Remsen Farmers Coop

Tammy Popken’s father, Dave Hawkins, died unexpectedly in 2011, leaving behind 125 antique John Deere tractors. The story of the collection and the auction sale was told on the show “Strange Inheritance” on Fox Business Network. While his father-in-law primarily collected two-cylinder tractors, Todd went the opposite direction: “I grew up on John Deere 4020s, so I’ve collected most of the 20 series, as time and money allow.” Photo courtesy Alex Popken.

machinery to baseball card collections to firearms to you name it.” Following his May graduation, the remainder of year 2019 was the Pop pop POP year of Austin’s young life: Not only was June his first full month with Bruce Brock but he also went to auctioneer

Combining the strength of a large company with the agility of a small company.

school; in July, he got married; and in December, he got his real estate license. Then, in January 2020, he and his wife bought into Brock Auction Co. Austin met his wife, Nicole, at SDSU. Her family runs a cow-calf operation in Eureka, S.D., about 70 miles west of Aberdeen. She is currently a secretary for Sioux Center Public Schools, but he hopes one day she’ll be working with him at the auction company. Nicole has also become Austin’s partner in vaccinating the nursery pigs. Alex said, “I was gone one day and she filled in and all of a sudden she was doing it. I don’t miss it.” Austin wasn’t always convinced that farming was going to be part of his life. “Farming is not always rewarding financially,” he said, “And I saw the hardships my parents and Alex went through.” But he discovered a great career off the family farm – and it’s one that lets him stay connected to, active in and supportive of his parents’ farm.

Grain Sales | Agronomy Services | Livestock Feed

Remsen Farmers Cooperative provides solutions and dependability local growers can rely on! 712-786-1134 www.remsencoop.com

THE PIGS DON’T COMPLAIN, THEY DON’T TALK BACK

Fourteen years ago, Tammy was a long-time accounts payable supervisor with a major local food processing company. When the corporate world hit the skids in 2008, she was a victim of some human resources bloodletting. The unexpected change was devastating to her morale. But she started a new career the following day. “The next morning I went to work in the hog shed with Todd and I’m still going to the hog shed today. The little pigs are always very happy to see you – they don’t complain and they don’t talk back,” she said. Tammy helps out with the grain cart in the fall (even though the steering is done from the combine, she in place for an emergency). Most importantly, she’s 99 percent responsible for the finance and bookkeeping side of the farm business.