The Farming Families of Lyon Co. March 2020 by AGE Media and Promotion

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Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

Meet the

ALTENA Family Troy and Michelle Altena and their sons, Tyson, Jacob, Ethan and Levi. Story on page 28.

of Lyon County

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SIOUX COUNTY FEATURED FAMILY

The Maassen family in 2017. Standing in front; Stefan, Miranda holding Malia, Stacy, Lee, Emily, Marissa, Aaron, Ashley, and Adam holding Adler. In the back; Jacob, McKenna, Alekye (back), Addaley, Aric, Peyton, Ayden, Seth and Mariah. Photo courtesy Lana Van Es, LG Imagery.

HONESTY, INTEGRITY, HARD WORK AND FAITH AT THE CENTER

by Bob Fitch

There are no side jobs at the Maassen farm near Maurice. The family is laser-focused on the hard work of running a dairy: Milking around the clock; growing most of their own feed; raising replacement heifers and Holstein breeding bulls; and each person managing a portion of the operation.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

The training began early. “As kids, we grew up feeding calves in hutches,” said Adam, part of the fifth generation of the Maassen family to farm in Sioux County. “It was a 7-day-a-week job we started when we were 6 or 7 years old.” Adam and his brothers, Aaron and Stefan, farm with their father, Lee, who said, “I got my hardwork attitude from my dad. He was out here until his last days when he was 93 years old.”

Between the Great Depression, World War II, and a severe bout of sciatica, “Dad learned to not complain and instead to count your blessings day by day,” he said about his father, John, who died in 2014. Lee’s great grandfather, Jan, came from the Netherlands in 1904, settling about one mile from the current operation. Teunis Maassen represented the family’s second generation before John started the current farm in 1946 after returning from service in World War II. Lee said the farm was more diversified when he was growing up. Back then, they only had about 15 dairy cows. But they also had a 100-sow farrow-to-finish hog set-up; 300 chickens; and 100 head of beef cattle. In 1974, Lee and his older brother Terry went into partnership with their dad. In 1980, Terry left the farm to become a pastor and younger brother Marvin came into the operation. He farmed

until 2007 when Lee’s sons bought him out. Lee said, “We’re a fifth generation farm going on sixth generation. My dad farmed with his dad; I farmed with my dad; and now my boys farm with me. It’s not an easy task to run a business as a family. But we’re lucky that we think a lot alike.” Over time, the Maassen farm became specialized and focused more and more on the dairy side of things. In 1980, they had 250 dairy cows, a number which had doubled by the end of the 1980s and more than tripled since then to today’s 1,700 cows.

A willingness to make significant investments in buildings, technology and a larger workforce has been necessary for many dairies to capture efficiencies in order to remain competitive. “Also, of course, it’s a 24/7 job which is so different than the rest of the culture around us,” said Aaron. “We’ve succeeded, I think, because of our willingness to change and improve. We’ve grown steadily and, just as important, have put technology to work to get more efficient all the time.”

The Maassens have adopted new technologies and management Aaron said, “The crash of the practices over the years to make cattle market in the 1980s was their cows more comfortable part of what drove Grandpa, Dad and make the farm safer and and his brother out of feeding more efficient for themselves cattle.” Lee added, “And the and employees. From new barn hog market was getting more designs in the 1980s that allowed vertically integrated and we more space for cows, better didn’t want to move that way. So access to feed and curtains for we moved to what we did best airflow, to today’s sophisticated which was dairying. It had better lagoon system that allows the Qtr Page Color 1-8-20.pdf 1 1/8/2020 11:21:34 AM cash-flow, month-in and month- Age Media dairy to filter solids from manure out.” so it can be used as fertilizer for

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March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

and some with more than a decade of service. “Our set-up gives them the opportunity to use their gifts, to contribute their talents where it’s a good fit for them and us.” Positions include year-round job security and a controlled environment. Adam said, “When we built this new building, we made sure to include extra light and more windows. It helps to make it a more pleasant place to work.” In addition to the physical and technological advancements on the farm, the Maassens are actively engaged in promotion and community relations, which starts with their neighbors. Adam said, “Good neighbor relations is vital. I like the working relationship we’ve established with our neighbors. It’s nice that we can swap nutrients, whether that’s manure as a fertilizer or stalks as feed.”

The site of the Maassen farm in the 1940s.

The Maassens recognize a commitment to stewardship which goes beyond their farm. To build confidence in where milk comes from and how it is produced, they regularly host groups of students, lawmakers and others at the dairy. “If we don’t tell the true story of dairy farming, there are a lot of false ones out there people will listen to,” Aaron said.

Becky and Dave Ranschau.

Maassen Dairy Farms today.

crops, every new step has helped the farm be more productive and sustainable. “Each time we looked at building, expanding or making changes to the farm, we spent a lot of time researching new ideas and tried to put the best of those new practices to work here,” said Lee. Managing 25 employees takes a good portion of time for each of them. “We’re now all in management positions. We work more with the people, not the cows,” said Adam, who oversees the feedyard, feed center management and heifer replacements. Lee feeds the dairy animals in the morning and does overall management in concert with his sons. His wife Emily does the bookkeeping, mowing and 8

“Our employees are a very vital part of our success as a dairy farm,” said Lee. About 80 percent of their workforce is Hispanic and most of their milking technicians are women. “We’ve found that moms are stable, connected to the communities and are just good animal caretakers.”

Lee takes the lead on industry involvement in groups such as the Midwest Dairy Association, Dairy Management Inc. and the Iowa State Dairy Association. Aaron is active in Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) and Adam serves with the Western Iowa Dairy Alliance. Maassen Dairy is also part of a statewide research program in Iowa to study cover crops and management practices to protect the state’s watersheds. They are working with local agronomists, state officials and researchers to plant a 20-acre research plot to help identify best practices to share with other farmers.

Aaron said there’s not much turnover in the full-time positions, with nearly all of the full-timers at five years or more of experience,

Lee and Emily have been blessed with 11 grandchildren. Aaron is married to Marissa and they have four children: Seth, 13, Aric, 10,

cleaning at the dairy. Aaron is the herdsman and oversees crop production. Stefan works with the younger calves plus is in charge of maintenance and repair. All of their duties frequently overlap with the herdsman, plus they all spend time in the field in the spring and fall.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

and Peyton and Mariah, both 8. Marissa teaches at Orange City Elementary School. Adam is married to Ashley and they have four children: Ayden, 13, Addaley, 10, Alekye, 7, and Adler, 4. Ashley used to have a beauty salon, but now is a full-time mom

and homemaker. Stefan is married to Miranda and they have three children: Jacob, 9, McKenna, 6, and Malia, 4. Miranda works at Premier Communications. Lee and Emily’s daughter Stacy

lives in Sioux Falls where she is vice president of the Financial Intelligence Unit at Meta Bank. Sisters-in-law Marissa and Miranda are also sisters. Their family, the De Groots of Hull, used to raise Brown Swiss dairy cattle – competing against Teunis

Lee and Emily Maassen with their grandchildren. Photo courtesy Lana Van Es, LG Imagery of Alton.

FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1922

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and John Maassen’s Brown Swiss cows at the National Dairy Cattle Congress in years gone by. While Maassen Dairy Farms have primarily Holsteins today, the farm is home to a few descendants of the De Groot Brown Swiss cows. Family fun centers around the kids’ sports and school activities, or riding 4-wheelers on the farm. “In the summer, all the cousins play together in the farm place grove, making forts and rooms. It’s a multi-family collaboration,” said Aaron. Because work on a dairy farm is 365/24/7, they can’t all take a family vacation together. But, Lee said, “We have the advantage of seeing each other every day, whereas some families only see each other on vacation.” The Maassen family gives a lot of credit for their success to a dedicated and talented workforce.

The entire family also worships together at Maurice Reformed Church, where Lee is an elder, Adam is a deacon, Aaron previously was a deacon, and Stefan and Miranda were youth leaders. The town of Maurice only has about 250 residents, but the church has 800 members and seven staff. It draws from many area communities because of the strength of its youth programs, music, and small group ministries for college students and adults. In family life and on the farm, Stefan said they value honesty, integrity and hard work. Adam added generosity, patience and selflessness to the list of values. And, Aaron said, “Faith is at the center.” Lee agreed, pointing to the farm’s mission statement: “To be good caretakers of the people, land and animals that God has blessed us with.”

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GROWING

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111 Central Ave. NW, Le Mars, IA (712) 546-7811 | Bank-Northwest.com/Agriculture March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

KEEPING LOCAL HISTORY ALIVE

John Vander Ploeg and Peter Vos outside the Sioux County Savings Bank in Maurice. Photo from Maurice centennial book courtesy of Sioux County Genealogical Society.

GUN BATTLE ON MAIN STREET IN MAURICE Ninety-seven years ago, Maurice was in the limelight after an attempted robbery of the Sioux County Savings Bank was followed by a gun battle between the bandits and Sheriff Hugo Synhorst and his deputies. According to the Jan. 13, 1923, edition of the Alton Democrat, “The robbers had broken into the vault and were at work on the safe when the shot fired by their confederate on guard outside notified them that their plans had been discovered. They rushed from the bank and engaged in the gun battle which resulted in the wounding of Sheriff Synhorst.” The Jan. 11, 1923, edition of the Hawarden Independent said “Synhorst was the most severely wounded, in the neighborhood of seventeen bullets having entered his limbs.” His deputies were also hit, but not seriously wounded. Some time after midnight on Jan. 5, 1923, the sheriff had been called by the telephone operator in Sioux Center who told him the wires into Maurice had been cut. “Sheriff Synhorst, taking a 38-40 rifle, Harry Dykstra and Dr. (Vernon) Fisher, each taking a shot gun and a number of shells 12

loaded with buckshot, hurried to Maurice,” said a story in the Boyden Reporter. Arriving around 2 a.m., the lawmen were met with gunfire by the outlaws’ man on guard, Harry Drury. “The Sheriff and his deputies returned the fire, Synhorst aiming to put the car out of commission and Fisher and Dykstra directing their attention to the men.” After exchanging a number of shots, the bandits escaped in a red Chandler automobile they had stolen in Sioux City. About seven miles away, they abandoned the car – its radiator having been punctured with bullets. The Boyden Reporter said, “An attempt had been made to refill the radiator, and the footsteps around a water tank on the Grau farm near which the car was found, corresponded” to two of the bandits. They attempted to start both Ora Grau’s car and, a mile down the road, the car of John Beyker. The story in the Sioux County Index (of Hull) said the manhunt for the criminals “was carried on by a half dozen posses and vigilance committees.” The Boyden Reporter said: “From

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

the abandoned car, three tracks were followed southwest, two wearing overshoes, one without. Five miles further, a mile southwest of Ireton, the guns stolen at the Maurice hardware store were found together with a bag containing burglar’s tools, nitroglycerine, shells of the same kind as those stolen at Maurice, two .38 caliber revolvers and a number of other articles.” Three of the bandits apparently hid in a straw pile near Ireton. Later, according to the Hawarden Independent, two of the suspects hitched a ride that morning on a horse-drawn lumber wagon driven by Guy Venard of Hawarden. Knowing of the attempted robbery, he became suspicious of the men and turned into the Charles Keehn farm where the authorities were called. The Boyden Reporter said these two were soon apprehended. “Olson had fresh blood on his coat, by laboratory test found to be human blood. He had a hole in his overcoat, shirt and underwear and an abrasion on his body just below the breast bone. When he was examined a buckshot bullet fell out of his underwear.”

The bandits tried to escape in a Chandler automobile similar to this one, but they didn’t get far because the sheriff had succeeded in shooting holes in the radiator.

The building is no longer a bank, but the safe is still there. Work is underway today to refurbish the former Maurice bank building and turn it into a library.

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1010 Main Street | Hull, IA fmiahull.com Newspaper headlines in the Alton Democrat, Jan. 13, 1923.

Serving northwest Iowa farmers and homeowners since 1886. March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

Two other men were picked up later at the Will Richmond farm southeast of McNally. “The fifth and last of the gang to be captured was Harry Drury, who was found on the Louis Twillman farm, two miles southwest of Ireton.” “Each of these defendants were given a copy of this chain of circumstances, and each concluded that the game was up. The only thing left for them to do was to plead guilty and trust to the court to let them off a little easier for doing so,” said the Boyden newspaper.

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The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

Justice was quickly served in 1920’s Iowa. By the time of the Feb. 8, 1923, issue of The Boyden Reporter, four of the criminals had already been sentenced to prison. “John Lavery, age 32, Elmer Dingeman, age 23, Guy Brooks, age 33, and Frank Olson, age 31, have started a forty year term at the state penitentiary at Ft. Madison, Iowa, and Harry Drury is still at the hospital at Orange City, facing a like sentence.” Headlines in the Hawarden Independent, Jan. 11, 1923. The story said each admitted his part in the attempt to break into the bank with explosives, and “each carrying a thirty year sentence for his admitted attempt to murder the sheriff and his deputies.” Eight years later, on July 28, 1931, $900 was stolen from the bank in a daylight robbery. Neither the robbers, nor the money were ever found in this case.

March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

HELPING PEOPLE EQUALS SUCCESS AT ORANGE CITY CHIROPRACTIC CENTER

Trent and Kara Abrahamson of Orange City Chiropractic Center.

A wise man once said: “Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Those words match the sage advice shared by the mentor of Dr. Trent Abrahamson of Orange City Chiropractic Center. Abrahamson served an externship 20-plus years ago with Dr. Verland Rients in Graettinger, Iowa, after graduating from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minn. “Dr. Rients had a big influence on me. I went to college to get my education, but he taught me how to treat patients. He taught me to take care of the patients and the rest will take care of itself.

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

“I remember the days when we only had one patient a day,” said Abrahamson. “Because of Dr. Rients’ guidance, I knew that if I helped that one patient, I could consider the day a success. We try not to focus on numbers, but rather on people. I consider my practice successful if I’m helping people.” A native of Spencer, Abrahamson attended Northwestern College in Orange City for his undergraduate degree. That’s where he met his wife Kara who is originally from Storm Lake. Kara works at the practice as do Lora Oltmans and Tana Van Gorp.

After graduating from chiropractic college and finishing his externship, they were happy to find the practice of Drs. Chris and Jill Halligan available for sale in Orange City. “We knew we wanted to be close to family. This practice kept us within an hour of our parents’ homes and was a good business opportunity. “We were familiar with northwest Iowa and this community. We looked at several practices in this part of the state. The Halligans were very fair to work with when we purchased the practice.” Since purchasing the practice in April 1998, Abrahamson has been involved with the Orange City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Red Raider board, the Tulip Festival parade, and the American Reformed Church. Now he and Kara spend more time following their daughter Jada in band, orchestra, basketball, volleyball and track at MOC Floyd Valley High School where she is a freshman. He said they feel fortunate to have raised their daughter in such a great community. “I’m thankful to the community and the support they’ve given us over the years. Where we started from and where we’re at today, we’re fortunate. Word of mouth is the biggest way to promote your business. Hopefully, you provide quality care and your patients will want to come back. “I try to provide patients quality care and give them the time they need. We truly want them to feel better when they’re leaving,” he said.

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HERE COMES THE DAY PHOTO BY BRETT DAVELAAR BD PHOTOGRAPHY

March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

PLYMOUTH COUNTY FEATURED FAMILY

Left: Ashley and Luke Beitelspacher with their children Brooks and Tori; Center: Julie and Wayne Beitelspacher; Right: Kari and Judd Kopperud with their children Jordan, Kortney and Jess. Photo courtesy Christopher’s Photography of Le Mars.

SO MANY GOOD YEARS ON THE BEITELSPACHER FARM by Bob Fitch

At Beitelspacher Land & Cattle Company, every day starts by feeding the cattle. Then Wayne Beitelspacher and his son Luke, along with Wayne’s nephew, Scott Renken and his son Mitch, head over to Wayne’s house where his wife Julie feeds breakfast to the four men and they plot out their day. The Beitelspachers and Renkens feed several thousand beef cattle 20

plus raise corn and soybeans east of Craig and north of Le Mars. “With that much livestock, there’s always plenty to do … hauling manure, fixing fences,” Wayne said. “Like this morning, we sorted 200 head out of 400 that have got to go out next week Tuesday or Wednesday. We ground hay. Soon as we got done sorting those cattle, Mitch jumped in the truck and was trucking cattle.”

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

Scott has been part of the operation since 1983. His wife Jill is the Plymouth County assessor. With Wayne’s wife Julie being a vice president at Primebank, Scott joked, “We don’t pay taxes and we don’t pay interest.” Wayne said, “If you believe that, we’ve got some ocean-front property in Arizona we’ll sell you.” Scott and Jill’s son Mitch graduated from Iowa Lakes

“The men” of Beitelspacher Land & Cattle Company: Wayne Beitelspacher, Scott Renken, Luke Beitelspacher and Mitch Renken.

Community College in Emmetsburg last year and now lives on the farm about 50 yards north of Luke’s home. Scott and Jill’s daughter Molly works for Greg Boerboom, a pork producer near Marshall, Minn., who has been a state and national leader in the pork industry. Scott is a graduate of Western Iowa Technical College. Wayne graduated from Northwest Iowa Community College and started farming with his parents and his brother Ed in 1971 after Ed returned from service in Vietnam. Their parents, Henry and Louise Beitelspacher, retired in 1975 and Ed retired in 2012. But Ed continues to help out in the spring and summer up through early November when he heads for Arizona. Wayne’s grandfather and Scott’s great-grandfather was Carl Beitelspacher, a German-Russian immigrant who homesteaded in Plymouth County in 1875 and became one of the largest farmers in the area at 1,000 acres and 14 employees. But he lost almost everything in the Great Depression. Carl and his wife Marie were no strangers to heartache. Wayne said, “My grandfather was 32 when he married a girl who was 16 years old. They had 13 kids. They lost four of their kids to diphtheria in two days’ time. How could you ever have kids again after that heartache? But then they had 6 more kids. My dad was the second to the youngest.” Wayne is the youngest of Henry and Louise’s eight children. In 1932, his parents were able to purchase some of the land that Carl had previously owned. “When I was really young, my mom and dad had sheep, hogs, cattle, milk cows and chickens. Nobody

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worked harder than Mom. She always had chickens and a big, big garden.” One day, Henry told a neighbor they had a new baby boy. The neighbor was astounded – because he’d just seen Louise milking a cow the day before and didn’t even realize she was pregnant. “My mom was a tough old bird,” Wayne said. “In the middle of the Depression, she tore apart the layers of her wedding dress and made dresses for her five daughters for Easter,” he said. “On Easter Sunday, all of those ladies at church were mad and said ‘How in the world can you afford new dresses for those girls?’ But Mom didn’t say a word. She said ‘Let them think what they want to think.’” Julie said whenever she is discouraged she thinks of her mother-in-law and all the things “Grandma B” had to go through in her 101 years. Speaking of his grandfather, Scott said, “Wayne’s dad went from farming with horses to 4-wheel-drive tractors. That always amazed me.” Wayne said,

“Dad still hauled corn until he was about 85. He lived to be 93.” Wayne and Ed used to have a big farrow-to-finish operation “until the hogs went down to 9 cents in 1998. We did it one more year, and we said either we’ve got to get into hogs bigger or we’ve got to get out. And Ed didn’t like the hogs as much as I did so he said ‘Let’s get out.’ That’s when we really got into the cattle. “Most of the time we run big cattle. We get yearlings in the fall of the year, feed through March or April, then we start with big calves. Most of our cattle come in 800-900 pounds, then we feed them out,” said Wayne. “Most of our cattle yearlings come out of Baker, Mont.,” he said. “We have an order buyer in Montana and he’s got his own cattle and we buy off a couple ranches out there. Through the winter time, after we sell those yearlings, then we buy our calves out of South Dakota or Nebraska.” Looking out 10 years or more,

The late Henry and Louise Beitelspacher

Wayne’s son Luke believes the farm is on a good path. “I hope we’re still farming as a family and feeding cattle. Maybe we’ll be sitting in the easy chair with the tractors driving themselves and feeding the cattle.” Scott said, “Sometimes it’s not always about getting bigger, it’s doing the most with what you’ve got.” Luke and his wife Ashley were Le Mars High School sweethearts and both went to Southeast

Wayne Beitelspacher with his 4-H calf in the late 1960s. Fifty years later: Wayne’s grandson, Brooks Beitelspacher, with his 4-H bottle calf at the 2019 Plymouth County Fair. 22

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Technical Institute in Sioux Falls. He had planned for a career in computers and technology. After graduating from STI, “I did a lot of different jobs,” Luke said. “After seeing what was out there, I felt my calling was to come back home. I decided I wasn’t cut out to be in an office building or sitting behind a desk for eight hours a day.” Luke and Ashley have two children, Brooks, 10, and Tori, 7. He said, “We always say the best place to raise your family is in the country, on a farm.” Luke’s mom has always felt the same way: “We were so thankful that our kids got raised in the country,” said Julie. “We always knew where our kids were. Their friends would come along on the weekends – they loved to stay at the farm. The kids’ friends also thought it was great to be able to help lead a calf around or help water the calves at the fair.” Off the farm, Wayne has served on a number of boards including Farm Bureau, Craig Farmer’s Cooperative, and Christ Lutheran Church (where their family has been members for more than 100 years). The Plymouth County Fair and 4-H are near and dear to the hearts of the Beitelspacher family.

Julie Beitelspacher with her granddaughter Kortney Kopperud at the 4-H Heritage Pie class at the Plymouth County Fair.

“When I was growing up, that was our vacation – three days at the Plymouth County Fair. We’re all pretty much a big 4-H family. Julie and I were leaders for 7 years and I was on the fair board for 12 years. We all showed livestock at the Plymouth County Fair,” Wayne said. Julie said, “4-H just teaches you so many life skills. It teaches you about setting goals and the processes you have to go through to do that. Our kids got so many cool experiences, going to state conference and things like that.” Luke said, “There was one year where Ed’s two boys were both in 4-H, and my sister and I were in 4-H, and between us we had eight 4-H calves and then we had at least four hogs each at the fair.”

Service is Our Business

Wayne’s parents started the Grant Clever Clovers 4-H Club and his brother Don started the Grant Little Giants 4-H Club. Wayne and Julie’s daughter Kari was even featured in a New York Times news article when the Iowa State Fair was considering changing from colored place ribbons to generic participation ribbons. Julie said, “She felt pretty strongly, when you put in the work and the effort to set yours apart and make it the best, that’s part of your learning. She thought if the judge gives me a red ribbon, I want to be able to learn what I did wrong and do something different the next time.” The article was picked up by the Associated Press and they heard from friends all over the country. Kari and her husband, Judd Kopperud, are guidance counselors for Le Mars Community Schools and Judd is also the head girls basketball coach. They have three children: Kortney, Jordan, Jess.

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Even though she grew up on a farm about six miles west of where they live now, Julie didn’t participate in 4-H as a child. “But when you marry into the Beitelspachers, you become involved in 4-H. We started by taking our kids

in the stroller to watch their older cousins show livestock at the fair.” Wayne noted that Julie was a pro at writing recommendations for grants and awards for the members of their 4-H chapter. In addition, for the past 20 years, she has been interviewing 4-H winners at the Plymouth County Fair on KLEM radio. The Beitelspachers also farm the land where Julie grew up which she co-owns with her brother. She is vice president of the deposit division and customer service at Primebank in Le Mars. She started there as a drive-up teller after attending Westmar College. She left her full-time job at the bank after she and Wayne married and started a family. As their children got older, she returned to the bank, first part-time and eventually full-time. Wayne said, “She’s a hard working lady. Every morning, there’s 4 or 5 of us sitting here and she makes breakfast for us before she leaves for work. In spring and at harvest, she makes lunch buckets for us.” Julie said, “My joke around here is, on the back of my gravestone, I want it to say: ‘She took care of the men.’” After each year of hard work, Wayne’s favorite thing is a good crop. “When we get done with harvest, I like it when the bins are full because then you have something to work with. It’s always nice to have a big crop because then you can put it through the cattle or sell it. And we’ve been so fortunate, so many good years.”

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FOCUS ON FAITH

TRINITY LUTHERAN:

A SERVANT ATTITUDE FOR GENERATIONS by Bob Fitch

Trinity Lutheran Church, located east of Hinton, has been ministering to farmers and others in Plymouth County for 135 years.

For generation after generation for the past 135 years, Trinity Lutheran Church has been serving area farmers and the community east of Hinton, according to Pastor Steven Stoll and his wife, Paula, who is the church secretary. In the early 1880s, the spiritual needs of German immigrants in this part of Plymouth County were served by pastors from Sioux City who held services in farmers’ homes. In the spring of 1885, a congregation was organized. Friedrich Muecke donated an acre of land for the church building and he received the contract to construct the white frame church in 1886. An adjacent acre for the church cemetery was purchased for $22. Members who donated $20 to the church’s construction received a free plot in the cemetery. Pastor Stoll said early on the congregation also built a small barn for the pastor to keep 26

Pastor Steven Stoll and his wife Paula of Trinity Lutheran Church in rural Hinton.

his horse and feed in it. While Trinity Lutheran has built two new churches in the years since, “the old shed” is still there, providing room for storage. In conjunction with the church’s 125th anniversary celebration in 2010, the Lincoln Toppers 4-H Club, which meets at the church, painted a barn quilt on the old shed. The quilt design is called “Crown of Thorns.” According to the church’s 125th anniversary commemorative book, the original church building was replaced with a new one in 1911 during an era of rapid growth. It was dedicated in September 1911 with a German service in the morning and an English service in the afternoon. Regular services in English started in 1912 on the last Sunday of each month. Services in German were discontinued in 1942. After he became pastor in 1938, Rev. H.D. Stahmer installed an illuminated cross on the church building. After the current brick

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building was dedicated in 1954, that tradition continued – a cross on the west side of the church was outlined in a neon light. “We’re known for the lit cross on the church,” Paula said. “The cross was unlit for a while and it really upset a lot of people. No matter how bad the weather is, people know where they’re at when they come over the hill and see that cross. In bad weather, when you see the cross, it’s known for that sense of ‘you’ve made it.’” Inside the sanctuary, sunlight illuminates 12 stained glass windows which tell the story of the life of Jesus Christ from the nativity all the way to Pentecost. The windows were purchased and installed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The cross at the center of the altar area is lit, symbolizing Christ as the head of their church families. Each Christmas and Easter, the cross is covered with poinsettias and lilies which symbolize the resurrection of Christ.

Each Christmas and Easter, the cross is covered with poinsettias and lilies which symbolize the resurrection of Christ.

Twelve stained glass windows tell the story of the life of Jesus Christ beginning with the nativity (pictured here).

Pastor Stoll said Trinity Lutheran has also shared the light of Christ by being a mother congregation to other start-ups. “We were the mother congregation for at least two of the congregations in the area: Grace in Le Mars and Calvary in Sioux City. And we were one of the congregations who helped start First Lutheran in Kingsley.” This history means families at Trinity are intertwined with many of the congregations in the area. Paula said, “That’s just how they are here. They’re always helping things to start, to go and to grow. If there’s something to be done, they just go and do. They’re just loving and servant-attitude people. They’ve been that way for generation after generation after generation.” She said the church is also known as a place of rest and refuge. “Everybody knows this is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the area. It’s a rest stop and, in good weather, you’ll often see people taking a walk in the cemetery. It’s a peaceful place to stop.” “The old shed” originally was the barn for the pastor’s horses. In 2010, the Lincoln Toppers 4-H Club, which meets at the church, painted a barn quilt on it called “Crown of Thorns.”

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March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

LYON COUNTY FEATURED FAMILY

Troy and Michelle Altena with her horses on their farm between Lester and Rock Rapids.

SOIL, SEED, RISK AND RACING by Bob Fitch

When Troy and Michelle Altena got married, they started with virtually nothing. “When I got out of college, I owed my brother a thousand bucks and all I had was just the clothes on my back,” Troy said. “When I moved in with my wife, she had a mobile home in Rock Valley and I just drove up with my Monte Carlo and a brown paper sack – that’s all we had.” Twenty-one years later, Troy and Michelle run a successful seed business and are raising four sons on a farm between Rock Rapids 28

and Lester in Lyon County. In between their spartan start and today, the couple has survived hail, fire and lean times through hard work, faith, guidance from mentors, community support, and a willingness to take risks. “I’m the kind of guy if I’m walking along, I’ve got to have one foot kind of slipping off the edge. I could easily walk over there and be safe. But that’s no fun. I like risk. Sometimes I like to take too much risk and say ‘Well, that was fun. I learned something there.’

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It’s got to be interesting, it’s got to be risky, and it’s got to be fun – or else I’m not in,” Troy said. Michelle said, “We seem to do everything spur of the moment – from getting married to having kids to building a house after a trailer fire.” They both grew up on farms and met while attending Iowa Lakes Community College, he for agribusiness and she for office management. “When we lived in Rock Valley, we had a $3,500

mobile home and we put that on a $100 a month payment and we could barely make that work. Our ceiling was almost coming down in it. We had to put new wood under the tub and the water heater because they were almost falling through the floor,” Troy said. Eventually they bought a house in Rock Valley, but still owned the mobile home. A bad hail storm delivered a silver lining. “Both the house and trailer got peppered by a hail storm. We got a big enough settlement to pay off the mobile home and replace the roof and siding on the house which increased its value. It ended up being a big jump in life for us.” At the time, Troy was working for Elmer Boone, a Pioneer Seed sales representative in the Rock Valley area. “He taught me what I know about selling seed. He was my mentor, a good guy. Elmer had a Bible right on his desk and he was in it all the time. He also had a Bible on the dash of his truck. Any time we went somewhere for a Pioneer event, he would read the Bible before bed. He taught me a lot about being a good Christian example.” After five years working for Boone, Pioneer Seed asked Troy to take on the territory to the north. So, in 2004, they bought an acreage on Highway 9, bulldozed all the trees, planted a new grove, built a seed shed, and moved back into a mobile home with their two oldest boys, Jacob and Tyson. “In 2006, I poured concrete and put in cattle yards on the north end of the property,” he said. They made it through their early days in the Lester area with help from neighbor Roger Baatz, who owns the 80 acres surrounding their acreage. “He really helped me start the place, let me use a lot of his machinery, came over here and helped us do a lot of different things. He was another one of those mentors – just one of the nicest people you’d ever meet.”

However, they faced a setback in August 2007 when their trailer house was destroyed by fire. “This whole community came together for us. We got donations of blankets and clothing, you name it. Basically we lost everything. So many people from the Lester area helped us out. We were very grateful to the community and everyone who helped us get past that.”

Ethan and Levi with the calves they will show at the Lyon County Fair.

In addition to the seed sales and feeding cattle, the Altena family raises corn and soybeans on land they own, rent and custom-farm. Troy shares some machinery with his parents, Howard and Hopefully the snow will be gone by the time Jacob, Tyson and Troy Lynette, who Altena are ready to head back to the figure-8 track. farm near Rock Valley. “My dad is one of the hardest working the service manager at a local guys you’d ever meet. And car dealership, but he had some hardcore work – he’d come in heart trouble that temporarily the house just bleeding. That’s all forced him to stay at home. “But he knows.” Troy’s brother, Evan, he came by one day and said finishes both hogs and cattle near he was bored out of his mind Rock Valley. sitting around and wondered if I had anything for him to do,” Besides the seed sales, their Troy said. “He started doing a business, Altena Ag Services, sells little bit here and there as he ag chemicals, custom spraying was recovering from surgery. (new in 2020), variable rate He started in the seed shed and lime applications, soil sampling, then started helping around the soybean seed treatment, and farm. He ended up quitting his fertilizer sales and application. On service job because he enjoyed top of that, they do some custom being out here on the farm so chopping for silage and custom much versus being in town. He’s grinding of ear corn. a total universal man who can pretty much do anything. There’s They rely heavily on their fullnobody like him.” time hired hand, Dave Klarenbeek of Alvord. Dave previously was Troy and Michelle’s oldest

March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

son Jacob is 20 and will be graduating this spring from Minnesota West College with a degree in agribusiness. He’ll join the operation to help expand seed sales and do the custom spraying. Troy said, “This operation offers a lot of services and we haven’t had enough people to do it. A lot of times a new face can do a lot.” He said there’s enough room for growth in the operation if second son Tyson wants in too. Tyson is 17 and a junior at George-Little Rock High School. Both Jacob and Tyson inherited an affinity for automobiles from their dad. When Troy was in his 20s, he took part in demolition derbies. “I wrecked a lot of ’76 Impalas. Jacob and Tyson grew up helping me with the cars,” Troy said. Jacob experimented with the demolition derby, but switched over to figure-8 racing. “Jacob got a figure-8 car ready to go. By the second race, he was right up front. Then Tyson said

‘If you can do it, I can do it too.’ And he didn’t do too bad. So I thought, ‘Well, you know what, I’m going to do that right there with you.’ They got me a car ready to go and I was out there with them – you got the old man and the boys out there.”

youth county council, worked as a CNA, and was an office assistant at a local elevator. “I guess life has prepared me for what I do today helping Troy and the kids on the farm and with our business. There is no better place to be than on the farm.”

The “twin tornadoes” – Levi and Ethan – are 11 and students at Central Lyon school. “Life got crazy after the twins were born,” said Michelle, whose sister has a set of twins and whose brother has two sets of twins. “I gave up a lot of my outside enjoyment after the twins were born but, now that they are getting older and a lot more help, it is so rewarding.”

Today, the farm includes three horses, a pet turkey, a pet calf, and a dog. Troy said Michelle is the “Old MacDonald” of the farm. Michelle said, “Back in 20042007, we used to have 140 ewes and I lambed them out. We had lambs in every single building on the farm. We even had them in the house when we had one that was in rough shape. We’d put them in the bathtub.”

Troy said Levi and Ethan “are just wide open all the time. They love the farm, their 4-H calves, helping drive tractors, the skid loader, the Ranger, 4-wheeler, mowing the lawn and playing sports. They have a lot of ambition.”

Michelle has put her upbringing on a Humboldt County farm to good use on the Altena farm. “I taught all of our boys to drive tractors. They sat on my lap hauling silage IN QUALITY ANIMAL CARE loads, but it didn’t take long before I was the one sitting in the buddy seat supervising.” She helped all four boys raise bucket calves for the Lyon County Fair. A former barrel racer herself, she’s proud that Delta, the Arabian Pinto mare she grew up riding, was eventually shown by Jacob at the Lyon County Fair.

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Michelle also coached all her boys’ t-ball games. She was an active athlete in high school, playing all sports and, in college, playing a semester of fall softball and basketball. She was involved in 4-H,

Troy loves every aspect of farming. “I love watching seeds come up in the row. Every year it’s a miracle to me. The last 21 years in agronomy sales has taught me a lot about the differences in land and all the variables in each field that affect each management decision. Watching plants thrive on fertile land free from weeds, insects, and disease is a truly rewarding occupation. I’m absolutely passionate about finding the perfect way to grow crops. It’s what keeps me up at night and makes my head spin. It’s fun. It’s not work to me. “Pioneer has been a huge part of our success. We have many new exciting technologies that are helping our seed products be more reliable and yield far better than they ever have before,” he said. Troy is just as passionate for learning about his faith. Several years ago, he was invited to a Bible study being held at Mulder Implement east of Rock Rapids. Led by Roger Lamfers and Jason Terhark, the “Timeline Ministries” Bible study intrigued and inspired Troy, who ended up hosting the study at his shop for almost three years before it moved back to Mulder Implement. “We got a lot of new people to come. I got some of my neighbors to come and some people who didn’t attend church regularly. The

information at this Bible study is so groundbreaking. These guys have studied the Bible forward and backward.” While taught from a nondenominational viewpoint, the home base of Timeline Ministries is Tabernacle Baptist Church in George. “So I followed these guys to Tabernacle, and the pastor there, Brian Anderson, is just a phenomenal speaker. There are many ministries and activities going on there. We could tell something great was happening so we started attending. There’s so much to learn and there are so many different levels to the Bible. These guys are way up here and I’m way down here, but I’m trying to climb that ladder to learn a little bit more all the time. The information they’ve shared has added a better understanding of what the Bible is trying to tell us and has lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders.” Dave Klararenbeek, right, has proven to be a Troy’s right-hand-man in the success of Altena Ag Service.

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FINANCIAL FOCUS

POSITION YOURSELF TO CAPITALIZE ON OPPORTUNITY By Farm Credit Services of America

All of us in agriculture understand the risks inherent to our industry, and managing them is a critical part of what producers do every day. But to manage risks you must actually take risks. That’s not always easy, particularly when it comes to one of the biggest decisions any producer will make – the purchase of real estate. A good lender who knows agriculture and the real estate market can help inform your

decision process. FCSAmerica has been tracking real estate values through our bi-annual benchmark farmland study since 1951. Over that time, farmland has proven a good, long-term investment, even factoring in downturns like today. While farmland values in Iowa are down more than 19 percent since the market’s peak in 2013, they remain up 68.6 percent for the decade ending Dec. 31, 2019. Most landowners would tell you

The Farming Families Magazine | www.agemedia.pub | March 2020

they are glad they made the investment. Some would express regret at the tracts they missed out on. But this doesn’t mean a land purchase is right for every operation or in every situation. Far from it. To put your operation in a position to capitalize on opportunity, take time to analyze where you stand today. Here are a few questions that can help you frame up some next steps:

“What would it take if I . . .” • had to buy the farm I lease? • could add another lease to my operation? • wanted to double my operation in five to seven years? Answering these questions requires understanding your costs and financial position. Review your balance sheet, cash flow and income statements, for example, to determine how

much debt you can reasonably take on. Land purchases have a major effect on an operation’s working capital, so it’s important to also factor in possible changes in financial circumstances and how this could limit your ability to get your farm out of a tough spot. Also consider opportunity costs – the things you would give up in order to make a land purchase. Do the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term sacrifices? Your answers might reveal the

need for some changes in your operation. This might include working with a broker to devise a better marketing plan, improving your farm management skills or cutting costs. The good news is you aren’t alone in this process. Your team advisors, including your lender, can help you better understand your operation and how to apply that knowledge to your decisions. Remember, what you do today determines tomorrow’s opportunity.

Farmland benchmark values, as December 31, 2019, for the four states served by Farm Credit Services of America. (The parentheses denote the number of benchmark farms for each state.) STATE

SIX MONTHS

ONE YEAR

FIVE YEAR

TEN YEAR

Iowa (21)

0.7%

-0.6%

-9.2%

68.6%

Nebraska (18)

-2.6%

-2.9%

-16.6%

86.9%

South Dakota (23)

-1.0%

-1.7%

-12.2%

85.9%

Wyoming (2)

2.0%

8.6%

36.8%

53.3%

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March 2020 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine

FROM THE KITCHEN

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Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

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of Sioux County

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of Lyon County

Faith / Family / Friends / Farming

of Plymouth County

Meet the

ALTENA Family

Meet the

MAASSEN Family Stefan, Adam, Emily, Lee, Stacy and Aaron Maassen. Story on page 6.

Troy and Michelle Altena and their sons, Tyson, Jacob, Ethan and Levi. Story on page 28.

Scott Renken and Wayne and Luke Beitelspacher. Story on page 20.

Photo courtesy Lana Van Es, LG Imagery.

SIOUX COUNTY

Meet the

BEITELSPACHER Family

LYON COUNTY

PLYMOUTH COUNTY

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