The Farming Families of Plymouth County (IA)—August 2022

August 2022 | www.AgeMedia.pub

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

of Plymouth County

SCHNEPF FAMILY Loren, Sandy, Mick, Max, Angie, and Mitchell Schnepf.

Story on page 18.

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

“The “The Land Land Marketing Marketing Professionals Professionals for for Over Over 100 100 Years” Years” UPCOMING AUGUST LAND AUCTIONS FEATURING 850+ ACRES OF GREAT PLYMOUTH COUNTY IOWA FARMLAND

August 5, 2022 - 10:00AM

August 8, 2022 - 10:00AM

155 155 Acres Acres M/L M/L Plymouth County Plymouth County Farmland Farmland Section Section 20, 20, Remsen Remsen Township Township Klohs Klohs Family Family Trust Trust

154.62 154.62 Acres Acres M/L M/L Plymouth Plymouth County County Farmland Farmland Section Section 12, 12, Stanton Stanton Township Township Darvin Darvin & & Jane Jane Petersen Petersen Heirs Heirs

August 12, 2022 - 10:00AM

August 19, 2022 - 10:00AM

308.32 308.32 Acres Acres M/L M/L Plymouth County Farmland Plymouth County Farmland Sold Sold in in 22 Tracts Tracts Shirley Shirley Jelken Jelken Estate Estate

233 Acres M/L Plymouth County Farmland Section 2, Garfield Township Griffith Family Farms

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| www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

of Sioux County PUBLISHERS Garrett and Mindy Gross, AGE Media EDITOR & IOWA MANAGER Bob Fitch, AGE Media Direct advertising inquiries, story submissions and other correspondence to: 712-551-4123 bob@agemedia.pub © The Farming Families, Age Media & Promotion The Farming Families is distributed free exclusively to the farmers, ranchers and producers in rural Sioux, Plymouth and Lyon Counties. 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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SIOUX COUNTY FAMILY

THE FARMER BEHIND THE FLOWERS

By Bob Fitch

“The first question most people ask me is ‘How many acres do you farm?’

For me, it’s not about how many acres I plant, but rather what I’m doing with the one acre I do farm,” said Jade Moret, the owner-operator of Holland Flower Farm east of Sioux Center.

One acre? One acre can’t be a real farm, can it? When your crop is cut flowers, yes, it really can be.

Holland Flower Farm is a real ag business with real employees. The farm has seven part-time summer employees, one full-time summer employee, and two year-round employees, including Jade.

“For us, success has nothing to do with the amount of land we have. It's about being really smart, knowing what are our best grossing flowers. For example, with a dahlia, I can plant the tuber, I can sell the flower and, finally, I can sell the tuber. Or I can get three successions of plantings out of the same space in a year because it goes from tulips to ranunculus to spring annuals.

Sometimes you can even get an additional succession,” Jade said.

Katy Timmer, Alysa Reitsma, and Jade, Cecelia and Sue Moret at Holland Flower Farm east of Sioux Center.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2022

She first tilled ground in fall 2018 and planted tulips and daffodils. In the spring of 2019, they harvested 300 tulips. “This spring, we grew almost 10,000 tulips and I hope to be up to 20,000 in the next two years,” she said.

THE CUT FLOWER MARKET The traditional cut flower market includes roses, Gerbera, carnations, orchids, tulips, and lilies. Eighty percent of the cut flowers purchased in the U.S. are imported from countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, the Netherlands and Canada. Imported flowers are traditionally treated with significant quantities of pesticides, with residue often still present at local retailers. The flowers from Holland Flower Farm are grown using compost tea fertilizer, cover crops to reduce soil erosion, and a no-chemical approach.

Holland Flower Farm’s seasonal and fresh blooms are sold through farmer's markets, flower subscriptions, weddings, and buckets of blooms for special events. Jade grows 400 different varieties of flowers, from tulips and

More than 400 varieties of flowers are grown at Holland Flower Farm.

dahlias to lisianthus and poppies to heirloom varieties such as foxglove and sweet peas.

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August 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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Jade Moret has space both outside and inside to design floral bouquets such as this one.

40 subscribers. “I always call our CSA members ‘the foundation’ of who we are. They've been with me since day one.”

AMAZING FARM GIRLS Acres and flower varieties and business models aside, Jade is passionate about growing a farm business with the right culture. “We start off the week with devotions, and we pray together, and we just spend time together.

On Wednesdays, we cook for the team and we all have lunch together. Work culture is important because you often spend more time at work than with your family.

Who you are as a person is important to me. Whether you're having a bad day or a good day, we can come to each other and have this be more than a job.”

Jade Moret harvests flowers for use in a bouquet. Four-year-old Cecelia supervises.

Let the sun in! The plastic over the hoop house is removed once the danger of frost is past.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2022

While Jade didn’t set out to build an all-female team, that’s how it’s worked out so far. “There's not a lot of women in agriculture. Where do all the amazing farm girls we have around here go to get summer jobs? If there had been a flower farm locally when I was in high school, I would have been all over that or anything to do with plants. So I get these awesome, hardworking girls who know what they’re getting into and what it takes to shovel a wheelbarrow of compost.”

The young women she’s hired are often at the top of their class in school. “They're hardworking, they're driven. In fact, we have to get walkie talkies out here because the girls don't even take their phones with them. They’re smart: If you're sitting on your phone, you're missing out on the best parts of working here.

We're in the flowers, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, there's butterflies, and it’s truly so peaceful.

When I come out here, I don't want to be on my phone, either. I just soak in and absorb all the beauty that we're surrounded by.”

August 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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Photo courtesy Holland Flower Farm.

Jade and Alysa with a flower arch they created for a wedding at Lake Okoboji.

Photo courtesy Holland Flower Farm.

Holland Flower Farm is in Sioux County’s Holland Township where Jade’s parents, Ryan and Sue Moret, operate Ryan Moret Trucking Inc. “Growing up, we got to be home with my parents because they were running their own business. I got to see them be entrepreneurs and see the late nights – so I knew what I was getting myself into. My parents have been a huge help for me.

Mom started the business with me. She likes to be out here and still helps at our peak harvest season. But since I’ve hired help, she's been able to take a big step back which has been really good,” she said.

A PASSION FOR PLANTS “I grew up in 4-H and FFA and just loved agriculture, but I never knew what direction I wanted to go with that passion.” She graduated from Dordt University with a degree in agriculture. She was inspired by summer internships which were oriented toward environmental and ornamental plants. After college graduation, she and Alysa Reitsma worked together at a landscape nursery. Today, Alysa works full-time with Jade.

Jade’s four-year-old daughter, Cecelia, is picking up on the passion for plants. “She has her own little garden out here, too. She gets to pick the seeds or plants she wants to grow. She checks on it and she waters it. Every year, we try to grow something new and fun. She loves to grow watermelon and she's growing celery this year.

Kids will get excited about eating vegetables if they are 10

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2022

growing them and get to go out there and pick them themselves.”

When Cecelia was born in 2018, Jade leaned into creating the farm lifestyle for her daughter. “I wanted to raise her where she could be home with me more often and be outside and have a childhood similar to what I got to have.”

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE Life’s adversity pushed her to propagate bigger plans.

“Two years ago, I went through a really awful divorce and became a single mom. And so, for me, what was once my side hobby had to become my full-time income.

No way was I going to let the divorce define me and take away the joy of creating this business. It ignited a new passion inside of me for not just having this fun side hobby, but really switching to think: How do I build a company?”

She has a vision for the company looking out two years and five years into the future. This year, a major step forward is the construction of a design studio adjacent to the flower field. The most important part of the structure is the 10x18-foot walk-in cooler. With the continued growth in their production, the temperatureand humidity-controlled environment is necessary to store a greater inventory of tulip bulbs and dahlia tubers. Harvested flowers will also have a little longer life if placed directly into the cooler.

The studio will have space to prep for deliveries, markets and weddings; plus provide space for plant racks to help start plants in the spring. “Building the studio adjacent to our growing area goes to the roots of who I am. When clients visit the site in-person or online, they’ll get so see how much work it takes to make just one bouquet. We're truly out here growing from seed, watering and harvesting. They’ll get to see the farmer behind the flowers.” Next on the development wish list is a greenhouse which will extend the season in the fall and help get a quicker start in the spring.

Consumer demand is increasing for long-lasting dried bouquets. Building on this trend and Jade’s strong social media following, Holland Flower Farm will begin shipping its dried bouquets across the country this fall. “I’m able to introduce people to varieties of flowers they've never seen in their lifetime. Many are airy and delicate; and it seems amazing they can grow out in the field in Iowa.”

The flowers are growing, the business is growing and four-year-old Cecelia is growing. Jade is happy her daughter will be able to look back on her childhood and say “I grew up on a flower farm.”

Additional sources

• Wikipedia “cut flowers” • Mordorintelligence.com, U.S. floriculture market

Photo courtesy Holland Flower Farm.

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KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

THE HARVEST BRIGADE

By Peggy Sanders

This crew of men was ready to harvest on farms around Oral, S.D. On the far left is the combine’s original owner, Alfred Seder.

Photo courtesy Peggy Sanders.

Back in the days of World War II, even though the war was being fought overseas, Americans were hit hard by rationing.

Steel, rubber, gasoline, sugar and many other foodstuffs needed to support the troops could only be purchased by the public when accompanied by ration stamps. The economy was vastly improved over the Great Depression, but more than money was needed to buy products. Factories were retooled to make airplanes, tanks, and other war needs. Against that backdrop, the War Food Administration asked Americans to sow 13.8 million more acres of wheat than the previous year, and somehow it had to be harvested. As is common in America, ingenuity came to the forefront. In this case Joe Tucker was the man with the plan.

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Tucker was a vice president and sales manager for the Massey-Harris Company in the US. He came up with a proposal to solve the harvest needs while keeping in mind the limited amounts of available steel. In 1944 Massey-Harris was given a quota to manufacture no more than 43,604 pull-type combines and 1,100 self-propelled Model 21 combines. Tucker proposed the theory of the Harvest Brigade to the U.S. War Production Board.

His plan was to allow Massey-Harris to obtain enough steel and other scarce raw materials to make an additional 500 Model 21s. In turn, the company would sell them with one stipulation: each purchaser would have to sign a contract and agree to harvest at least 2,000 acres of wheat with his combine. The War Production Board approved the program and the models were delivered. Each combine cost about $2,500.

A combiner typically charged harvest customers 25 cents per bushel; harvesters who charged by the acre were paid two to three dollars per acre harvested. The harvesters made their payments, the growers were satisfied, and the bountiful crops were harvested. Each of the five hundred red combines bore a sign declaring, “Massey-Harris Self-Propelled Harvest Brigade, Brigade-Proved…in the famous Million Acre Harvest Brigade.”

The self-propelled combine had come onto the market in the late 1930s. Its precursor, the pull-type combine, required a tractor for locomotion; tractors had to be heavy enough to pull plows and that required considerably more gas than a self-propelled combine. Although the combine was only used for harvest it could be fitted for various crops from wheat to beet and carrot seeds, beans and peas depending on the area of the country.

REC linemen.

At the conclusion of the Harvest Brigade, it was estimated that 500,000 gallons of gas was saved compared to what would have been used with tractors and pull-types. Because the combines could be driven faster and were more efficient resulting in a cleaner, more complete harvest, it was calculated that 365,000 man-hours were economized and a better yield was produced.

Among the members of the Harvest Brigade was Alfred Seder, a farmer near Oral, South Dakota. Given extra gas ration coupons to use during harvest, he was able to combine the required 2,000 acres in the area of Fall River County where he lived. In 1944 the area was dryland farm and wheat country, giving him ample acres. For others, the Harvest Brigade was when the

Massey-Harris made good promotional use of the Harvest Brigade in its advertising. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Aug. 25, 1944, via newspapers.com.

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industry of national custom harvesting really had its beginning. Prior to combines, threshing machines were moved from farm to farm in community areas but they did not travel far.

Harvest Brigade combine crew. Photo from www.bangshift.com.

Stamp on the side of a combine used in the Harvest Brigade. Photo courtesy Peggy Sanders.

Russell Wyatt stands next to the Harvest Brigade combine on his place near Oral, S.D. Photo courtesy Peggy Sanders.

A few years later, from 1950 to 1952, Russell Wyatt and his brother Harold leased and operated combines and went on the custom harvest, starting each year in Greensburg, Kansas and working their way north.

It was the lure of combines that prompted Russell to buy Seder’s combine as a way of preserving the history. The Harvest Brigade is a little known but highly important element of the stateside activities of World War II. The combine now rests on the farm Russell Wyatt, my dad, owned and when we bought his place, he gave the combine to me.

Massey-Harris Company’s Joe Tucker made sure newspapers along the harvest route were kept well-informed. From Pawnee Chief, Pawnee, Neb., via newspapers.com.

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SUMMER SUNSHINE. PHOTO BY ALYSA REITSMA, HOLLAND FLOWER FARM

August 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

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PLYMOUTH COUNTY FAMILY

PLYMOUTH COUNTY:

‘A SWEET SPOT IN AMERICA’

By Bob Fitch

Plymouth County was just the right place for the Schnepf family to put down roots – and it’s just the right place to continue to grow their legacy.

Loren and Sandy Schnepf’s legacy on the family farm goes back 46 years to their marriage in September 1976. Today, they farm north of Oyens with their son and daughter-in-law, Matt and Angie. Loren feeds cattle and Matt feeds hogs.

“I’m very happy where my great grandfather stopped,” Loren said.

“No matter how bad it is here, you can always find it worse someplace else. It gets cold here, but it's a lot colder north of here. It gets hot here, but it's a lot hotter south of here. We're in a sweet spot in America. You know, some years are better than others, but we always get a crop here.”

Loren’s great grandfather, Magnus, first put down roots in Plymouth County in the 1890s when he homesteaded about a mile north. In 1907, Magnus purchased the current farm site. Loren’s grandfather, William, and his father, Ralph, made a living there, followed by Loren, then Matt. The hope is one or more of Matt and Angie’s sons will be a part of the farming heritage “You want your legacy to go on.

I think my forefathers would be very proud of what we’re doing here,” Loren said.

Matt, Angie, Sandy and Loren Schnepf of Oyens.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | August 2022

Photo by Sandy Schnepf.

Matt said, “My hope is that by the time Dad retires, our boys will be here. I don't have the time to take care of what I have plus what he does.” Loren agreed: “There's enough work here for all three boys. If they so desire, we want them to have the opportunity.” Matt and Angie’s oldest son, Mitchell, will be a junior this fall at MMCRU; followed by Max who will be a freshman; and Mick who is going into seventh grade.

Loren is pleased that Matt and his sons are technology oriented. “Everything's big equipment now, so it will get easier here when his boys get bigger. It’s amazing how farming is more ‘mind’ now than physical labor. It used to be you did everything by hand. But you don't use a shovel or a fork very often anymore. It's really a pleasure to farm with somebody younger than you who understands it all. That means I don’t have to. When it comes to that precision stuff, I’m out.”

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Mitchell is likely on a path to be a part of the farm operation.

“Being the cattleman might be Mitchell's first responsibility,” Matt said. Loren added, “He's a natural in the cattle yard. He knows where to be and how to keep the cattle calm.”

Angie said, “He's that kid who's never going to bat an eye when you ask him to do something. He won't question it, he won’t say no. He’ll just do it.”

Matt said he’s not sure if their other two sons will be farmers or not. But Loren said, “Those boys are all part of the operation – sorting hogs, power washing the barns, washing trucks, vaccinating the cattle, running the grain carts. Whenever they’re here, they help us.”

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CATTLE, HOGS AND CROPS “There's a lot of people who just strictly grain farm,” Matt said. “To me, I'd be bored the rest of the year if that's all I did. Still, I live for spring and fall. I love to plant; I love to see the corn come up; I love to harvest.” While crop farming is the smallest part of the operation, “I wouldn't want to not do that.”

The Schnepf family. Front row: London Loustch, Presely Daum, Savanah Sheehan, Cruz Daum, Quinn Sheehan, Ivy and Cheri Daum, and Lori and Dan Sheehan. Middle row: Jason and Loutsch; Loren, Sandy, Angie and Mick Schnepf; Cooper Loutsch; Lucas Sheehan; and Carson and Jason Loutsch. Back row: Matt and Max Schnepf, Parker Loutsch, and Mitchell Schnepf.

Angie said, “They’re learning the ins and outs of the operation.

I think they enjoy it. They know a lot about it.” Matt added, “The more we can let them drive a tractor in the field and haul grain around, the more they like it.”

Still, Loren said, “You’ve always got to remember that the livestock comes before the farming. If you’ve got problems with the livestock in the morning, you don't go to the field. You’ve got to take care of the livestock first.” While he’s very much a cattleman, he and Sandy initially were not involved in his dad’s feedlot, but instead raised hogs. A few years later, Loren joined his father in the cattle feeding business and then got out of farrowing sows in the mid-1990s.

After Matt graduated from Western Iowa Tech, he and Angie were married in 2001. Matt built his first hog finishing unit in 2002, followed by a second one in 2006. For a number of years, they were contract finishers, but moved to owning the hogs themselves beginning in 2009. They added a pig nursery in 2011.

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Angie and Matt Schnepf were honored as Iowa’s 2021 Pork All-Americans at the Iowa Pork Congress in January 2022. The IPPA Pork All-American award honors producers 40 years of age or younger who have established themselves as community leaders and successful and dedicated business people. Matt and Angie were part of the 2013 class of Master Pork Producers.

Service is Our Business

Max, Angie, Mick, Matt and Mitchell Schnepf.

To supplement the farm’s income, Matt and Loren got into the business of trucking livestock about 20 years ago. Matt manages and schedules the trucks. However, Loren said, “I drive more than he does. I’m on the long hauls because he needs to stay around here and keep everything running.

I'm gone a lot in the fall with the truck loading calves, so he pretty well runs the farm. The trucking works pretty well as a part of our operation and it also keeps employees busy in the offseason.”

Loren said they buy cattle from select ranches in Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana. “We’ve made personal relationships with a lot of ranchers and become very good friends. We know what their cattle are going to do. I know what they look like before I get them and I can tell you what their performance will be because they've done it every year.”

RUNNING FOR PARTS AND VACCINATING PIGS Sandy retired last year from the U.S. Postal Service after 34 years of service in Oyens, Alton and Merrill. She now spends a lot of time attending sports and other activities of their 13 grandchildren. Matt said, “Mom also gets a lot of calls to pick us up or go get parts.” Sandy said, “I’ll run wherever they need me to go and get whatever they need me to get.”

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Angie has been a preschool teacher for the MMCRU district in Marcus for 10 years, but Matt puts her to work on the farm in the summer, helping to vaccinate the pigs and load them out.

Loren and Sandy’s daughters – Stephanie, Cheri, and Lori –

The Schnepf farm in 2011.

also helped to care for the pigs when they were growing up on the Schnepf farm.

Today, all three daughters call Remsen home. Stephanie and her husband, Jason Loutsch, farm north of Remsen. Lori and her husband, Dan Sheehan, farm south of Remsen. Cheri and her husband, Jason Daum, live in Remsen.

After a full day of shows, activities and fun at the fair, the family tops off their memories with a sweet treat.

Loren said, “I buy ice cream for the grandkids every night at 9:00. I guess the tradition started as soon as the grandkids were big enough to eat.”

‘THE BEST 5 DAYS OF SUMMER!’ The Plymouth County Fair represents “the best five days of summer” for the Schnepf family. Loren is a 28-year member of the fair board and has been president for three years.

Sandy was a 4-H leader for 15 years and Angie serves as a 4-H leader now.

Sandy said, “The fair is our summer life. All of our kids and grandkids love the fair and it’s important to them. They show livestock plus other exhibits. It's just part of the family.”

Sandy also does 4-H judging in a few other counties and has coordinated the Plymouth County Fair Cooking School for 12 years.

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

Mitchell, Max and Mick show both cattle and hogs. With cattle direct from their feedlot, they’ve won the average daily gain contest several times. On the hog side, they also select their pigs to show right out of the confinement building.

Matt is on the board of the Plymouth County Pork Producers where he serves as membership chair. He played a role in developing the Adopt-A-Pig Program, wherein local producers play host to pigs for 4-H members who don’t have the ability or the means to otherwise show livestock. The 4-H members tag pigs at local producers, then show and care for them at the fair. “It’s helped to grow our hog show tremendously. I think we have 30-some kids doing it this year. They each bring two pigs, so that’s 60-some extra pigs that come to the fair.”

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23

LYON COUNTY FAMILY

KOEDAM FAMILY FOSTERS STRONG BONDS WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS

By Bob Fitch

The region’s livestock producers and the Howard and Wanita Koedam family of Larchwood have formed strong bonds over the last 40-plus years.

“We’ve done this a lot of years and we’ve got some of the same customers we started with. A lot of them, we dealt with their dads and now we’re dealing with their sons,” Howard said. He and Wanita purchased and began operating Midwest Livestock Service (MLS) in the fall of 1979, just a few months after the feed and veterinary supplies business opened.

“You develop a relationship with the customers,” said Wanita. “Granted, it’s business, but it also gets to be personal. You're helping them build a better business on the farm and they're helping us just as much to build our business. So it's a give and take thing.”

“Shoot, their concerns become our concerns,” Howard said. “There’s been times we’ve been in trouble, financially or health-wise, and they’ve shown they care about our concerns, too.” Wanita continued, “Howard’s had quite a few health issues in the last 10 years. And I can't tell you how many customers, before they talk about anything else, they ask ‘How's Howard doing?’ It gets to be a friend relationship as well as a business relationship. And we do the same with them. If we know they've got trouble, we try to be there for them to as much as we can.”

Howard and Wanita Koedam with their sons, Darin and Brian.

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When hard times hit livestock producers, Midwest Livestock Service is in the same hot water as their customers. “When we have accounts receivable trouble, I always tell the

Front step: Abby and Emma Dibbet; Austin Nolan; Hadley, Kinser and Dallas Koedam; and Cooper and Zoe Wallenstein. Middle row: Caleb, Dayna and Becky Dibbett; Austin and Marissa Doland; Wanita and Howard Koedam; Kelly Koedam; Deanne Wallenstein; and Ashlee Koedam. Back row: Scott Dibbett; Jessica, Darin and Brian Koedam; Josh Wallenstein; and Lincoln and Jason Koedam.

GROWING WITH OUR

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Wanita and Howard Koedam with their grandchildren. Front: Cooper, Zoe, Lincoln, Hadley, Kinser and Dallas.

Back: Emma, Dayna, Caleb, Abby, Zach and Marissa.

banker, ‘They want to pay, they just don't have the money.’ The banker and the accountant tell us ‘You’ve got to get those accounts receivable down.’ But it’s hard because we've all been down the same road together before.”

The primary products sold by Midwest Livestock Service are vaccines, antibiotics, and nutritional supplements for many livestock species. Feed ration consultation is provided at no additional charge when purchasing the product from MLS. In the beginning, swine producers made up the largest

share of their sales, but today it’s cattle feeders.

KEEP THE CUSTOMER’S NEEDS AT THE FOREFRONT When they bought the business, the couple were in their mid-20s. Howard said, “The biggest obstacle early on was just our age. One guy told me ‘That’s quite a bit of stuff for a young buck like you to know.’ When you were trying to give advice to farmers older than you, that was probably the toughest part to get through.”

He’s found the easiest way to make a sale is to keep the customer’s

needs at the forefront. “It's a crazy deal. The best way to start out the morning is when you already have enough money to pay the day’s bills. If you know you have to sell so much today, it's almost like the people read your mind that you are not there to help them, but you’re just there to push something on them. When we have a new salesman, I hate telling him he's got a quota – because if he's forced to sell something, and not to help people, people read that. The customers can just tell it. If you have to sell something to make the dollar go around, then it’s just about price.

All you can be is a price cutter then.”

The company’s service area stretches from Iowa north into Minnesota and South Dakota; and south into Nebraska and Kansas. While many people are not comfortable with being in the field as a salesperson, Wanita said their sons, Brian and Darin, are naturals at it just like their dad.

Their entrepreneurial spirit has helped MLS continue to grow and set the brothers on a path towards company ownership.

Brian and Darin both went to Southeast Technical College. Brian came into the business in the mid1990s and Darin around 2010. Both spent time early in their careers

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The Midwest Livestock Service crew.

driving truck for the company making deliveries.

Darin also spent time working at the company’s feed mill in Lakefield, Minn. Howard and Wanita are in the process of selling the feed mill, but continue to have a retail presence in Lakefield as well as in Clear Lake, S.D. After starting out in Rock Rapids, the Koedam’s first retail store was in the east side bay of the former North Star Gas Station, which was located where the Larchwood Cenex is now. While Howard was on the road selling to farmers out of a high cube van, Wanita minded the shop and also kept on an eye on their children in playpens in the back. Later, “Brian and Darin took on responsibility pretty early. When they were kids

and I was on the road selling, they did a lot of the farm chores,” Howard said.

In the mid-1980s, MLS purchased the old Larchwood Standard Station. That building still serves as headquarters many decades later, albeit with several warehouse additions.

“Over all the years, service has been the driving force in our business,” Wanita said. While the Koedam’s appreciate the value of good outside and inside sales people, it takes good people in all parts of the business to provide the best customer service. “The delivery people/truck drivers in our business are huge. And so are our office help – because they’ve got to make sure the orders get placed and everybody gets on the list for delivery. And Kelly and I have to make sure the books get done and the bills get out. It takes the whole system. I can't say that any one section of our business is more important than the other. It's a cooperative effort.”

Howard agreed: “Sometimes the salesmen think they're the only people in the company that make any money or do a damn thing. You got to keep it in the salesman's head that you need everybody. Sometimes the person you miss the quickest is the janitor. You can have the CEO of the company be gone for a week and nobody misses him. But if you run out of toilet paper, everybody’s asking ‘Where’s the janitor?’”

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In addition to building Midwest Livestock Service, over the years they’ve also enjoyed being on the Larchwood Fire & Rescue Unit; supporting the development of the local rodeo grounds; and spending several years as foster parents.

In addition to Brian and Darin, their youngest son, Jason, works as a CPA for Ken Murphy in Sheldon. Daughter Deanna is a registered nurse working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Howard also has a son, Scott Dibbet, from before they were married. He's a pastor in Ontario, Canada.

Howard said, “We’re kind of fortunate – we’ve got all ends covered. In the family, we’ve got a preacher, we’ve got a daughter in the health field, two boys to take over the business, and an accountant to take care of the money.”

Wanita concluded, “One of the most rewarding things in our life has been watching our kids grow up and having them all be good, productive people. Our business has been rewarding, but our kids are still at the top of the list.”

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The right care.

The right place.

The right time.

FROM THE KITCHEN

CLASSIC IOWA PORK TENDERLOIN SANDWICH

Celebrate the Iowa State Fair with this classic recipe. From the “Food and Swine” blog by Cristen Clark via the Iowa Food & Family Project.

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1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup cornstarch 2 teaspoons seasoned salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 eggs 3 tablespoons milk 1 sleeve Chicken in a Biskit crackers, crushed 1 cup panko bread crumbs 4 boneless pork loin chops 1 quart peanut or vegetable oil 4 large sandwich or Kaiser rolls, split and buttered Condiments: Dill pickles, ketchup, mustard, thinly sliced sweet onions

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Combine the flour, cornstarch, seasoned salt, and pepper in a shallow baking dish. Remove and reserve 2 tablespoons of this mixture. In a second shallow baking dish, whisk the eggs and milk together until wellblended. In a third dish, combine the crushed crackers and panko, plus the reserved flour/cornstarch mixture.

Butterfly each pork chop and pound between sheets of plastic wrap with a meat mallet to ¼-inch thick.

To coat, first dredge each piece of pork on both sides in seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. Dip into the egg mixture to coat both sides, then dredge in the crumb mixture, pressing gently to coat both sides evenly.

Transfer the pork to a clean plate and repeat the process with the remaining pork. Allow the pork to rest for 20 minutes to give the breading time to adhere to the meat.

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In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet heat the oil to 350°F. Fry the breaded pork until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. The pork is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 145°F on an instant read thermometer. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

In a skillet, toast the buns over medium-high heat. Serve pork loin on buns with condiments of choice.

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