CLARION — Manie and Elmarie Nel were born in South Africa, but they believed that coming to the United States could offer them better opportunities.

In 2009, the couple purchased the Clarion Locker on South Main in Clarion, a business that had been closed for a number of years. Prior to that time, the Nels owned and operated a locker in Ventura.

“Our family butchered our own animals in South Africa,” Manie Nel said. “We worked for others for brief periods of time, but we thought being in business for ourselves offered the most opportunity.”

Current services offered are animal slaughter, processing, packaging and retail sales of both fresh and frozen meat items.

“While this locker had been closed,” said Elmarie Nel, “we liked the size of the building and saw the potential for growing our business here.”

In the beginning, the twosome were the only employees. Now they employ eight (including daughter Emalyn, 15, and son M.J., 11, after school and during summers) and a summer intern. And as so many other businesses today, they would hire additional help if it was to become available.

The Nels pride themselves on the cleanliness of the entire facility from the harvest area where the live animals come in, on through the processing, packaging, and retail sales area.

“We are a hooved animal facility –­ hogs, cattle, sheep, goats (no poultry),” said Manie Nel.

He said the average hang time for beef is now 14 days. People know the longer beef is hung before processing, the better the finished product. The locker also processes deer and elk, but the meat must be brought in in bags, not slaughtered at the facility.

The business has grown and continues to grow.

“Due in part to COVID-19 our year was the busiest we have ever had,” said Elmarie Nel. “People seem to want to know where their meat is coming from. Business is doubling again this year and looks to increase for next year as well. We provide quality meat; not quantity like our larger outlets.”

The increases caused them to look at expansions.

“We had a bottleneck in our freezer space,” said Elmarie Nel. “We needed more cooler space. We always look to do more and add automation. In the last two years, we have purchased two big machines. One helps with our hamburger packing. We purchased a bigger saw as animals coming in to us tend to be bigger. And we are in the process of getting a new packaging machine for our own use but also for packaging for others.”

Most recently the Nels purchased a 3,000-square-foot building to the north of them, which they are remodeling for offices, a break room and dry storage. It may be used for retail sales in the future. Upcoming is a home kill unit where animals are slaughtered on the farm or acreage. The carcasses are then moved to the locker for final processing.

Their current trade territory, from animal slaughter to retail sales, is from the Minnesota border to Des Moines, from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River and beyond, as the word spreads. Dennis Brady from south of Eagle Grove, said, “These guys are great kids. They do great work. We have never had any bad beef from there.”

In the past year, Brady brought 28 of his home-raised beef cattle to the facility.

“Such a nice, clean facility,” was Brady’s comment.

Bryan Claude, a smaller livestock producer near Woolstock, agrees with Brady.

“The Nels are such nice younger business people. I am happy to be able to bring my beef, pork and lamb into the local facility,” he said.

Retail products are winners in state competitions.

“We enter at the Iowa State Fair and have for a number of years,” said Elmarie Nel. “Our jalapeno brats have placed first, the past five years. We also compete at the Iowa Meat Processors Association events, which is a tough competition. In 2020, we won reserve for our jerky and were champions for our flavored snack sticks.”

They also were awarded for their center cut smoked pork loins.

Manie and Elmarie Nel believe in being involved with the community and state as much as their time allows.

“Manie served as a local firefighter for 10 years,” said Elmarie Nel, “and I was an EMS volunteer for seven years. Neither of us has the time away from the business to continue those duties, but we recently gave meat for an ambulance fundraiser.”

Manie Nel continues to serve on the city’s Zoning Board; Elmarie Nel is on the Clarion Theatre board. Currently, Manie Nel serves as vice-president on the board of the Iowa Meat Processors, moving up to become president in 2022.

The Nels are now U.S. citizens.

“We are always looking to the future,” said Elmarie Nel. “When we made the jump to America, we came to prove to ourselves that dreams are still alive here. We have found they are, but you have to work for it.”