N'West Iowa Business

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018 THE N'WEST IOWA REVIEW/SHELDON, IA E13
JEREMY KOOPMANS IRETON
Owner and operator at Koopmans Feedlot
BY LANA BRADSTREAM
LBRADSTREAM@NWESTIOWA.COM
IRETON—The owner of
Koopmans Feedlot got bit by
the cattle bug at the young
age of 10 when he was feeding
just a few Holstein bucket
calves.
Twenty years later, Jeremy
Koopmans has taken that bite
and transformed it into a 1,800-
head feedlot cattle operation
northeast of Ireton.
Koopmans feeds all of the
cattle daily, and personally
owns 1,000 head in the feederto-finisher
operation.
“I get all different weights of
cattle in and sell them as fat
cattle,” Koopmans said.
Most of the cattle he feeds are
sent to Tyson in Dakota City,
NE, and Cargill in Schuyler, NE.
The daily feeding routine
consists of giving the cattle specific
rations to the weights they
are. With the cattle sorted into
pens based on weight, the task
is easier.
Koopmans also provides
daily bedding for the livestock
comfort and keeps the pens
clean by scraping the yard.
He provides vaccinations and
treats the ailing cattle. Koopmans
also owns for his own
trucks for transporting the livestock
and moving the manure
to fields.
Since he spent some time as
a cattle trucker after graduating
from college, he has plenty of
experience with transportation.
During his brief time as a
cattle trucker, he realized that
cattle were his passion, and
trucking was not going to allow
him time to devote to his own
business.
“Then, the opportunity came
to purchase my own place,”
Koopmans said. “From there,
I started improving my cattle
yards and started custom feeding.
As my operation grows, I
continue to look for ways to
expand and better my facilities
by pouring more cement yards
and building a bedding barn.”
The feedlot owner knows a
lot about growing an operation.
During his high school years,
he already owned 200 head
of cattle. When he bought the
acreage near Ireton in 2009,
Koopmans poured 5,000 yards
of concrete for cattle pens and
installed 900 feet of fencing. A
lot of the work was done solo,
but he also had help from his
family.
“I get assistance from my
father, brother and brothersin-law,”
Koopmans said. “My
nephews come out to the farm
often and enjoy helping, too. I
PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM
would not be where I am today
without the help of family.”
The help certainly does not
go unnoticed in a business that
he described as “risky,” but still
his “retirement plan.” Despite
the risk, the workload and the
long hours, Koopmans does his
AT A GLANCE:
Age: 31
Education: Diesel
technology degree
from Northwest Iowa
Community College in
Sheldon in 2005.
Experience: Cattle
trucker; owner and
operator at Koopmans
Feedlot near Ireton since
2009.
Family: Wife, Aftan;
stepson, Gage, 11.
Interests: Going
camping, outdoor
activities such as fourwheeling,
buying cattle,
sitting at sale barns.
best to see the silver lining.
“I feel that it’s important to
keep my overhead low and
make wise decisions,” he said.
“I try to remain optimistic and
realize that in this business,
you sometimes break even and
other times you lose money,
but I just keep trying to look
forward toward the future.”
MATTHEW LAMMERS SIOUX CENTER
Financial adviser at Zeutenhorst Financial Inc. in Sioux Center
BY RYLAN HOWE
RHOWE@NWESTIOWA.COM
SIOUX CENTER—Matthew
Lammers is a numbers
guy. So it would make
sense he made his way into the
world of financial planning.
“I’ve always enjoyed numbers,”
Lammers said. “In high
school I began taking a lot
of business and ag classes. I
really enjoyed the business
end of operations and thought
accounting was definitely an
interest.”
Lammers, who has called
N’West Iowa home his entire
life, graduated from Sioux Center
High School in 2000, but not
before getting a head start on
his college courses.
During his senior year he had
begun taking courses at Dordt
College in Sioux Center, where
he eventually would earn
bachelor’s degrees in accounting
and business: information
systems.
After spending several years
working in finance for major
AT A GLANCE:
Age: 35
Education: Bachelors
of arts in accounting and
business: information
systems from Dordt College
in Sioux Center in 2004.
Experience: Vander Haag
Inc. in Spencer; Pizza Ranch
companies in the area, Lammers
made his way to Zeutenhorst
Financial, Inc. in Sioux
Center, where he has worked as
a financial adviser since 2015.
Lammers has earned his Iowa
Health and Life licenses as well
as the Series 7 and Series 66
investment certifications.
He has developed a focus
of working with clients on
financial planning and investment
management as well as
Medicare and Social Security
planning.
“When this opportunity
corporate office in Orange
City; financial adviser at
Zeutenhorst Financial Inc. in
Sioux Center since 2015.
Family: Single.
Interests: Playing organ in
church, cooking.
came up in 2015, I thought it
would be an excellent opportunity
to be in a position to serve
clients directly, face-to-face
and hands-on,” Lammers said.
“I enjoy the interaction and
developing relationships with
clients.”
That face-to-face work has
been one of the highlights.
“I definitely enjoy working
with clients to help them more
comprehensively understand
either their big financial picture
or their insurance, the Medicare
system and the products
we’re able to help them with,”
Lammers said.
With each client comes a specific
set of circumstances and
needs, which leads to another
one of the highlights of the job
for him.
“There is no such thing as
a typical day, which is part of
what I enjoy about the job,”
Lammers said. “Meeting with
clients and discussing what
products they might use with
us here, maybe signing them
up with Medicare programs,
just basically getting people
educated and signed up for
whatever program they’ll be
working with our office on.”
When he has free time from
work, he spends a lot of it playing
music. Specifically, he plays
the organ for a handful of local
congregations.
“That’s been a long-term
interest,” Lammers said. “I
grew up in church admiring
what the organist did, so I start-
PHOTO BY RYLAN HOWE
ed lessons with the intention of
being and organist and had the
opportunity to work with some
excellent teachers.”
On the job, Lammers looks
forward to continuing working
with the team at Zeutenhorst
Financial to provide a service
for people in his community.
“We have a great team and
people that specialize in several
areas. We can tailor our team’s
help to meet each client’s complete
needs,” Lammers said.