From May 21-27, 130 participants from all over the world spent the week touring legacy ranches in the Sandhills of Nebraska. The tour kicked off Sunday evening in Rapid City, SD, with a social for everyone to meet and rekindle old friendships before spending the week together. A wonderful banquet dinner was enjoyed by all, and we even got to wish past WLJ fieldman and tour guide Jerry York a happy early birthday!
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Monday morning found the buses loaded and heading to Mt. Rushmore. Tour goers were able to spend a couple of beautiful hours taking in the awe and history of this national treasure. After a scenic drive through the Black Hills, we stopped on the South Dakota/Nebraska state line for lunch before touring Juniper Cattle Company. Joel Rickenbach and his family ranch just north of the state line and manage two separate herds of cattle, one Red Angus herd and one black Angus herd. We were able to take the buses out into his pasture and observe a set of their Red Angus mother cows, see native forage and hear about their management and marketing philosophies. That evening found us in Alliance, NE, to settle into the hotels for the next few nights.
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Tuesday morning, we headed north out of Alliance to Meyring Livestock. The Meyring family provided a great display of cattle, along with friends and family on horseback, and a nice variety of breakfast treats for the tour attendees. Jerry Meyring and his son, Jay, and their families run this well-diversified operation, which includes operating a commercial cow-calf enterprise, feeding cattle and raising Simmental bulls that are sold annually at the Power Line Genetics sale. It was obvious from hearing from the family that their work ethic and passion is second-to-none. The buses were loaded to make our way to Gordon, NE, for lunch and a tour at Krebs Ranch. Eldon Krebs and his family have created one of the most renowned seedstock enterprises in the world. They shared their story of building the ranch and cattle herd and treated us with a bus tour through the ranch, seeing many breeding groups of cattle and herd bulls. The afternoon finished up with a stop at Western Sire Services with a tour of their facilities and a look at the bulls they had on hand.
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Wednesday morning found the buses heading east out of Alliance to the heart of the Sandhills. The first stop of the day was Connealy Angus. We met them at one of their pastures to see an outstanding set of cows with calves at their sides. They shared many interesting facts about the Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, including that the groundwater at that location was only 8 feet below us and it was one of the deepest known spots of the aquifer. We traversed to the Connealy Angus headquarters to look at a large selection of bulls that had sold at their spring sale and enjoyed an excellent lunch prepared with their own branded beef.
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After lunch, we stopped by the Rex Ranch and heard from ranch manager Austin Anderson and Seedstock Division Manager Jim Tomlinson. We got to hear about their vast holdings and management techniques, along with their breeding philosophies. Tour guests were greeted by a curious bull snake who wanted to come check everyone out before slithering back to its cool shade hole.
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The final stop was at the historic Monahan Cattle Company to see the renowned Circle Dot brand. Bob Monahan, his family and ranch crew met the group and explained the vast history of the ranch. Their expansive holding and Hereford-influenced herd was an impressive sight for all. After touring around the headquarters, we were treated to a scenic drive through the ranch before returning to Alliance for the night.
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Thursday morning was time for another move and buses were loaded and on their way to North Platte for a few nights. But first was a stop to the world-renowned Haythorn Ranch. Here we enjoyed a wonderful lunch, along with video presentations of the history of the ranch and a look into their previous methods of putting up hay with draft teams. The Haythorn family saw us off with a look at many great horses and some broodmares with colts.
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The first stop when reaching North Platte was to see the progress being made on the new Sustainable Beef processing facility. This site was an active construction site with equipment and workers hustling to meet deadlines. We were able to hear from the project manager and investors who have big plans and innovative ideas to provide more opportunity for the industry. Following this was a trip to TD Angus to hear from Trey and Dayna Wasserburger about their seedstock operation and to see multiple groups of cattle on display. An excellent steak dinner was provided, along with a panel discussion and Q-and-A session around the Sustainable Beef facility.
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Friday morning was wet and rainy when we left North Platte for Thedford, NE. There we were able to tour Hoffman Ranch, seeing their feeding facilities, before making our way over to the ranch headquarters. They shared a rich history of the Hereford breed along with many show accolades on display. One of the most memorable events of the tour was when Haxton, son of Jason and Kaycee Hoffman, played bag pipes for the crowd and everyone joined in on singing “God Bless America.” There were not many dry eyes in the house.
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The afternoon and evening were spent at the Buckboard Ranch, owned by Mike Kelly and his family. They welcomed tour attendees with a description of their ranching operations along with some interesting insight on research projects they are doing with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The evening had an exclamation point put on it with a live band and dancing!
The final day had buses loaded and headed for Oshkosh, NE, to Van Newkirk Herefords. The Van Newkirk family gave attendees a warm welcome and had a wonderful display of registered cattle onsite. Tour goers were given the opportunity to guess some of the trait-leading bulls out of their 2024 bulls that were on display. Five lucky individuals won $1,000 of “Bull Bucks” to be used at a future Van Newkirk sale! Joe and Cyndi Van Newkirk and their children and grandchildren were very accommodating hosts and insightful about their program and breeding philosophy.
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The final destination on the tour was the Terrell Ranch between Alliance and Hay Springs, run by Vern, his son, Brock, and their families. This diversified commercial operation farms, runs cow-calf pairs, yearlings and a background lot. They have implemented an intensive grazing management system and shared valuable insight on their unique ranch management philosophies. They took us to see 2,700 head of yearlings on pasture, where we found out the Sandhills are no place for big tour buses and how unforgiving the sand can be when trying to navigate the back roads of Nebraska. With the assistance of a tractor, we were finally headed back to Rapid City, a few hours behind schedule, but with a full week of memories that are only created on the Livestock Tour.
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If you have not had the pleasure of going on one of the Livestock Tours presented by the Western Livestock Journal, I would strongly recommend that you consider it. The insight provided by the ranches we toured, the life-long friendships made on the buses and the memories created are well worth the price of admission. Though there were many first-time tour goers, the familiar faces of those who have been on multiple tours are a testament to the quality of the tours. Thanks to Pete and Rita Crow, Jerry York and Michelle Morgan, and Devin and Samantha Murnin for planning a great event. If you are interested in future tours, please contact Devin and Samantha at devin.murnin@gmail.com or 406-696-1502. — WLJ
