Margaret BauerName: AJ Dunklau
Age: 21
Major: Finance and Marketing
Hometown: Arlington
State: Nebraska
Population: 1,000
What is wrong with the name Andrew James?
My parents thought it would be nice for me to be an AJ because I had a relative that went by AJ When I was younger I thought it was cool and different.
Were you the only AJ in your town of 1,000 people?
I’m probably the only person in town that goes by their initials.
How many people in town do you know?
I would recognize the name or face of most of them. In a rural farming community there are a handful of last names that cover most of the town, Dunklau being one of them.
How many Dunklaus live around town?
I don’t know if I could say, there are lot of great aunts and great uncles.
I hear that you live on a pig farm. What’s the life of a pig farmer?
Farming is a lot of hard work but it’s not too bad as long as things go the way they are supposed to and don’t break.
Any horror stories of things gone wrong? Massive pig escapes, maybe?
Pigs get out every once in awhile. But they usually don’t go too far away because they want to stay close to the food.
What kind of chores did you have to do?
In the winter we aren’t dealing with the crops so it is just getting up, feeding the pigs and making sure everything is working: that the automatic drinkers are working and that the pigs are alive.
Do they die frequently?
If a pig dies they get rid of him pretty quick.
As in…they eat him?
Yep. So you want to find them quick.
When you were younger did you ever think you would own the farm someday?
My younger brother is going to college around there so he plans on taking over the farm.
How long has it been in your family?
We’ve been on the homestead about 90 years.
Is Arlington big enough for stoplights? Any businesses?
No stoplights. No businesses. Well, Dairy King.
King?
Not the brand name but Dairy King! It is open probably five months a year. We have two gas stations, because we are on a highway, and a locally owned supermarket.
What are the big events?
The big event in town every year is the county fair and the tractor pull. That’s the time when you see most of the people in the town.
What all goes on at the county fair?
Well, there is the pig showing. I was actually the Round Robin Champion in Showmanship: the all-around of all the different animals.
What other animals did you show?
We just raise hogs, so I showed swine. I won the Hog Showmanship Competition. Then I was entered into the overall competition against the people who were showing lambs and the horses and the dairy cows and the beef cows. We each had to show all the other animals, and I won it my senior year and shocked all the country folks.
But you’re not a country folk?
Well, I wasn’t as involved in it as a lot of people. I was more into sports and academics. I beat out my brother which was a shocker to him at least.
Congratulations!
Thanks. [laughter] I got a nice belt buckle that hasn’t seen the light of day. It’s pretty sweet. It’s got ‘champion’ written across it in big letters.
Have you seen the movie Carrie?
No, but I’ve seen Snatch though: “Beware of people who own pigs.”
Is that true?
No. I think pig farmers are well respected in the community. I wouldn’t mess with the pigs though.
Are they dangerous?
They are super inquisitive. They’ll go up and chew on anything they find. When they talk in Snatch about the pigs eating the bodies: that would probably happen. You are fine walking around in there. I wouldn’t lie down!