IN LOVE WITH FAMILY, HOME AND SIMMENTALS

By Bob Fitch

“I’ve always been in the cattle business, ever since I was a little boy. Dad always had commercial cows and I loved to help with the calving. I was always outside,” said Jaron. Jaron grew up on the Hudson farm of his parents, Kevin and Tina Van Beek.

Father and son jumped into the world of purebred Simmental cattle in the fall of 2012 with their first purchase at a sale in Auburn, Kentucky. They continued to buy registered stock and were able to have their first sales in 2015. Their female sale is the first Saturday in November and the bull sale is the second Saturday in April.

“In the Simmental world, I can give you a black, a black blaze face, a red, or a red blaze face. The ability to give you four color coats is a huge point that brought me to the Simmental world,” he said.

Simmentals are particularly renowned for the rapid growth of their young, providing more combined weaning gain and milk yield than any other breed.

“Simmentals are a strong market to be in, but also a tough market. Simmentals are a very marketable bull, but you have to build your name. It doesn't happen overnight.” But customer confidence in the performance of Hilltop Simmentals has grown rapidly and word of mouth has been strong. On top of local buyers, customers are coming from Missouri,

Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. At their female sale in the fall of 2021, Hilltop cattle were sent to 18 states plus one province in Canada.

The star of the show is genetics from the heifer Red Jewel. “Dad bought Red Jewel in 2014 for $46,000. I thought he was completely nuts and told him we’d never get our money back. But, over the past eight years, that cow has generated probably well over half a million,” Jaron said. Red Jewel ranks #3 on the Simmental all-time cow card list in the United States; and is #1 on the Red Simmental cow card list.

While Red Jewel died of cancer and lies under a head stone next to his flag pole, they flushed her, have sold her eggs and raised her babies. He has a few more eggs from Red Jewel frozen for future use. “Her legacy will keep living on. We have several of her daughters we’re flushing now. Red Jewel is by far our cornerstone donor and will be for years to come.”

TJ Main Event is a SimAngus bull who walks at Hilltop. In the U.S. he is the number two bull with the most registered calves. “We own all pasture rights to him. He’s one of the best SimAngus bulls to walk the earth.” Their other most important bull is E S. Right Time whose semen will bring anywhere from $700 to $1,100 for one straw of semen. “He is not open to the public; he is locked up and I own fall rights on him. His first son sold two years ago for $230,000.”

A Right Time son called K1 that Jaron owns has been attracting a lot of interest from big players in the semen market. It’s possible the bull calf could sell for as much as six figures in the spring. About 60 calves have been sold out of K1’s mother (Sugar C4) – her high selling son sold for $130,000.

Perfect Place To Call Home

Jaron said his long term goal is to build customer confidence and a reputation so that people want to drive to Worthing, South Dakota, to buy. “My homerun result is to sell just absolutely astounding bred heifers and bulls.”

In 2017, Jaron bought out all of the cows from his dad. He initially rented facilities from his parents, but knew they weren’t planning to leave the farm anytime soon. In 2018, he and his wife discovered the perfect spot to plant their flag just north of Worthing. It’s a former horse farm with a heated barn and a big machine shed. “It was love at first sight. It just hit home for me and Kadee. We absolutely love to call this place home,” he said.

“A big draw for me was this calving barn because we can have our sales right here at home. We don't have to move the cattle. It’s a little more homey for people to be able to come here to the farm to look at the cattle. Another huge thing for me is being on a hard paved road two miles off the interstate. So many cattlemen run up and down 29 – I have had more visitors passing through here versus what I would have had at Hudson.” They’ve added new concrete and bunks every year since moving in. Heifers are pastured in the Hudson and Hawarden area and “come home” to Worthing for the winter.

The Right People

Just as important as the right cattle and the right location and facilities is having the right people in place. “Craig Lackmann has actually been with our operation for 14 years. He was under my dad first, starting the day we graduated high school. He's been with us through thick and thin. He's by far my best friend. He takes care of our feeding operation; all the feed rations and all the mixing; and he's our mechanic.”

His other full-time employee for the past four years is his brother-in-law, Adam Louwerse. “Adam is the pasture-goer, the cattle overseer. He knows how to pick the sick ones out.” Adam is also pushing Jaron to move records on CattleMax with information collected on iPads. But Jaron admits he’s stubborn and likes old-fashioned pen and paper.

His third key employee is part-timer Ryan Dolieslager who was brought on to help Hilltop Simmentals break into the show world. “He’s a master. He knows how to break cattle and clip them immaculately.” In addition, Ryan helps out with other tasks such as running equipment and fencing.

“I can't say enough about all three of them. I could leave for a month and this operation would be taken care of just as good, if not better. I don't have to tell them what to do.” All three run cattle with Jaron’s herd – Craig under the name Riverside Simmentals, Adam under Louwerse Cattle Co. and Ryan under Dolieslager Show Cattle.

Clothing And Kids

Jaron also is happy to spend time talking about his wife, Kadee, and their children, Tatum and Kyzer.

Kadee is the daughter of Doug and Kathy Klarenbeek, also of Hudson. For many years, Klarenbeek’s owned and operated Hudson Meats & Sausage, but are now enjoying retirement. Kadee owns and operates Willow Creek Boutique in Rock

Valley, Iowa, with her sister, Shayla Louwerse. Willow Creek offers clothing for women of all ages. The store started in Jaron and Kadee’s home as an onlineonly shop (shopwillowcreek.com) in February 2019. Six months in, during a “rally in the valley” promotion, the sisters did a trial run with a retail storefront in downtown Rock Valley. “The Rock Valley community came in strong and helped out and they decided to keep going,” Jaron said. Rock Valley is something of a clothing mecca with the popularity of Nearly New Town and The Economy Shop which draw customers from a vast geographic area.

Willow Creek opened in its current location in November 2020. “They’ve never looked back. They have just kept growing and they can’t thank their customers and the Rock Valley community enough,” he said.

Even though Jaron and Kadee grew up just a mile apart and both called Hudson home, they didn't meet each other until they were 20 and 17 because Jaron went to Netherlands Reformed Christian School through 10th grade and graduated from Rock Valley Public High School. Meanwhile, Kadee graduated from Western Christian High School in Hull.

The couple married in 2015. Their daughter, Tatum, is four years old and is very active in gymnastics in Sioux Falls and hopes to be in accelerated gymnastics this fall. She also enjoys swimming in their backyard pool with her friends and cousins. “She’s the sweetest little girl you'll ever meet. She's too nice.

She gets that from Mama.”

Two-year-old Kyzer is a “wild man” who is always on the go. “He’s a little shadow of Tatum. She jumps in the pool – he jumps in the pool. He wants to be in gymnastics like her, so he’ll join their ‘Ninja Warrior’ course up there. He's an onery one and a stubborn little boy. He probably gets that from me.”