KEARNEY, NEBRASKA

If you’ve ever driven from eastern Nebraska to Montana, you probably know about Hwy 26, which makes a SE/NW diagonal through Wyoming and into Nebraska. If you’re not paying attention to time or mileage and are now used to driving busy interstates, you go through Cheyenne, which doesn’t take much longer, adding 50 miles to the journey. Now, add that there isn’t a lot between Cheyenne and Ogallala, so you better pay attention to your gas gauge. Derek was driving in the pouring rain all morning, and as he said, “I was watching the road instead of the gas gauge.” So, we took a short hour break for someone to bring gas while on the side of a nowhere county road miles from anywhere. Eventually, we made it to Kearney with enough time to grab a decent meal and head to bed for the next day's activities. We were looking forward to the golfing tomorrow and weren’t due at the course until 1:00. Derek took a few golf lessons between our trip to Texas and this one, so at least he was somewhat prepared to join in the festivities for the day. My golfing partner was Joe Epperly, director of golf operations for Wagonhammer Ranches, whom we visited last year on this tour. I know he was kidding about that title, but after watching him play, I was convinced it was fitting. This year's event was held at Kearney Country Club, and it was well worth the drive since it was a scenic course nestled into the hills of college town. I’ve golfed in Nebraska twice, and I don’t know which one I like better between the two courses.

Both grounds were immaculate, making me think I’ll need to return to Nebraska for more golfing. After golf, we all met at the fairgrounds for that evening's dinner, followed by a presentation by Dr. Mark Boggess – Director of US Meat Animal Research in Clay Center, NE. The following day we were back at the fairgrounds for breakfast and displays by Schulte Angus Ranch & Gardels Lazy Four Angus.

Pleasanton, NE

Since immigrating to the US from Germany in the late 1800s, the Schulte name has been synonymous with farming. In 1997, Jeremy, a fourth generation rancher, and his wife Stacy began to AI the commercial herd with Angus bulls, which resulted in a noticeable increase in the quality of the cattle. After investing in purebred Angus heifers, they began flipping the herd from commercial to purebred. Today, Schulte Angus Ranch continues to evolve by incorporating Angus sires and technology such as genetic testing, ultrasounds, and embryo transfers. Numbering north of 120 head, they continue to be involved showing Angus cattle in the local, state, and national shows as well as offering bulls and heifers every year for sale at private treaty while also consigning bulls and pens of heifers to the Nebraska Classic.

GARDELS LAZY FOUR ANGUS

The Gardels have been raising registered Angus since 1960. Throughout those years, they have prioritized raising cattle that will perform in all segments of the beef industry. The bulls receive no creep feed in the summer and are not pushed hard to gain fat. Resulting in bulls that are structurally sound, athletic, and will adapt to different range conditions. Their cow herd is equally as important, and strive to raise females that have longevity, currently owning two 13 year olds that are still holding up very well. Docility is another critical factor and hot heads they do not tolerate. Watch for the Gardels next production sale on March 16th 2024.

KEY RANCH Miller, NE

We met Kaleb & Erin (owners of Key Ranch) last year during the tour, but Kaleb was no stranger to us at least. Either way, Derek and I were both looking forward to this stop. Kaleb grew up on a family farm near Bertrand (Kuck Ranch). Erin grew up on her family farm (Brad Z Ranch) in Guthrie Center, Iowa. The two met while Erin worked for Accelerated Genetics and visited Kuck’s about a bull. They dated long-distance for 2 ½ years and married in 2016. During the dating process, Kaleb learned about Erin’s dream of running a heifer development center. That was the plan set in motion around a decade ago. They ran it (the development center) out of a small 10x20 cabin that they also called home near Bertrand. One day, when they were out delivering bulls to customers, they drove by what was to become their home and current location near Miller. Aside from developing heifers utilizing almost 100% AI, they also offer freeze branding, pelvic measuring, and breeding tract scoring, weaning & backgrounding, and high-accuracy pregnancy checks with ultrasound. Moreover, what they do daily is focused on what they do with their cattle and the cattle entrusted to them. So last year, they scaled back their farming operations, focusing on gaining faster genetic improvement, mainly by ET in their Angus herd. They also decided to add a fall calving herd to produce better cattle as quickly as possible. Aside from that new fall calving, they also have another season in April and will sell coming twoyear-olds in their sale scheduled for December 9th.

The rain from last night added to the muddy mess, so Kaleb took us in groups via 2 tractor-drawn wagons around their facility while the other group visited the Wood River Dairy. Once the tour of Key Ranch facilities was over, they dropped us off for lunch, and the group returning from the dairy went on the tour. Derek and I were also going to head to the dairy, but a big bonus for us was that Loretta Kuck (Kaleb’s Grandmother) plus her daughter and all-around gatekeeper, Gina, were here today, too. We did a story on the Kucks a couple of years ago, and Loretta still calls me occasionally. Gina was also very helpful in developing that article, so some face time with both was much appreciated. Of course, we lost track of time since we had such a great visit with them. So, the tour left without us, but we had a pretty good idea of where we were going next…

@ TC Ranch. Franklin, NE

Bartels Angus “started as a 4-H project that went off the rails,” Mike Bartels says in his opening remarks, welcoming us to TC Ranch, where he also displayed his cattle. “I bought a registered heifer when I was in high school, and it kind of just grew from there. We added a few through college, and then in 2008, we added 20 registered heifers from McKeller’s, adding slowly to it after that. Today, we run about 700 cows, half registered and half commercial. We calve in spring and fall. We run a backgrounding yard as well. Most everything that leaves our place is going to leave as a finished animal, or breeding stock.” Mike, his wife Jill and their kids, along with Mike’s brother Craig, his wife Brenda and their kids, plus their Dad, round out the operation that Mike says is “about half cattle and half corn.” Watch for Bartel’s Angus sale on March 19th, 2024.

TC ranch was built from the ground up by Vance & Connie Uden and their son Dru. They strive to create a package of sound, balanced genetic traits in their registered herd. TC Ranch consists of about 8000 acres, a quarter designated crop and hay land, the remainder in upland pasture. The herd comprises 700 registered Angus cows and 100-150 yearling heifers. Around the 1st of November, the cows are turned out to corn stalks for the winter, and the heifers start calving in late January. The cows follow in February, and around April 1, they move to native grass pastures. Most of the herd is spring calving, but they also have a small group for fall breeding. Around June 1st, they move the herd to breaks on the Republican Valley for the summer. Dru has on display today some donor cows, a couple of herd bulls, a pen of Thedfords & Justification bull calves, some heifers, a pen of Crouch’s Congress bull calves, TC Strongholds, and Sterling Specifics, as well as the TC Blueprint bull that he likes what he’s done for them. Watch for TC Ranch’s 50th annual sale coming February 28th in Franklin, NE.

As Dru mentioned in his opening statement, seeing so many people here (on the tour) was great. “We get hung up looking at videos and paper and forget to look at the cattle.” But the tours are not just about the cattle; it’s also time to see old friends like Ryan Large of Large’s Portable AI, whom we decided to meet up with for dinner before the next tour. Hopefully, we will make new friends, like Nebraska Angus royalty, Kacey Dethlef (age 20, NE Angus Queen), and Brianna Brown (age 13, NE Angus Princess). They were with us the whole day and did a great job showing up and educating others about ranch life and Angus cattle. They spent the early part of the year going to bull sales, which isn’t required, but they both had a lot of fun connecting with those producers and helping bridge a gap between the Jr. and the “adult association.” Brianna taught life on the farm to elementary students from the city. Brianna and Kacey spent a lot of time together over the last year and built a nice friendship.

Ryan Large clued me in on the fact that I had some dates wrong and, in doing so, gave us a whole extra day to get back to Montana for their Angus tour based in Billings. So, Derek and I had a nice leisurely drive, this time on Highway 26 past Van Newkirk Herefords, where we saw their sign. We stopped abruptly, had a quick, unannounced visit with Cindy, and enjoyed a great conversation. Then we ended up spending a few hours at Scotts Bluff (“the mountains of Nebraska,” as I like to call it) enjoying the scenery before arriving in Casper that evening. In the morning, we enjoyed another round of golf, thus crossing Wyoming off my list of states I’ve golfed in. The list is getting shorter!