Cattlemen's Digest

A mountain of paperwork and about three years of navigating through governmental red tape has finally paid off for Nebraska business and it’s owner, Dave Deitloff.

CC Ag, LLC – a composting company based in Norfolk – recently received funding from a value-added producer grant provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the 2002 federal farm bill.

According to the USDA, the value-added grant funds can only be used for one of four activities: a change in the physical state or form of an agricultural product; differentiated production or marketing; physical segregation of an agricultural product that increases the value; or the production of renewable energy.

Deitloff said a large part of his business is contacting and working with feedlots that are willing to have manure composted. Creating the market for the compost materials and educating farmers on the benefits of using it is where the grant money comes into play, according to the Norfolk Daily News.

How to Control and Corral large animals was the topic of a recent training session for Columbus animal control officers.  Due to an increase in livestock escapes in town, animal control officers say it was important to learn techniques to control and capture the animals, according to the Columbus Telegram.

After a few hours of instruction from Mike Drinnin, owner of Drinnin Feedlots Inc., the officers are better equipped to handle escaped livestock. 

Jeannie Warnke, lead animal control officer, said the opportunity to interact with the cattle and observe how they behave and move when frightened will be beneficial when the animal control officers respond to an escaped livestock call.

“This is a helpful tool,” she said. “We now know that fewer people do a better job. We will communicate that with community service technicians and police officers who help respond.”

“Our goal is to reduce damage to cattle and property and keep the public safe,” Warnke said. “Keeping the animal calm, being able to isolate and hold them until the owner retrieves it” will accomplish that goal.

OnE Saturday night in October, ranchers came to Bassett. And they brought their brands with them.

The Bassett Lodge and Range Cafe has been officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the Nebraska State Historical Society and the National Park Service.

The community gathered to celebrate that accomplishment and the continuity of the main street hotel and eatery that has helped bind residents together for over half a century.

Ranchers from all over the region (including NC past president Homer Buell and his brother Larry) burned their brands on the wooden fence adjacent to the hotel’s colorful garden as part of a fund-raiser to meet the matching funds requirement of a Peter Kiewit grant to restore the historic establishment.

The community has been working hard to preserve this important piece of its heritage that was close to being lost when owners Richard and Genevieve Lackaff retired from the business and closed its doors at the end of 2004. According to the Norfolk Daily News, the Bassett Development Corporation purchased the building and began restoration, keeping the restaurant and hotel open to meet the needs of the community.

When Chad Schimmels thinks of his FFA chapter’s accomplishments, he is almost at a loss for words.

For a school to have more than one team qualify for FFA nationals is rare. To win a national championship is amazing.

Schimmels is the FFA advisor at Eustis-Farnam High School in Eustis. His food science and technology FFA team placed first at the FFA national convention in Indianapolis late last month. It is the first time that a Nebraska school has won a national FFA event.

The school’s agronomy team placed second, and its meat evaluation and technology team was seventh.

The Eustis-Farnam chapter has 41 members in eighth through 12th grade. Other chapters around the nation have as many as 600 members. Nebraska’s largest chapter is in York, with 150 members, states the Omaha World Herald.

For Kelly and Nancy Hart of Elkhorn, Dick’s Hillrise Market was a shopping standby at which they might stop three or four times a week for fresh-cut meat, chicken or one of many signature sausages.

So when Dick’s closed in 2005 after a fire and it became clear that the former owners were not going to reopen, the Harts saw a business opportunity.

Today they own the new Dick’s Meats of Elkhorn, which sits next to the market’s former home. Employee Rick Hayden is the son of Dick Hayden, the original owner of Dick’s Market. Hayden is joined by former co-workers Cliff Hitchler, who had worked for Dick’s for 25 years, and Mark Pearse, who had worked there for 10 years when the fire occurred.

When the store burned and the owners decided not to reopen, Hayden, Hitchler and Pearse found other jobs, but all three were ready to return when the Harts came calling, reports the Omaha World Herald.

Maureen Neumann, an 11-year-resident of Elkhorn, said people were pleased to see the market reopen.  Reasonable prices and high-quality meat kept her coming back, she said, but she also respected the people behind the counter. “People are very happy they’re back,” Neumann says. “Our family eats much better now that Dick’s is back in town.”