Featured Producers

Grazing management, stockmanship and family each key to ranching efforts

(Jan. 18, 2019) – Determination, hard work and a willingness to learn have been key to Ryan and Jamie Sexson’s ranching efforts. Ryan and Jamie both grew up in the Nebraska Sandhills with a passion for ranching, but were often told there was no future for them in ranching. After various jobs on and off ranches, in 2014, the couple was able to lease a small ranch near Nenzel, Neb. Today, they are raising their three young children – ages 11, 9, and 8 – in the ranching lifestyle as they custom graze and calve heifers and cows. Ryan also still does day work for area ranches.  

Neb. rancher shares lessons from transition of crops to grazing to retirement

At 72 years-old, Plainview, Neb. farmer Wayne Rasmussen has lived life with an open mind and a willingness to learn. It’s resulted in some unique accomplishments for Rasmussen and his wife Judy.

Sheep, cattle and goats provide successful grazing combination on this Neb. ranch

(March 4, 2019) – “I believe there is an opportunity to benefit the range and economically benefit the operator.” That’s what Nelson, Nebraska rancher Mike Wallace says of multi-species grazing, which involves grazing two or even three species of livestock together on rangeland. Wallace and his wife Fran own and operate Double M Ranch and have been grazing sheep, cattle and goats together since 2000.

GrazeNebraska: Fourth, fifth and sixth generations continue as stewards of family ranch near Chadron

(Oct. 29, 2018) – What helps a family ranch to survive and thrive from one generation to the next? In the rolling Pine Ridge area of Northwest Nebraska, the Dale Anderson family has earned their stripes as a multi-generational ranch and credit their staying power to having a strong work ethic, while also being committed to caring for and improving their land.

Emeritus UNL Extension educator continues to champion stewardship on the land

(Aug. 6, 2018) – After 35 years with the University of Nebraska Extension Service, Paul Swanson retired in 2002. But today, sixteen years later, Swanson’s involvement in agriculture and devotion to conservation and stewardship is still going strong.

GrazeNebraska: Quality cattle and quality pastures go hand-in-hand on this Neb. ranch

(Aug. 6, 2018) – Bartlett, Neb. ranchers Kris and Sheila Luoma take pride in raising high quality cattle. They are especially focused on raising and marketing replacement females, and utilize artificial insemination and embryo transfer to access elite genetics from Maine Anjou and Simmental sires for their commercial Angus cowherd.

Terrell Farms manages natural resources in Nebraska Panhandle

(May 7, 2018) – President Theodore Roosevelt is credited with saying, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” In western Nebraska, Vern and Marjean Terrell and their family are applying that philosophy on their crop, cattle and sheep operation. To address conservation of their natural resources, the Terrell’s have installed cross fencing and water developments to implement rotational grazing; they use minimal and no-till planting to reduce erosion risk; and they utilize cover crops to promote soil health.

GrazeNebraska: Kalkowski family committed to stewardship in Boyd County, Neb.

(March 16, 2018) – In the 1950’s Larry and Kay Lynn Kalkowski were teachers by trade, but it was their purchase of pasture and farmland in Boyd County, NE, – in the northcentral part of the state bordering South Dakota – that became the best classroom for teaching their four sons. The Kalkowski ranch was especially beneficial in teaching the lesson of stewardship of natural resources.