Ranching... At the End of the Road Article by Raylene Nickel Photos by Mike Boyatt About 50 miles southwest of the tiny town of Nenzel, Nebraska, population 15, the narrow, oiled road stretches on seemingly forever like a long gray ribbon draping over the grassy knolls and red sand hills and into some of the most isolated cattle country in the U.S. This is Cherry County, beautiful, wide open, and thought by some to have more beef cows and calves than any other county in the nation. Near the bottom of a deep draw, the lane narrows, winding toward the sprawling yard site of a ranch at the end of the road–J.H. Kime & Sons Cattle Co. Here, Duane Kime, his uncle Kenneth, cousin Shane, and son Jon along with their families, run 2,000 beef cows on little but grass and air. And they do a good job of it, drawing profits from the beef business more years than not by simply letting the good sand hills grass and hay feed their cattle. Duane Kime and his son Jon at their family ranch in the western Nebraska sand hills cattle country. Here the cattle turn low-cost grass into high-value beef. Gains of yearling steers on grass run as high as 2.75 to 3 pounds per head per day, an exceptional rate of gain in an area where a good average is 2.5 pounds of gain per day, said Bud Stolzenburg, educator for the Cherry County Cooperative Extension Service. Cattle on the Kime ranch are a three-way cross between Black Angus, Hereford, and Chi-Angus. It's no accident these steers gain so good on pasture. "We like to think it's the genetics of our cattle," said Duane Kime. Over the years, they have selected for cattle that thrive in the extremes of this western Nebraska environment. Come rain or drought, cows stay in good shape, make plenty of milk for their calves, and breed back consistently. And if they don't, they're culled from the herd. After years of such culling, the Kimes have a herd that is a near perfect match for what the sand hills have to offer. "Another way we try to shape the genetics of the cattle to our environment is by buying bulls raised in the sand hills," said Kime. "To perform well, cattle have got to learn to live on the grass and under the conditions we have here." Throughout the year cows and calves harvest as much grass as possible for themselves. Cows calve in March and graze upland native prairie pastures all summer with their calves. After weaning in early October, calves are pastured on sub irrigated lowland meadows, where grass stays green and nutritious late into fall. To ensure young cattle get enough protein while grazing meadow grass, the Kimes supplement their grazing with pellets made from distiller's grain. The pellets have a protein content of 15 percent, and the calves get a couple pounds per head per day. When the meadow grass runs short in mid-November to December, calves also receive 12 pounds of hay per head per day. Then, in early May, as spring breaks and the clover and timothy green up again in the meadows, calves go back to foraging full time. By mid-May the grass in the upland pastures greens up, and the young cattle are turned into it. Cattle are marketed to order buyers when they reach about 900 pounds. Steers hit that weight by June and heifers by late July. The Nebraska sand hills, seen in all photos with this article, range over an isolated area of about 10,000 square miles. Like the calves, cows graze as late into the fall and winter as weather permits. "Most years our cows graze upland meadow grass until the middle of January," said Kime. "We feed them hay from then on until mid-May, when the upland grass greens up again." To get cows in good shape for calving, they feed them a protein supplement from the first of February until cows start calving in mid-March. Needless to say, overwintering as many as 4,000 head of cattle takes a lot of hay, about 5,000 tons. "We spend all summer haying," said Kime. "Most of the hay comes from sub irrigated meadows." The meadows grow a mix of legumes and grasses, including clover, timothy, red top, and salt water grass. These meadows yield about one and a quarter tons of hay per acre. After haying, the grass regrows, providing fall grazing for both cows and weaned calves in separate meadows. To do the work needed to harvest 5,000 tons of hay and care for 4,000 head of cattle, the Kimes have four full-time employees They are joined by seven part-time workers throughout the busy summer haying season. But even with careful attention to breeding and feeding, the up-and-down swings in cattle prices make it hard to predict annual profits. "In a normal year our yearlings cost $575 to $600 per head to produce," said Kime. "That includes the costs incurred by the cow and direct labor expenses. On a good market our steers gross $790 each and our heifers about $700." Earning profits, or at the very least just breaking even year in and year out, has made the J.H. Kime & Sons Cattle Co. an enduring landmark at the end of the long road out of Nenzel. Kime's grandfather, Jake, started the outfit in 1943, and like many of the surrounding ranches, the family operation has bustled with activity for decades. Sadly, the same is not true of the region's small towns. "The nearest small town is Nenzel, and only 15 people live there now," said Kime. "It has a Catholic church and a pop machine sitting out on Main Street, but no businesses. Yet as recently as 15 years ago it had a grocery store and a post office. But they all closed down." Most of the young people have moved away from the small towns. What folks remain now are mostly elderly, and there are too few of them to support businesses that would also serve local ranches. That means ranchers such as Kime must drive at least 50 to 75 miles just for gas, groceries, and parts. The loss of people and small-town services has changed the way the Kimes run their ranch. With so far to drive for services and supplies, they must plan ahead carefully and keep fuel and supplies in stock. If they run out of something, they can borrow from neighbors in a pinch, but even the closest neighbors are five miles away. Keeping enough fuel on hand is one of their most important concerns. To make sure they have a constant supply, they buy it in bulk. "We've got storage capacity on the ranch for 3,000 gallons of gas and 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel," said Kime. "And we make sure that whenever we go to a town with a gas station, we fill the car with gas before coming home." Keeping sufficient repair parts in stock is more challenging. When the Kimes call their New Holland dealer in Valentine, 75 miles away, and order parts by phone, the dealer will ship the parts to the ranch by UPS. "We'll get it in two days," said Kime. "If we need it faster than that, and we're going to pick it up after-hours, they'll just set it outside the door in a sack, and we can pick up the parts whenever we get to town. If we need a bolt or some other small repair, usually we can find that in our shop." Groceries are handled the same way, by planning ahead and keeping shelves and three deep freezers stocked with beef raised on the ranch as well as other food. Of course, the long drive to a larger town can be too long when a doctor is needed, and that adds some risk to living this far out in the country. What happens if one of them gets hurt? "We just try not to have accidents!" Kime quipped. While there are no emergency-response professionals serving this rural area, people who have serious accidents or who unexpectedly become ill suddenly can be flown by helicopter to the hospital in Valentine. The hospital provides this emergency service to the remote regions it serves. But schooling for ranch children is more complicated. The rural area has no high school, so students must travel to the nearest high school in Valentine. But being so far away, they live in town during the week, and board out at other people's homes. Some families actually buy a second home in Valentine where Mom and the children can live during school days. Children going to grade school can live at home because a one-room rural school continues to serve the ranching community. "The school is five miles from our ranch," Kime said. "It has only two or three students, but it's cheaper for our township to hire a teacher than to bus students all the way to Valentine." Keeping roads free of snow in winter is another sometimes difficult aspect of ranching in this remote region. With so few rural taxpayers in Cherry County, there's little money for services such as snow removal. "The county maintenance crews try to keep the roads open in winter, but there are so many miles of roads to cover, they often can't get around to clearing snow fast enough." The Kimes and their neighbors help out the county by clearing their own roads with their own equipment and without pay. "We've got good neighbors, and in winter we all work together to keep the roads clear," said Kime. "Together we bought an old maintainer with a V-plow to push snow. After a blizzard or a snowfall, we probably clear about 20 miles of roads." While groceries, gas, and even doctors are miles away, Kime sees no drawback to the ranch's remote location. "I've lived here all my life, and I don't even think about it," he said. Like breeding and managing cattle to thrive on good sand hills grass, there's an art to living at the end of the long and lonely road.

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