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The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition tour will visit northeast Nebraska for the first time.

Curt Arens, Editor, Nebraska Farmer

April 16, 2021

1 Min Read
Farmers walk a pasture during a Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition annual summer tour
PASTURE WALK: The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition is sponsoring its annual summer tour again in 2021, this time heading to sites in northeast Nebraska to highlight conservation and best management practices.Curt Arens

The Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition will be traveling to northeast Nebraska for the first time for the group’s annual summer tour. COVID-19 canceled the 2020 summer tour, which had been planned for the Sandhills.

But the tour is back for 2021, says Wayne Rasmussen, one of the summer NGLC tour organizers. It is set for June 15.

For the first time, NGLC will visit northeast Nebraska on-farm locations in northern Knox County, north of Lindy, and in northern Boyd County near Lynch. Tentatively, the tour will meet in Niobrara in the morning June 15, and drive east to the Tim Jessen ranch north of Lindy to look at 20 years of prescribed fire, the effect on invasive eastern red cedar trees and resulting improvements to native grazing lands.

Jessen’s father, Gene, took over management of their Devil’s Nest area ranch in 1960, after his father retired. He concentrated on cattle ranching and made conservation a priority for his prairie. Gene died in 2018, but Tim has carried on the multipronged conservation efforts of his father on this land just a stone’s throw from the Missouri River.

In the afternoon, the tour will move west to Kalkowski Family Ranches near Lynch, learning about the family’s efforts to improve grazing lands, employ rotational grazing to improve pastures and productivity, and install watering systems and unique cattle systems to enhance the land and natural resources.

The tour will conclude with an evening meal at SpringLake Angus Center, a new rural event venue 11 miles south of Lynch. Rasmussen says that farmers, ranchers and urban residents are invited on this educational and informative tour.

The cost is $25. For more information, email Rasmussen at [email protected]. Visit the NGLC website for upcoming details at nebraskagrazinglands.org.

About the Author(s)

Curt Arens

Editor, Nebraska Farmer

Curt Arens began writing about Nebraska’s farm families when he was in high school. Before joining Farm Progress as a field editor in April 2010, he had worked as a freelance farm writer for 27 years, first for newspapers and then for farm magazines, including Nebraska Farmer.

His real full-time career, however, during that same period was farming his family’s fourth generation land in northeast Nebraska. He also operated his Christmas tree farm and grew black oil sunflowers for wild birdseed. Curt continues to raise corn, soybeans and alfalfa and runs a cow-calf herd.

Curt and his wife Donna have four children, Lauren, Taylor, Zachary and Benjamin. They are active in their church and St. Rose School in Crofton, where Donna teaches and their children attend classes.

Previously, the 1986 University of Nebraska animal science graduate wrote a weekly rural life column, developed a farm radio program and wrote books about farm direct marketing and farmers markets. He received media honors from the Nebraska Forest Service, Center for Rural Affairs and Northeast Nebraska Experimental Farm Association.

He wrote about the spiritual side of farming in his 2008 book, “Down to Earth: Celebrating a Blessed Life on the Land,” garnering a Catholic Press Association award.

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