Member Profile

By LaRayne Topp

 

First of all,” Jerry Meyring will tell you, “I’m a Christian, and I’m blessed.” A cattleman who combines a cow-calf operation with a feedlot, Meyring runs beef on 9,000 acres plus leased ground near Alliance.

“The beef industry’s been good to our family,” Meyring says. “It’s been the sole source of our income for six generations.”

Those generations include Meyring’s parents, who were in business with Meyring, and his two brothers near Walden, Colo., when Meyring graduated from Colorado State University in 1966. With a doctoral degree in veterinarian medicine, Meyring practiced at the Denver Stockyards from 1966 to 1969 until he felt the calling to go back home and ranch.

He pulled up his Colorado stakes in 1996, heading for the greener pastures of Nebraska. When asked if they’ve turned out to be greener, Meyring is quick to say, “Oh, yes.”

That may be because Meyring follows the belief of his father, Oliver (known as Twist), who maintains that if a person is part of an industry, he or she must support it. Accordingly, when Meyring was asked to run for office for the Nebraska Cattlemen association, Meyring enthusiastically agreed.

As the NC District 1 representative, Meyring believes that membership is his “main job,” so he promotes the organization in any way he can. He gets on the microphone at local salebarns several times a year and tells bidders and buyers about the Nebraska Cattlemen. He also makes numerous phone calls to people he thinks might benefit from membership.

“My biggest frustration is that membership in the leading cattlemen’s organization is so hard to sell,” he says, “when there’s so much to do.” Having said that, Meyring believes there are two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. Oftentimes, he says, takers are willing to let the givers take care of them. It’s easy to see into which group of people Meyring falls.

When Meyring calls his operation a fully integrated operation, he means it. Calves born on the Meyring acres never set hoof off the place until they’re sent to the packing plant.

The Meyring cow herd produces spring and fall calves, all finished on a 999-head feedlot. To fill out holes in marketing, some calves are purchased from neighbors. Lighter calves, both those raised by Meyring and those purchased, are held over until they’re yearlings and are marketed from October through December.

In addition to cattle, the Meyrings raise corn and alfalfa, which form the main source of feed for animals raised on the Meyring spread. Rye is planted in the corn silage stubble. It supplies grazing for the cow-calf herd in April and, in May, it’s planted to corn once again.

Cows are bred through artificial insemination on a one-time basis using composite Simmental-Angus, Simmental or Angus bulls, and after that, crossbred bulls are turned in with the cows. Meyring’s operation is also among a group of cooperators who raise and merchandise Sim-Angus bulls through Power Genetics.

Power Genetics is an alliance of feedlot owners and beef producers who have managed to negotiate a marketing grid with Cargill Meat Solutions. All cattle sold are age- and source-verified, and meet all requirements to be exported to Japanese markets where all beef has to be fewer than 20 months of age.

“It’s a prime example,” Meyring says, “of a working relationship from the beef producer to the packer.”

And finally, Meyring works with the Natural Resources District to make improvements on the ranch in the way of cross fencing and water development. The Meyrings are in the process of running pipeline to five tanks located on pastureland throughout the ranch.

In spite of all the improvements he’s made to the ranch and his contributions to the beef industry, Meyring takes most pride in his wife and partner, Nancy, along with three sons, their wives and seven grandkids. Of the three sons, Lee is a veterinarian at Steamboat Springs, Colo., and son Joe (better known as Spike) works with an uncle in Walden, Colo. Jay and family ranch with Jerry and Nancy. Meyring gives them much of the credit for their operation’s success.

“They run the ranch and I’m just a helper,” Meyring modestly says. “I couldn’t do it without them.” Y By LaRayne Topp, NC contributing writer.

 

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