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Melissa and Jeff Beyer.

THE BEYER FAMILY

Sioux County, January 2022

Jeff and Melissa Beyer live south of Boyden and have a traditional farrow-to-finish hog operation, plus grow corn and soybeans. Daughter Caitlyn is an education major at UNI and son Colton attends Boyden-Hull.

Melissa helps load pigs and Jeff helps in her business, Beyer Catering, which prepares meals for 1 to 300 people. The secret ingredient to their success? “Hot food is really the key. We love to hear from folks that the food is just as hot for the last person as the first person who went through,” Melissa said. “We take everything in electric roasters and get them plugged in as soon as we arrive there ahead of time.”

Beyer Catering isn’t the place to call if you’re looking for a gourmet meal – instead, the company specializes in “home cooking” to please the meat and potatoes crowd. She makes everything from cupcakes, buns and ham balls to individual casseroles to full-on buffet meals for weddings and family reunions. “We always make plenty of food so people can come back for seconds. I don’t ever want to run out of food. Jeff smokes brisket and that’s one of the things we’re known for,” she said.

THE MOGLER FAMILY

Lyon County, January 2022

A culture focused on life-long learning, family, community and faith keeps the Mogler farm and agribusiness enterprise near Lester growing and prosperous.

Brothers Rodney, Brian and Dwight lead the 3rd generation of the Mogler family in Lyon County. Three of their children – cousins Ross, Chet and Janae – are on the management team. Additional family members from the 3rd, 4th and 5th generations are part of Pig Hill Farm and Mogler Farms. Family patriarch Howard and his wife, Lillian, started farming in 1956. They raised a family of 5 boys and 2 girls; and have more than 60 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Family members have served in leadership positions in many local, state and national ag and community groups.

Howard’s pathway to growth was feeding cattle. To make room for his children, he diversified by adding hogs. Moglers were early adopters of “modern pork production,” building their first indoor gestation, shower-in facilities in the mid-1970s.

The management team at Pig Hill Co.: Chet and Brian Mogler; Vance Metzger; Ross Mogler; Janae Metzger; and Dwight, Kent and Rodney Mogler.

Andy, Russell, Donna and Adam Schmidt.

THE SCHMIDT FAMILY

Plymouth County, January 2022

Russ and Donna Schmidt live on the west edge of Craig where they farm with their twin sons, Adam and Andy, who represent the farm’s 5th generation. In addition to growing corn and soybeans, they also finish cattle. While the weather and the markets are often unpredictable and uncontrollable, Adam said, “Control your controllables and don’t stress about the things you can’t control.” And, Andy added, “Let the good Lord take care of the rest.”

Schmidts purchase Western yearlings from SD, MT and ND. Cattle are tracked with the Performance Beef System.

Russ and Adam are full-time on the farm. In addition to farm work and helping Donna with bookwork, Andy works full-time at American Bank in Le Mars. Donna has been very active helping out wherever she is needed, from scraping cattle yards to making lunch for 3-5 guys every day. Andy said, “Mom and Dad have learned to relax a little bit and not work all the time. While the kids enjoy coming out here working side-by-side with them, they also enjoy the fun side of Grandpa and Grandma.”

THE SCHRICK FAMILY

Lyon County, February 2022

When Dennis Schrick of George, Iowa, left home for military service in 1964, he figured he’d had his fill of the farm. Likewise, when Gracia Bonnema left her parents’ farm at Steen, Minn., to attend Northwestern College, she thought she’d put farm life behind her, too.

“I always said I wouldn’t marry a farmer, but God has a sense of humor,” Gracia said. Dennis said, “When I went into the service, I was kind of sick of the farm. But it didn’t take long to figure out I wanted to be back here.” Gracia taught 5th grade in Sioux Falls for a year and then 6th grade in George for 7 years. Teaching helped pay the bills those first years – especially when they harvested 31-bushel corn in 1968, the year they got married.

Schricks had a farrow-to-finish hog operation for many years and had stock cows until 2013. “We worked hard. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it all,” he said. Gracia said, “We never went crazy with buying things. We were conservative when it came to that.”

Travis, Kelly and Torey Tentinger; Travis and Samantha Huizenga; Tia and Hunter Tentinger.

THE TENTINGER FAMILY

Plymouth County, February 2022

Diversification and a little bit of luck help the Tentinger family succeed on their farm southwest of Remsen.

“We feed cattle, we custom-feed hogs and we sell some grain. It’s a little bit of everything. So when something goes wrong, you’ve still got a check coming from somewhere else,” said Travis Tentinger who farms with his wife, Kelly, and son, Hunter. “We background some calves and finish some cattle. We converted a lot of the dairy buildings over for cattle. I still custom-feed some hogs, too. It’s a nice steady income, you know what’s coming.” Tentingers grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa in collaboration with his uncle, Bill Tentinger.

Travis is the sixth generation of the family on the farm which was founded in 1882 by his Luxembourg-immigrant ancestors. “Right out of high school, I started farming while attending Western Iowa Tech’s agri-business program. I’ve worked for neighbors, taken care of hog barns, did a little bit of trucking and I worked at the elevator briefly.”

THE POPKEN FAMILY

Plymouth County, March 2022

Todd and Tammy Popken have been farming northwest of Le Mars since 1988. In May 1996 all was calm … the couple had 1 son, were renting a small amount of cropland, had minimal debt, and had older, empty hog buildings. By February 1997, they had a 2nd son, had gone deeply into debt with not 1 but 2 major loans, had purchased the land they were renting, doubled their crop ground by renting more land, and built a nursery where they would soon be caring for thousands of pigs.

Tammy enjoys being a pork producer: “The little pigs are always very happy to see you – they don’t complain and they don’t talk back.” In addition, she handles the farm’s finance and bookkeeping side of the farm business.

Both of their sons have jobs that provide enough flexibility to help with the farm. Oldest son, Alex, works full-time for Plymouth Dairy and Perry Creek Dairy. Younger son, Austin bought into Brock Auction Co. in January 2020.