Nebraska Cattlemen Awards

Nebraska Cattlemen Honors Members

    Nebraska Cattlemen honored the following outstanding members during its Annual Convention in November. Each award recognizes members who make exceptional contributions to the industry. Affiliates were asked to nominate one member for each of these awards. Final selections were made by NC staff.

2006 Legacy Award

   The Nebraska Cattlemen Legacy Award recognizes family businesses that have shown a long-term commitment to their state cattle industry organizations by being members for more than one generation. The 2006 Legacy award was given to the Lonnie Roth family, members of the Cuming County Cattlemen.

   The Roth family has strong ties to the cattle business, with three generations having been members of the state cattle organization. Lonnie Roth’s grandfather was a commission man for the Omaha Stockyards. Back then the family resided northeast of Wisner. Roth’s wife Greta’s grandfather ran a feedlot at the current Roth Feedlots location west of Wisner. Roth’s father and father-in-law remained active in cattle feeding and, in 1969, Roth and Greta moved to the Hansen Home place and began steadily increasing their feedlot capacity to its present 5,000-head capacity and their farming operations to the present 3,000 acres. The family’s four children have attended UNL, majoring in agriculture-related fields. Tyler, the youngest, returned to the feedlot and farm in 2003.

   Roth served on local, state and national cattlemen’s committees and boards. He was an elder for his church, St. Paul’s Lutheran in Wisner, and was on the board of directors for the Citizens National Bank, the Northeast Community College Board of Trustees and was president of the Wisner Lions Club. He served as vice chairman of fundraising for the 2005 Cattlemen’s Ball. The Roth family has made innumerable contributions to their local community. Unfortunately, Lonnie Roth succumbed to cancer in July 2006, but his commitment and dedication to this industry will live on.

2006 Outstanding
Cow/Calf council Award

   The 2006 Outstanding Cow/Calf Council Member is the Cover Ranches of Antioch and Ashby, who were nominated by Cattle Capital Cattlemen in Alliance. Five generations of the Cover family have been involved in ranching, and the sixth generation is in school preparing to return to the ranches. The Cover family has always strived to improve the cattle they produce by utilizing AI and the latest technology. They have been using individual animal ID for more than 20 years and have been source verifying their cattle for many years. Throughout the years, many family members have been involved in public offices, church leadership, and have been members of service organizations, hospital boards and, of course, officers of local cattlemen and cattlewomen groups.

2006 Outstanding Farmer/Stockman council Award

   Nominated by the West Central Cattlemen, David Lamb, Anselmo, was named 2006 Outstanding Farmer/Stockman Council Member. Lamb and his father run a progressive livestock and grain operation with a feeding capacity of 2,000 head. They also have 750 to 1,000 yearlings on native and irrigated grasses and over 2,500 acres of irrigated corn. The operation has four fulltime employees. Lamb currently serves on the local zoning committee, the Custer County Foundation and the economic development committee, and he is one of the state’s representatives on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Lamb can always be counted on to voice the importance of the beef industry to the state’s economy.

2006 Outstanding Feedlot Council Award

   Greg Baxter with T&E Cattle Company of Grand Island is the 2006 Outstanding Feedlot Council Member. Nominated by Central Cattlemen, T&E Cattle Company is a 20,000-head capacity custom feedlot located closely to one of Nebraska’s fast-growing urban areas. T&E has been aggressive in working closely with local and state officials to be a “good neighbor” to their urban counterparts. Baxter has given much of his time traveling to Lincoln to testify before the Unicameral, helping the state to develop emergency planning for a major livestock disease outbreak and promoting the beef industry in the state. 

2006 Outstanding Seedstock Council Award