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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. 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.”

Lorna Haverhals’ son, Tyler Rus, is the operations manager at Haverhals feedlot.

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.

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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Top: Looking west at the Haverhals Feedlot in 2007. The bottom two photos were taken about 40 years earlier. Middle: This site is middle left on the more modern photo. Bottom: This site is middle right on the modern photo. Chuck also started out across the river in Sioux County before his family moved to the Hudson area. Today Chuck and his wife, Sherry, live a mile west of Haverhals. They have seven daughters – Tiffany, Stephanie, Debra, Charly, Ashley, Haley and Rachel – and 13 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. After John graduated from high school, his dad (also named John) told him and his siblings that one of them needed to move to South Dakota because there wasn’t room for all of them at Lebanon. John and his dad fed cattle in partnership in Lincoln County until his father passed away in 1982. “Every time your dad would buy another place, we’d have to add some cattle there. We just kept expanding,” Chuck said. According to John, “Dad understood livestock and he wasn’t scared to change. That was one of the things I learned from him.” In years when the market was bad, there were livestock feeders who wouldn’t sell at the depressed prices and would just keep feeding – making the cattle bigger and bigger. “My dad would always watch for the price he could sell one in relationship to what he would pay for replacements. When he could buy two at the price of selling one, that’s what he would do. It wasn’t because he necessarily thought it was the top of the market, it was all about the deal.”

The cattle market was volatile then just like it is now. “When it did get good, it got really good. If you could ride through the dip, the hill was pretty tall.” John and Lorna got married in 1999. The largest expansion of their feedlot operations came in 2001. In recent years, they’ve added more crop ground because of the price of grain.

A SHARED LOVE OF CATTLE AND HORSES

Lorna also grew up on a farm in Sioux County, Iowa. She’s worked in agriculture most of her life including at sale barns, grain elevators, other livestock feeding operations, and for a redi-mix company. “My dad was a cattle feeder and I always loved cattle. When a mutual friend wanted to set me up with John, that was one of the draws. He likes cattle and I like cattle. He likes horses and I like horses,” she said. They go trail riding regularly in the Newton Hills and usually go riding in the Black Hills at least once a year. John also did roping in local rodeos for 30 years. Today, the couple raises and sells colts. They have five mares and about 20 horses total. Their colts have been sold all over the country – from Texas to Idaho to North Carolina to New York. “It’s fun raising them, training them and then selling them to somebody else who enjoys them for a long time. Occasionally they’ll call you or send you a picture of a horse you sold five years ago,” John said. Lorna added, “When they call, a lot of times they’re looking for the next one. They want to know if there’s a sibling of their first colt.” John and Lorna’s blended family includes five total children and seven grandchildren. John has two sons. Son John lives in Sioux Falls and is the owner of Reinvented Promo. Luke lives in

John and Lorna Haverhals in front of their office west of Hudson.

Hawarden and works at Waddy’s in both Hudson and Hawarden.

Lorna’s oldest daughter, Katie, and her husband, Jim Pehl, live in Cottage Grove, Minn., with their children, Darra and Tage. Katie has a master’s in nursing and works as a midwife at Woodwinds Health Campus. Her younger daughter, Tiffany, lives in rural Doon, Iowa, with her husband, Chad Van Engen, and their children, Jackson, Emersyn and Marcus. They background cattle for a local farmer and Tiffany is a veterinary technician at Central Vet in Sioux Center. Their farm is a regular "Old MacDonald’s farm" with the kids trying their hand at many different species of livestock.

A PASSION FOR BEEF

John is a past president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association and he also served on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board. “I’m passionate about the beef industry and the product we present to our consumers on a daily basis. Whether it’s Shanghai or Sunshine in Sioux Falls, it’s important to have the demand for your products to get a good price.” In addition to serving other beef producers, involvement in associations can help a cattle feeder create a great network of people. “There’s many things you can learn and take home and help you financially. It’s not just an expense, you’re gaining an education,” he said.

“The main reason I can be active in the broader beef industry is because I’ve had operation managers like Chuck and now Tyler. If I had a board meeting or I’m taking care of other off-farm business, I considered it a privilege that I didn’t have to worry about what was happening at home. Lorna’s always been supportive of the craziness I get myself into, too,” John said. “Right now we have such a good group of guys, I can honestly say I never wonder whether or not any one of them is going to show up for work. It’s just unbelievable.”

Lorna with grandchildren, Tage Pehl, Darra Pehl, and Selena Rus.