entryway and inside the lounge, there is a great display of photos, press clippings and other items that display the rich history of baseball in the community.

This history is almost overwhelming as it shows Monarchs have won 20 State Amateur Championships since 1939.

Steve will be the first to tell you that this display of community history isn’t the work of one person.

Rather, it is the assembly and organization of collections done by people and families for decades.

“There comes a time for many when someone passes

Renner Monarchs were state champions in 1963.

Renner’s baseball historians: Steve McGee, Stu Brende and Ed Powers. The wall behind them is covered in memorabilia from Renner’s rich baseball history.

A Renner team from the early 1920s.

The Renner ballpark in the 1920s.

away and their families contact us with items or scrapbooks put together that they don’t want thrown away and we end up getting them,” explains Steve. There is no shortage of items and it's always interesting to see the collection grow and evolve.

The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association as an official organization dates back to its formation in 1933. However, baseball history in Renner baseball goes back well before then. An exact date hasn’t been identified, but pioneer accounts say that back in the 1890’s area farm boys would gather at Nessan pasture, just east of Renner Lutheran Church on Sunday afternoons to play Baltic, Ellis, Brandon or Colton. “Such names as Flamo, Peterson, Nessan, Powers, Oien, Berg and Helgerson were in the lineup sometimes wearing straw hats and overalls with gloves with little or no padding and homemade bats to powder the opposing pitcher’s fastballs,” as documented by a book put together by Steve McGee and others recording Renner baseball history.

Renner baseball has seen a great deal of success in recent years with the Monarchs winning 16 State A Championships since 2003. This winning era isn’t the first time the community has had a great group of players. Dating back to 1939, the Renner amateur team became the smallest town ever to qualify for national playoffs. That year the Renner team travelled to Battle Creek, Mich., to play in the Amateur World Series and played the longest game in history of the tournament at the time vs. Chicago Heights, IL in a 17-inning 6-5 loss.

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Renner Monarchs were state champions in 2015.

Renner’s baseball field has seen a few floods over the years when the Big Sioux River overran its banks about a mile to the west of the ballpark. However, each time the field returns to playing condition as there is no shortage of people willing to help with labor or finances to restore the diamond.

Renner 4-H baseball club in the 1930s.

Currently, the field is used by amateur teams as well as two American Legion teams and area high schools as well. There have literally been tens of thousands of ball games played at the park over the years and Renner carries the

distinction of the smallest town to every host the State Amateur Tournament and they have done so on four occasions.

In 1982, the South Dakota Legislature proclaimed Renner as the Baseball Capital of South Dakota. This is a well-earned distinction, proclaiming officially what is known by many. The Renner community takes pride in their little town and baseball is the way they show it off to others.

*Thanks to Steve McGee and Stu Brende for their assistance compiling this story.

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MINNEHAHA COUNTY FAMILY

INNOVATION IN THE PRODUCE PATCH

GLORY GARDEN OFFERS ONLINE FARMERS MARKET

By Bob Fitch

Josie, Anna and Joshua Anderson.

The corner vegetable stand has a brand new look in the Sioux Falls area.

The local foods movement, the organic foods movement, the sustainably-grown food movement, and the desire to have a secure food supply after last year’s supply chain problems have caused more consumers to question who is growing their food and how they’re growing it. Collectively, these movements have caused unprecedented numbers of food-buyers to seek out farmers markets or other solutions such as community supported agriculture (CSA).

Anna Anderson has taken a little

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bit of each of these ingredients and created a new recipe. Her company, Glory Garden, is the area’s first online farmers market.

Ten years ago while Anna was still in the midst of her teenage years, she and her parents, Tim and Britt Maifeld, and their three other children moved from Sioux Falls to an acreage in the Crooks area. “It was my mom and dad’s dream to have a place in the country where we could have a big garden and animals,” Anna said.

“When we moved out here, I really

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

started to enjoy being outside and I began experimenting with gardening, doing chores and working with the animals. After I graduated, I thought if I could make money doing this, that is what I’d really love to do for a career,” she said. She started small, just selling to friends and family. For several years, Anna worked on developing a business model which included the best way to get her products from her garden into the hands of her customers.

“I considered farmers markets.

But I was an introvert, so having

Anna Anderson loads her GMC Yukon every Tuesday to drop off orders at seven Sioux Falls drop sites. Top right is a sample of the type of produce she aggregates from area growers. The tailgate of her truck serves as a rolling billboard.

to smile and say ‘hi’ to hundreds of people was a little bit intimidating for me. I also didn’t like the idea of having to harvest a whole bunch of product and take it to market without having a guarantee of selling it.

“I also considered a CSA. Community supported agriculture is a subscription model where customers sign up in the spring for a weekly or monthly delivery of a box of vegetables. It’s great for a lot of farmers, but I heard from customers who, for example, don’t like getting eggplant in their box or getting too many beets – and they didn’t want to waste food. While the CSA model works for some, the customers I was hearing from wanted something different. I wanted to see if there was something better.”

She set her sights on the possibility of customers ordering online, choosing exactly the product they wanted, and having the order delivered to Sioux Falls. “I originally started out selling only what I was growing myself. After a couple of years of doing that, I met Stephanie Peterson of Fruit of the Coop. My customers were asking for eggs and Stephanie had eggs. I said ‘Let’s see if we can work together.’ And that worked out very well.” The connections continued. “When I was short on beans, I made a connection with Jerry Ward of Hackberry Hollow who was able to help me out. He was the first other vegetable producer I worked with. The more I got to know Jerry and as I met other producers, I realized these guys are doing an amazing job of growing – and are doing a far better job than I can do with most products because they have greenhouses and tractors and equipment I don’t have.

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15

They’re doing it on a bigger scale than I could do as a oneperson operation.”

As her connections grew, so did her interest in the sales, marketing and customer service side of the business. “Serving my customers and figuring out how to meet their needs became my real passion. Many producers really, really want to focus on growing, but the marketing side wasn’t necessarily their favorite thing to do,” Anna said.

Her company, called Glory Garden, became the hub in a wagon wheel of collection, quality control, packaging and delivery services. On Mondays and Tuesdays from May through October, nearly 20 producers deliver their crops to the Glory Garden farm site. The system has allowed her to have both a wider variety of products available and also a greater quantity of high demand items. (In winter 2020-2021, she also started a monthly winter delivery of a more limited selection.)

Customers order via her website – www.glorygarden.org – and then the fresh, locally-grown food is delivered on Tuesdays to seven drop sites in Sioux Falls. Customers can also choose to pick up their food at the Glory Garden farm site.

Anna’s daughter, Josie, enjoys sugar snap peas straight from the garden.

Anna inherited her entrepreneurial spirit from her late father, Tim, who started several different home-based businesses.

She became the local pioneer of the online farmers market.

“It describes really well what we are and helps people immediately know there are multiple farmers involved like a farmers market, but it has the convenience of being online.”

While convenience is essential, quality is job one. “We’re very focused on getting products to them in the highest quality state – not limp, not wilted, not dirty. I want it to be able to go directly from their box into their refrigerator. I want to provide them a product which will last for a week or two in their refrigerator. In order to do that, I really figure out the best way to package the products. In addition, on my website, along with the product listing, I provide advice about extending the storage time or shelf life of almost all the products.”

Anna still gets her hands dirty in the garden, but is able to stay focused on her favorite things to grow – sugar snap peas, rhubarb, herbs and eggplant. “Ultimately, I want all my producers to specialize in what they do well. I’ve learned from personal experience when you try to diversify and grow too many different things, you’re pulled in too many directions and end up lowering the quality of everything. Producers who specialize have the most quality and consistency and, in the end, are the most profitable,” she said.

“By me aggregating all of the products, we end up with a large variety while having each of us focus on what we do best. It gets me excited thinking about the big picture of what we can accomplish working together. This business model came about because I was listening to what my customers were telling me.”

Lydia Caroline Anderson was added to the family just one week after the interview for this story was done.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

Family is essential to Glory Garden. Anna’s husband, Joshua, works in electrical engineering but helps her stay focused on the right things when life seems overwhelming. He shares her

dream of having a family business that their children can be involved in while learning about the value of serving others.

Her mom, Britt, continues to allow Anna use the garden and shed on the farm for business operations (since Anna and her family now live in Sioux Falls). In addition, Mom feeds them and provides free, on-site daycare services for Josie, 1½, and a second child who is expected to arrive by the time this magazine reaches your mailbox.

Anna’s sister, Ella, provides back-up and helps pick up the slack in many parts of the operation. Ella is also experimenting with growing edible flowers and flower bouquets.

Brother Ben provides mechanic service to keep the family’s vehicles running.

A critical employee is Sam, the 13-year-old son of family friends.

He has worked for Glory Garden for three years. Because he’s homeschooled, he is able to work on Tuesdays year-round. He helps with all the physical labor and packaging goods and greets each customer with a smile while delivering orders.

Product categories on GloryGarden.org include: Fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, honey and dry goods.

“Our biggest sellers are cucumbers and tomatoes from Gilkerson Gardens in Brookings. The reason is he specializes in cucumbers and tomatoes and he has them from April through October, consistently every single week.” Anna publishes a weekly e-newsletter which helps create a personal connection between her, the customer, and the other producers.

“With a 1½ year old and another baby on the way, I’m really focused on how I can make a delicious meal with the least amount of effort. I’m really a stickler about cooking things from scratch and I know that usually takes a lot of work. I make healthy and delicious

Britt, Ella and Ben Maifeld; and Josie, Anna, and Joshua Anderson.

meals a priority, but I’m still looking for shortcuts and tips which can make food preparation easier. As I learn those things, I share that information on my weekly email and it’s included on a blog on my website along with some videos.” (See a sample of one of her recipes on page 34.)

Anna runs the company based on three key values (listed below). Deeper still than these three values is the genesis of the company name Glory Garden. Based on 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV), it says “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Anna said, “I want my life to glorify God and that includes my business. It’s a fundamental principle of my life.”

Anna measures the progress of her business on whether results support her top three core values:

#1. “I build relationships with my customers by knowing and caring about each one of them personally. I also want to let them know about my life and the lives of the farmers we work with since they aren’t meeting them at a farmers market.” When one customer was using products from Glory Garden to make supper, her three-year-old said “‘I can taste the love in there.’ That’s always stuck with me and I hope my customers can always taste the love that goes into what we’re selling.”

#2. “Number two is showing integrity in everything we do. We want to be transparent about who our producers are and where the food comes from, and how it is grown.”

#3. “Delivering quality. At the end of the day, if our customers aren’t getting the quality of product they want, they’re not going to order again. It takes a huge amount of trust to order produce online because you don’t get to smell it, touch it or pinch it. I have to make sure the description of the food I sell on my website matches what they see when they open their box. At the end of the day, if people open their box and the product in it is ugly or unappealing or wilty, they’re not going to come back to us again.”

August 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

August 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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TURNER COUNTY FAMILY

BASE HITS AND A HEART FOR FARMING

By Bob Fitch

Clint, Elizabeth, Paige and Lance Olesen of Turkey Ridge.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

Barb and Larry Olesen recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Tune out the background noise and stick to the plan is the approach the Olesen family takes on their farm in the northern suburbs of Turkey Ridge.

“For the success of the operation, our philosophy is to go for base hits, not home runs. Dad has said that lots of times,” said Lance Olesen. They apply the base hits approach to most every decision – whether it’s the amount of fertilizer to apply, which seed and chemicals to use, or buying good used machinery to let someone else pay for the depreciation.

“Especially with marketing, everybody is always trying to sell for the highest price. We just try to make sure we’re consistently profitable every year. If we can be in the top third of the market, we’re happy enough with that.”

Lance’s father, Larry Olesen, concurred. “For those people who always think they’re going to sell at the highest price, they usually end up with the grain in the bin when it goes down. We don’t always sell at the highest point, but you don’t want to be on the bottom third. But it’s still emotional selling grain.”

Larry and his wife, Barb, along with Lance and his wife, Elizabeth, raise corn and soybeans plus have a cow-calf herd.

For Lance, his first 11 years of farming has been a wild ride.

“Since I started in 2010, I feel like I’ve seen all the extremes, from the worst drought in 2012 to the wettest year on record

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Elizabeth Olesen with her brother, Reid Nutley, who is a key team member at the Olesen farm.

in 2019. I’ve seen record high corn prices and low corn prices. Then you throw the pandemic in there.”

Nevertheless, he believes they’re fortunate to be diversified with their expanding cow herd. “During 2019, because it was so wet, we couldn’t plant until later. When we planted cover crops, it was nice to have cows to feed those crops to.”

Lance also enjoys the benefit of having his wife work side-by-side with him. Barb said, “Elizabeth is a huge part of the operation. She can do anything.”

Elizabeth said, “The first year I worked here full-time, I was very pregnant. Coming into it during 2018, one of the wettest calving seasons ever, it was baptism by fire.”

She grew up on an acreage, but her previous hands-on farm experience

22

was limited. Her grandparents farmed, but her parents, Mike and Becky Nutley of Irene, do not.

Elizabeth and her brother, Reid Nutley, now operate their grandparent’s former farm near Irene. Reid is also an important part of the labor force on the Olesen farm. Lance said, “It’s hard to find good help and he’s top-notch help.

We’re very blessed to have him.”

Lance had special praise for Elizabeth’s contribution to the cow-calf operation. “I don’t know if it’s a woman thing or not, but she can tell if a cow is going into labor before we can.” Larry agreed: “She can also spot a sick calf before the rest of us.”

Elizabeth said, “There’s been a lot of listening, Lance helped me so much and I’ve come leaps and bounds

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

from where I was three years ago.

I feel like I’ve caught on quick. I listen to the vets when they come and ask the right questions. I love it.” Lance said their veterinarian, Dr. Ron Good from Parker, does a great job for them.

Lance also praised his wife’s quick thinking. Elizabeth was recently hauling a load of round bales when one of the bales spontaneously burst into flame. To save the rest of the load, she quickly unhooked the tractor from the wagon, used the fork to pull the burning bale off and dropped it onto the gravel road. Because he’s a member of the Turkey Ridge grass fire team, Lance was glad she dropped it on the gravel and not in the ditch.

After their high school years, both Lance and Larry took time to

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experience life off the farm. Larry went to USD-Springfield and worked for several years as a mechanic in Sioux Falls before fulfilling his hope to farm. When he graduated from high school, there wasn’t enough land to expand on his dad’s operation, so he went to college and got a job in the city. But childhood neighbors Marvin and Ruth Roesler provided an opportunity. “I worked for Marvin all through high school.

He knew I wanted to farm. In 1973, we had the chance to become part of his operation and he rented me a piece of his land. My wife said we’d try farming for four years and we’re 48 years into it now.

“Marvin had a good heart to start a young farmer out. We worked well together and, when he gave me the opportunity to come back, I jumped on it,” Larry said. On the grain side, Marvin farmed until he was 85 years old.

In addition to his early stint as a mechanic, Larry used his time in Sioux Falls to find a wife. Barb was the advertising manager at Lewis Drug in 1970. After the two of them met, he wanted to ask her out, but neither of them had phones at their apartments. So he called Lewis Drug and had her paged.

That apparently worked because they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June. Ironically, when he went to pick her up for their first date, he discovered she lived at 908 South Lake Street, less than a block from his apartment at 812 South Lake Street.

Marvin Roesler, left, with Larry Olesen checking the haylage in 1974. Marvin “had a good heart to start a young farmer out,” Larry said.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

Barb grew up on a dairy, corn and soybean farm in Rock County, Minnesota. She and Larry also operated a dairy. They sold the dairy cows in 1997 after 24 years.

At that time, they added land and expanded their stock cow herd. Barb said, “The farm was a wonderful place to raise a family.”

In addition to Lance, the couple have two daughters: Kristi and her husband, Jeet Nayak; and Julie and

her husband Matt Viet, who have two children, Luke and Levi.

For fun, Larry and Barb drive their 1956 two-door Chevy Bel-Air as part of a car club which cruises on Wednesday nights. Larry said, “When we were first married, we had a ’55 Chevy, but when we started farming we sold it to help raise money to buy a pickup.”

He also participates in antique tractor drives about 10 times a year as a member of the Tri-State Old Iron Association out of Yankton. He typically drives a 1969 John Deere 2520 or a 1969 4000. He offered to put a buddy seat on the tractor so Barb could ride along, but she told him to “save your money.”

Lance and Larry also regularly take part in the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest. They’ve placed first three times in the non-irrigated, conventional tillage division. Their highest soybean yield was 87.4 bushels per acre.

Like his dad, Lance went to college and worked briefly off the farm.

He studied civil engineering at Southeast Technical College and worked in that field for a short time, but said, “I knew in my heart I wanted to come back to farm.”

Coincidentally, after college, some

Larry Olesen is an active participant in the Tri-State Old Iron Association. He’s driving his 1969 John Deere 2520 here.

land came up to rent and then his grandma was ready to sell the original Olesen farm to him. “It was kind of the right timing for me and it all fell together.” His grandmother, Fern Olesen, is 94 and still lives alone on the farm. She sometimes still mows her own lawn and drives to town to get her groceries, but Larry has asked her to stop driving to Sioux Falls.

Lance and Elizabeth – and their children, Paige, 3, and Clint, 1 – enjoy boating, especially at Lewis &

Clark Lake Yankton. They like to have friends and family join them on their pontoon.

The couple is confident in their future. Elizabeth said, “I’ve had people say to me that ‘working cows together is a good test of your marriage.’ You learn to have a moment and walk away.”

Lance agreed: “What’s said during working cows stays with working cows.”

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25

LINCOLN COUNTY FAMILY

VOEGELE FAMILY IS PROOF POSITIVE THAT ‘MORE CHAMPIONS ARE MADE AT HOME THAN IN THE SHOW RING’

By Bob Fitch

Farm families who show livestock thrive on the competitive experience at fairs and shows. For the Voegele family, the fiercest competition starts at home in their own barn.

Thirteen-year-old Sage Voegele said, “I like beating my brother.”

How often does that happen? “More often than I’d like,” said Sage’s 16-year-old brother, Cash.

Cash and Sage have been showing pigs for a number of years. “We’ve been very successful. There’s a lot of show banners in the barn,” Cash said. Sage added, “We try to one up each other.” The brother and sister are not competing in the minor leagues either: Cash had the reserve champion market hog at the 2018 Iowa State Fair and the champion market hog at the 2020 Aksarben Stock Show; Sage exhibited the 2018 champion market hog at Aksarben and the 2019 champion at the Iowa State Fair.

Cash, Sage, Sarah and Shannon Voegele of Voegele Show Cattle of Lennox.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

The duo come by their love of livestock shows naturally. Their parents, Shannon and Sarah Voegele of Lennox, both grew up showing livestock. Shannon’s parents, Leon and Delores Voegele, raised purebred Simmental cattle near the north central South Dakota town of Trail City (population 15, counting the dogs and cats,

Sage and Cash in competition at the 2018 Aksarben Stock Show.

Shannon said). Shannon was active in 4-H and the Junior Simmental Association.

Sarah’s parents are Glenn and Joan Muller of Davis. She showed cattle, hogs and sheep during her years in 4-H and FFA. “I’d say sheep were my favorite. I won at State Fair one year with a home-raised lamb.” Both Cash and Sage groaned simultaneously when their mom said sheep were her favorite animal to show.

Cash and Sage have shown pigs in order to not compete with the customers of the family business, Voegele Show Cattle.

Shannon said, “I’ve been fitting cattle my whole life. I started when I was probably eight years old in 4-H at the county fair.

As I got older, I’d stay out after dark just messing with calves.

When I got into high school, it started costing some money to have other people clip them. Finally, I told my dad I was going to do it myself and I grabbed a pair of clippers. I started whacking away. It looked terrible for a while.” However, when he wasn’t showing, he sat ringside on a five-gallon bucket, getting a hands-on education watching and learning from those who were winning.

Shannon worked for several show cattle firms, fitting cattle all over the country. He fit and exhibited four Charolais heifers who won national championships. He worked five years for Dr. David Faber, founder of Trans Ova Genetics, in Sioux Center, Iowa, and owner of Faber Show Cattle. The Faber family exhibited numerous champions at the Iowa State Fair.

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Contact Bob Fitch at (712) 551-4123 or Bob@agemedia.pub 28

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

Shannon and Sarah met when he was clipping and fitting cattle for her sister and brother. In addition to her work in the show cattle business, Sarah has been employed

by POET Biorefining for 15 years and is currently the quality manager at POET’s Chancellor plant.

In 2007, Shannon and Sarah started marketing cattle from their current location just south of Lennox.

Shannon said, “I started getting old enough that I thought we’d better have a place of our own for once instead of working for others our whole lives.”

They run several dozen of their own cows, bred by artificial insemination, plus take in extra calves on a commission basis and halter-break them and sell them for customers. Their club-calf crossbreds use genetics from Simmental, Charolais, Angus and Chi’s. Voegele Show Cattle has two or three sales

Sarah and Shannon Voegele started Voegele Show Cattle in 2007.

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never really did do much running.”

a year including an online sale every September. Cattle are sold to customers throughout the U.S. and Canada.

in the head and knocked me to the ground. Then the bucket fell on my foot which blew out the side of my foot. It should have killed me.”

Shannon said a business breeding, raising, selling and fitting cattle “takes a whole family to do it – to be next level. We take it serious.” Sarah added, “Showing livestock is kind of a crazy thing to do in life. If you don’t have both the husband and wife involved, I feel like it’s really hard to make a go of it.”

The force of the bucket falling on him caused his phone to be blown 30 feet one way and one of his shoes to be blown 40 feet the other way. Initially the hospital put five stitches in his foot and sent him home. But the wound kept bleeding and they returned to the hospital the next day where it was discovered the main artery in his foot was severed and he could have bled to death. Shannon was quickly wheeled into surgery. “I had five surgeries over a year’s time. My doctor and my wife both wanted to amputate my leg. I said it was still my leg and I wanted to try with it. It was a long year.” He kept his leg, but had to use a scooter to get around for a year and said he doesn’t “do much running anymore – although I

This point was driven home in 2017 when Shannon suffered serious injuries in a farm accident. He and a hired man were driving posts to put up a fence around stalks. As they struggled to get one fence post in, the hired man “centered the skid loader bucket, lifted it as high as he could, and slammed it down hard.

There was so much force on it, it sprung the bucket from its latches.

The bucket came unhooked, hit me

Sarah said, “That’s when Cash was kind of forced to take over the operation. He had to grow up fast.”

Shannon said, “Cash would do chores, go to school, come home and do chores, and take care of the calving. Now he runs the place better than I did.”

Sarah said family members and friends from all over the country stepped up to help them, especially because it happened in the middle of preparing for the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

Shannon said, “Show industry friends are your friends for life.”

Sarah continued, “We tell the kids: ‘The banners and buckles you win are nice, but it’s nothing compared to the friends you meet.’”

Cash has taken that philosophy to heart. “Before I’m done showing pigs, I want to meet someone from

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31

Last year, Cash and Sage started showing goats in addition to their pigs. While Cash was skeptical at first, he now says: “I love it. Goats are like miniature show steers because you can fit them up.”

Because the family’s annual sale is Labor Day weekend, it conflicts with the South Dakota State Fair.

Consequently, the Voegele teens are members of Country Kids 4-H Club at Inwood in Lyon County, Iowa, and attend the Iowa State Fair and Aksarben in Grand Island, Neb. In their very first year with goats, Cash placed third overall at Aksarben and Sage placed third overall at the Iowa State Fair.

Sage and Cash at the 2020 Aksarben Stock Show.

every state. I’ve just about got that done. There’s a few eastern states I still need to get.”

Making friends is also a motivating factor for Sage. She’s excited about this year’s Iowa State Fair because she was selected to take part in “Bacon Buddies,” a program run

by Iowa Pork Producers. Bacon Buddies pairs Special Olympics athletes with 4-H and FFA swine exhibitors. Sage will have supper with a child who has special needs, get him or her familiar with her pig, and then work together the next day at a show. “You get to bring your pig in the ring and a special needs kid gets to drive your pig and win banners,” she said.

Sage said she’d ultimately like to be a teacher for children with special needs or be a veterinarian “because I like animals and ‘Grandpa said I’d be good as a vet.’”

Sage will be an eighth grader at Lennox Junior High. She participates in 4-H, FFA and choir. She’s also active in church, doing children’s sermons and performing special music at Turner County Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

32

Both Sage and Cash also love to hunt and fish.

Cash is on track with at least one of his career goals – he’s already being sought out to custom-fit cattle.

Shannon said, “Cash is at the age where he wants to go every day.

He’s better with fitting and clipping now than I was at that age. It’s a little easier today because they’ve got better tools and better products to work with. I grew up with saddle soap and a comb. Now they’ve got all these fancy sprays and the equipment is 10 times better.”

Cash said, “Clipping cattle is an art. You can change an animal so much.” He also enjoys the sales aspect of the business, talking to prospective customers when they come to Lennox to look at their cattle. He will be a sophomore at Lennox High School this fall and, in addition to fitting cattle, he wants to go to junior college and work on his judging skills. After college, he said, “I want to marry a smokin’ hot wife and then start raising show cattle and show pigs; and also be an auctioneer.”

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

Shannon said, “When the kids were little and just learning how to show, we used to go to a lot of jackpots – we probably did 30 pig shows in a year. That was the best thing we did for our kids, experience-wise. They learned to show so much better.”

One year they took nine or 10 pigs to the Iowa State Fair. Getting a pig ready for the show ring requires weeks of walking the pigs 30 minutes in the morning and again 30 minutes at night. “The kids got kind of burnt out because they were walking pigs for six hours a day. It’s not a very fun job, but it has to be done if you want to be competitive,” said their dad. They show fewer head now and only exhibit at about a half dozen pig shows in a year.

They describe showing livestock as the family sport. Words they live by in their sport and in the family business include “Practice like you’ve never won and perform like you’ve never lost;” and “More champions are made at home than in the show ring.”

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021

• Basil, minced

DIRECTIONS: Cut up an adequate amount of vegetables to feed your family and mix with minced basil. Drizzle with dressing right before serving.

The salad will become very juicy if allowed to sit, so only make what you will eat right away.

For more recipes from Anna Anderson and her colleagues and friends, go to glorygarden.org/blogs/blog.

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August 2021 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

35

of Minnehaha County August 2021

Introducing

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INNOVATIVE FINANCING SOLUTIONS that save you critical operating costs! farmerscoopsociety.com 36

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2021