perfect, I guess. It’s hard to explain,” he said. “The procedure for feeding cattle over the years has changed so much. It used to be if the bunks weren’t full up, you weren’t feeding them enough. They had to have feed in front of them all the time. Now you want the bunks cleaned up when you come to give them feed, which actually makes it easier. You see how hard they come to the bunks and how many hang back. Believe me, I’ve made mistakes feeding cattle, but that’s how you learn. Take pride in what you do, and don’t cut corners.” Chuck is mostly retired today and Lorna’s son, Tyler Rus, fills that key role in daily operations. Lorna said, “Tyler is a natural with cattle. Chuck trained him, and he is an excellent feeder. He’s also our mechanical guy and operations manager.” John added, “Tyler is talented at anything and everything farm or feedlot related. He covers for me when I’m not around. We couldn't do it without him.” Tyler lives a half mile south of the feedlot and has a daughter, Selena. A LOT OF MEMORIES For John and Chuck, there’s a lot to reminisce about when you’ve worked together 50 years.
Lorna Haverhals’ son, Tyler Rus, is the operations manager at Haverhals feedlot.
They remembered the drought year of 1976 when the dust stirred up from the corn picker made it impossible to see each other. “Being a livestock guy in those days, we could salvage a crop. You could chop and shock and whatever you could to make feed. That was different than the guy who had to bring a meager amount to town. It was the value-added thing before anybody called it that,” John said. “We made it through because of the Good Lord and a good banker.” There were any number of blizzards they faced in five decades. During one, the cattle walked over the fences and became scattered for miles – some buried in the snow, alive or otherwise.
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Feeding cattle is lot more comfortable today than it was 50 years ago. According to Chuck, “I used to feed cattle on an open tractor when it was 20 below zero, maybe a heat houser and that was it. We used to work from daylight to dark. There wasn’t no eight-hour day. A typical day was 12 hours – and more time when you were busy.” Equipment advances, mechanization and other technologies have made farming and feeding cattle easier today. “But the part that’s still the same is it’s about the care of the animals, to keep them comfortable and well taken care of so they grow,” John said. John grew up on a farm at Lebanon, Iowa, a speck in the road in Sioux County. His childhood home was six miles east of Hudson and today’s home is six miles west of Hudson. “Like I tell people, I haven’t gone very far in my life.”
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April 2022 | www.agemedia.pub | The Farming Families Magazine
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