Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway

Top 10 Sights Along the Sandhills Journey

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 21:10:47 GMT

1 . Sandhill Cranes

Over 500,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate through Nebraska. Traveling the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway, Nebraska Highway 2, Grand Island to Alliance in mid-February thru April is prime crane watching time. Visit the Crane Trust for a specific peek or mosey along the Byway to see the birds landing in open fields. If you appreciate birds and enjoy the great outdoors plan a trip to the Byway in the spring.

2. Borglum

Nebraska Highway 2 is home to many exceptional artists. Solon Borglum began his work in sculpture on the bluffs of his family farm five miles west of Cairo, Nebraska. Solon’s work went on to grace many locations internationally. His brother Gutzon is known for a much larger work you might find traveling the west end of the Sandhill’s Byway and then traveling north.

3. The Sandhills

There is a place in America virtually untouched by the hand of man. The largest area of stabilized sand dunes in the western hemisphere, the Nebraska Sandhills, occupies nearly 20,000 square miles. In this timeless, windblown ocean of undulating dunes, native grass and vivid blue lakes, Nature is still master of the land. Nebraska Highway 2, the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway, bisects this ancient

ground, leading travelers to treasures undiscovered anywhere else. These enormous, wild places are virtual wildlife refuges. Species once common across the Midwest still find their stronghold in the Sandhills. The grass-covered sand dunes are peppered with shallow natural lakes and rivers fed by the High Plains Aquifer, North America’s largest underground water supply. Water percolates into ponds and marshes, providing carpets of wildflowers in a kaleidoscope of color. Here is habitat for a myriad of fish, reptiles, amphibians and bird species. Formations of pelicans soar like bombers from lake to lake and graceful swans have returned and are nesting again in the region.

4. Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Visitor Center

The Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Visitor Center, located at the east edge of Broken Bow, opened in the spring of 2009. Indoor displays and literature feature educational, recreational and historical information on the unique Nebraska Sandhills and the counties along the Byway. Additional outdoor displays include a working windmill, an education exhibit showcasing the numerous grasses that

make the Sandhills region such a valuable ranching area, as well as recent additions of a sod house and one room schoolhouse. Housed in the historic O. K. Luther barn, this interpretive center offers handicap accessible restrooms, plenty of parking including stalls for the handicapped, a picnic shelter and walking trails. The center is open for the season Memorial Day weekend through September 30, seven days a week including holidays. The phone number is 308-872-8331 in season.

5. Float the Byway

There is an abundance of outdoor recreational activities to be found on the Byway. Bring your ATV, kayak, canoe, fishing poles and find a day or a weeks’ worth of outdoor recreational activities on Nebraska Highway 2. Tanking on the Middle Loup River in Nebraska's Sandhills is a unique, leisurely, and scenic float trip using large galvanized livestock tanks (7–9 feet in diameter) that accommodate up to 5–8 people. Considered a "slow-motion" experience, this calm activity is perfect for groups, providing space for coolers, lawn chairs, and relaxing while drifting past gentle hills. If you are up for a challenge mark your calendar for the Polar Bear Tank Race in early March.

6. History On the Byway

Driving on the Byway is a bit like taking a walk through history as you leave big cities behind you get a glimpse of pristine grass land. Travel the Byway and experience a small taste of what homesteaders must have felt seeing vast amounts of untouched ground. Solomon D. Butcher spent time capturing the first epic experiences of becoming a settler in the Sandhills. Spend a day driving from town to town visiting history in museums on the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway.

The Shores family near Westerville, Custer County, Nebraska, 1887 – Solomon D. Butcher

7. Star Gazing

The stretch of Nebraska Highway 2 from Grand Island to Alliance has plenty of wide-open spaces to sit back and gaze at the stars. The remote areas of our byway away from artificial light are some of the best places to experience dark skies, perfect for star gazing and astronomy of the best kind.

8. Potash Plant

At Antioch, 15 miles east of Alliance, discover old potash kiln remnants. On the National Register of Historic Places, this community is now a near-ghost town. The old kilns, long ago invaded by prairie grasses bent on reclaiming their rightful habitat, sprang to life originally at the beginning of WW1 when the U.S. supply of German potash dried up. If only Antioch could tell its own story, I’m sure we’d all be mesmerized. We do know that Antioch was once a city of over 2,000 people and was called the potash capital of the U.S. Its proximity to several alkali lakes allowed five potash reduction factories to flourish but only until the war was over. At that time, the U.S. procured its potash, once again, from Germany and France, and the short-lived boom town dried up. There is a State Historical Marker along the Byway just to the west of Anitoch.

9. Carhenge

Carhenge, an oddity on the western Nebraska plains, can be found just a few miles north of Alliance along Highway 87. In the summer of 1987 Jim Reinders, with the help of family members, built a replica of England’s Stonehenge. Carhenge consists of thirty-eight American-made automobiles, all painted gray, in a 96 feet diameter circle with dimensions and layout to mimic Stonehenge. Some of the automobiles that make up this tourist attraction are buried trunk-down in five-foot pits, others are soldered on top, creating arches. The heel stone is represented by a 1962 Cadillac. Additional automobile sculptures have been added to the site as part of the “Car Art Reserve.” This attraction is a great place to stretch your legs and be sure to sign the ‘autograph’ car!

10. Nebraska National Forest – Bessey Ranger District

Along the Byway near Halsey is the largest hand-planted forest in the nation. The ranger district lands encompass over 90,000 acres of very fragile Sandhills terrain with high wind erosion potential. The forest’s heritage runs deep as numerous civilian conservation corps workers hand-planted the over 20,000 acres of trees in the 1930s. Located there, the Bessey Tree Nursery is the oldest federal tree nursery in the US (1903, producing over 2.5 million seedlings annually. The Bessey Recreation Complex is located next to the tree nursery and offers camping, fishing, motorized and non-motorized trails, and nearby river access. RV camping, OHV riding, and hunting are primary uses. There is an accessible fishing pier and pond. Bird blinds are available in the spring to watch prairie grouse dance on their leks.

Discover More About the Sandhills Journey

Announcing: The Official Sandhills Journey App

delta@huntrex.com (Mitch Hunt) — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 15:46:24 GMT

The Sandhills Journey Releases the Official Byway App

Nebraska's Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway is now only a tap away, thanks to the Byway's new mobile app. The official Nebraska Sandhills Journey app will serve as a travel guide for Nebraska's Highway 2.

"Exciting things are happening within the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway!" said byway president Linda Teahon. "New businesses are opening, and long-standing companies are developing in new and exciting ways. The new Sandhills Journey app will help visitors discover major attractions and hidden gems along the Byway."

The Sandhills are the largest area of stabilized grass-covered sand dunes in the Western Hemisphere encompassing more than 13 million acres (20,312 square miles). The Sandhills equal an area about as large as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined.

Expansive ranchland, remote landscapes, winding rivers, and the dramatic Sandhills provide an amazing view from Nebraska Highway 2, which stretches from Grand Island to Alliance, NE.

"Two hundred seventy two miles of America's heartland is a sight to behold," added Teahon. "Byway travelers have the opportunity to experience the unique Nebraska Sandhills and its agriculture, history, wildlife, recreation, and natural resources."

Visitors can find meals, lodging, attractions, gas, and an interactive travel guide on the new NE Sandhills Journey app. Attractions include the largest hand-planted forest in the world.

The "Nebraska Sandhills Journey" app is available for download on Google Play for Android and the Apple App Store for iOS devices . A Progressive Web App (PWA) is also available by visiting app.sandhillsjourney.com in a web browser. The travel app was designed by huntrex.com , a Nebraska-based web and app design company.

Learn more about the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway at sandhillsjourney.com or on the Sandhills Journey app.

During the 2022 Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN), Rick from Omaha may have said it best, "I have to get to the Sandhills a couple of times a year, or I'm just not right!"

BRAN 2022

bill.horizonswb@gmail.com (Bill Burdett) — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 15:46:30 GMT

What a ride! Downhill from Alliance to Wahoo over much of the SJNSB!

Maybe you’re into running, maybe swimming, maybe hiking. Me – I like cycling, and the state of Nebraska with its fantastic country roads and low traffic is a great venue for that! Email me, or give me a call, if you get the urge to strike out on a bicycle or four wheels – From Anywhere – To Anywhere. The pictured map shows the not-exactly-in-a-straight-line route of this year’s BRAN – Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska – and it’s now in the books. I was a rookie on the BRAN this year, and my pretty well conditioned, somewhat aged, bones made it over the entire 450 miles and up every hill.

It was awesome to experience the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway (SJNSB) yet again – and this time, on a bicycle! A significant slice of this year’s BRAN 40.2 – so named because BRAN 40 (2020) and BRAN 40.1 (2021) were both cancelled due to COVID – followed the SJNSB. Starting in Alliance, perched at 3966′, we gradually descended downward – trust me, there were a zillion hills to climb in between! – across the awesome, once-in-the-world Sandhills to hard land country and on to Wahoo sitting at 1211′. I’d like to personally thank the communities along the entire route for the hospitality, food, and fun they showed a strung-out train of peddle pushers. BRAN organizers and key people and all volunteers were phenomenal as well. All involved were awesome! Thank you!

Bill Burdett

SJNSB Vice President

Horizons Without Bounds, LLC

bill.horizonswb@gmail.com

308-379-3261

July Newsletter

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 21:36:33 GMT

President's Message

Hello from the rejuvenated green hills of the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway. This past weekend saw a gentle rain of over 1.5 inches near Thedford, and elsewhere on the Byway, which was much needed moisture. Hope the moisture continues. Bulls are out to pasture, and cows and their calves are grazing on fresh grass. God is good!

The Nebraska Passport Program is in full travel mode. As of June 28 – the number of Passport booklets requested – 43,680. The participants completing all 70 stops is 46. From the Passport app, total stamps collected were 31,758. Then add to the Tourism Passport, one can get stamps on the Nebraska Beef Passport with 40 restaurants serving great Nebraska beef and the Nebraska Wineries and Grape Growers Association has a Passport program as well. The biggest compliment one can have is plagiarizing, and that has certainly occurred with the Nebraska Tourism Passport, now in its 11th year.

The SJNSB has eight of those 70 stops on or within our promotion corridor – which would make a great week-end excursion for the family. SJNSB Passport stops – Grand Island- Tommy Gunz Bistro and Stuhr Museum; Broken Bow – Chapins Furniture. (Not on the passport, but worth seeing on the east edge of Broken Bow is our SJNSB Visitor Center). Turn south at Merna, travel 21 miles to Arnold and enjoy Grazers Bar and Grill or stay on our Byway and at Anselmo – just north is Victoria Springs Recreation Area, Halsey -The Nebraska National Forest, Bessey Ranger District. Hyannis has the Hyannis Hotel, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places. At the western end of the SJNSB, Alliance has Shelmadine Print Shop.

There are plenty of special events this summer happening on our Byway. Fireworks will be enjoyed on July 3 and 4. Sandhill Days will be celebrated July 3 at Halsey, with one of the biggest and best firework displays for a village of less than 100 you will ever see. July 9 at Grazers is the iconic CW band, Confederate Railroad. (Purchase of tickets required). Then the next day, July 10, the public is invited to Victoria Springs near Anselmo which will have their centennial celebration. Add in all the county fairs, rodeos, and water fun on the Middle Loup River, one cannot be bored on our byway. Bring your telescope, because after the festivities of the day, one can see the magnificent starlight in one of the best places without light pollution in the world! (Just leave the cities and villages, pull off on a county road, or far on the side of the road – safety first - and enjoy our night sky!)

On a political note, support for the National Scenic Byway program will hopefully be accomplished in Congress before the year is out. The House has passed the INVEST in America act, where $64 million will be allocated over four years - $16 million each year. The Senate is working on their bi-partisan bill which hopefully will allocate NSBP funding as well. Contact your Congressman or Senator to encourage their support. Tourism is economic development! Locals cannot keep the restaurants, lodging venues or fuel stations supported on their own. We need the visitors here in rural Nebraska!

The complete collection of all 184 byways in the America’s Byway collection is now out for viewing at the following link - https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/scenic_byways/designations/fhwadesignationsbooklet.pdf

And last – we contracted with Mitch Hunt, Huntrex LLC, to revamp our website. It is a slow process, but we know it will be better than ever to help us showcase our national designation. Stay tuned!

Enjoy you travel time this summer –start in your own backyard – aka the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway!! Remember – To get to anywhere, one must go through somewhere – let us be part of that scenario! B C N U on the SJNSB!

Photo credit above: SJNSB Primary Photo featured in America's Byway booklet. Photo by T. Phillips along the Middle Loup River between Thedford and Seneca.

Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Plans Annual Conference

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 21:38:00 GMT

Broken Bow – The Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway (SJNSB) will host their Annual Conference on Friday, April 30th, and Saturday, May 1 in Broken Bow.

The theme is ‘Celebrate Us!’ in honor of being one of two scenic byways in Nebraska to receive national designation. Festivities begin on Friday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. C.T. at the SJNSB Visitor Center, aka The Barn on the east edge of Broken Bow. Refreshments will be served. The Visitor Center committee will have a symbolic sod turning at the site of a proposed sod house. This will be followed by a ribbon cutting to officially recognize national designation with the new logo for the Byway. Hopefully unveiled that night will be the new road signs that will replace the Byway road signs along the 272 miles of Nebraska Highway 2 from Grand Island to Alliance. Nebraska Department of Transportation (NEDOT) will replace the old signs with the new ones after the Byway pays for the production of them.

The Broken Bow Library is the site for the annual SJNSB meeting Saturday from 10:30 to 11:45, followed by lunch which is catered by Legends Neighborhood Grill. After lunch, the annual awards will be presented to deserving individuals or businesses for Friend of the Byway, Individual, Business, Community Enhancement, and new this year, for the first time Frontline Friend of the Byway. Speakers confirmed are Sharon Strouse, Executive Director of the National Scenic Byway Foundation, who will officially welcome the SJNSB into the America Byways Collection via Zoom from Maine. Jon Vanderford who with his wife, Taryn, produce Pure Nebraska, a 30 minute showcase on Lincoln’s 10/11 TV station, will speak on treasures they have found along the byway. Mitch Hunt of Huntrex, formerly of Broken Bow, will showcase the Byway videos he produced several years ago but have now been edited to include the word ‘national’. His father, John Hunt will finish the day discussing his literary project, “Secret of the Sandhills”.

Cost to attend is $25 for Saturday’s award luncheon, while Friday festivities are being sponsored by Custer Economic Development Corporation, Broken Bow Chamber, SJNSB Visitor Center Committee, Grocery Kart of Broken Bow, Kinkaider Brewing Co., Custer Co. Tourism, and the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway organization. Registration may be paid at the door for May 1, but RSVP for meal count must be given to Terri Licking, president of the SJNSB by Monday, April 27. Email your RSVP to her at twlicking@ymail.com, put Byway RSVP in subject line please.

Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway Offers Grant

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 23:02:00 GMT

The Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway is excited to announce they will be offering a new $500 grant to a for-profit or non-profit business established in the past five years and located in a community along the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway. Applicants must explain in detail how the money will be used and will have one year to complete their project. This will be a reimbursable grant and paid when invoices are submitted for reimbursement. Application deadline is Dec. 31st, 2020. This grant is open to both SJSB members and non-members and winner will be announced at the Byway Annual Conference in Broken Bow on January 23rd. For more information and application, please contact Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway President, Terri Licking at 308 645-2436 or click here for the application.

10 Must Sees on the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway

Sun, 16 Aug 2020 20:39:00 GMT

1 . Cranes

Over 500,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate through Nebraska. Traveling the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway, Nebraska Highway 2, Grand Island to Alliance in mid-February thru April is prime crane watching time. Visit the Crane Trust for a specific peek or mosey along the Byway to see the birds landing in open fields. If you appreciate birds and enjoy the great outdoors plan a trip to the Byway in the spring.

2. Borglum

Nebraska Highway 2 is home to many exceptional artist. Solon Borglum began his work in sculpture on the bluffs of his family farm five miles west of Cairo, Nebraska. Solon’s work went on to grace many locations internationally. His brother Gutzon is known for a much larger work you might find traveling the west end of the the Sandhill’s Byway and then traveling north.

3. Culinary Adventure

You will never find yourself hungry traveling the Byway. Coffee Shops like the Medina Street Vault to Breweries like Kinkiaders, pepper the Byway with unique takes on American Classics and at a hint of something new. Click here to find additional resources to plan your Journey.

Jenna Kaczor, owner Medina Street Vault, Cairo, NE Photo Credit Andrew Carpenean

4. Prairie Chicken

Get a front row seat to the Grassland Dance. The sharptail grouse and prairie chickens put on quite the show in the spring. Experienced Sandhill guide Mitch Glidden gets viewers up close and personal to watch these birds do short runs, rapid foot stomping, leaps into the air, and an inflation of their orange neck sacs. The Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway is a paradise for birdwatchers.

5. Float the Byway

There is an abundance of outdoor recreational activities to be found on the Byway. Bring your ATV, kayak, canoe, fishing poles and find a day or a weeks worth of outdoor recreational activities on Nebraska Highway 2. Numerous river adventure, lakes and even a forest can be found while traveling the Byway. If you are up for a challenge mark your calendar for the Middle Loup River Challenge in September.

Annual Middle Loup River Challenge

6. History On the Byway

Driving on the Byway is a bit like taking a walk through history as you leave big cities behind you get a glimpse of pristine grass land. Travel the Byway and experience a small taste of what homesteaders must have felt seeing vast amounts of untouched ground. Solomon D. Butcher spent time capturing the first epic experiences of becoming a settler in the Sandhills. Spend a day driving from town to touching visiting history in museums on the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway.

The Shores family near Westerville, Custer County, Nebraska, 1887 – Solomon D. Butcher

7. Star Gazing

The stretch of Nebraska Highway 2 from Grand Island to Alliance has plenty of wide open spaces to sit back and gaze at the stars. The wide open area is unmarred by artificial light providing beautiful views of the night sky. Click here to read Brad Mellema’s star gazing experience.

8. Potash Plant

Antioch, 15 miles east of Alliance, discover old potash kiln remnants. On the National Register of Historic Places, this community is now a near-ghost town. The old kilns, long ago invaded by prairie grasses bent on reclaiming their rightful habitat, sprang to life originally at the beginning of WW1 when the U.S. supply of German potash dried up. If only Antioch could tell its own story, I’m sure we’d all be mesmerized. We do know that Antioch was once a city of over 2,000 people and was called the potash capital of the U.S. Its proximity to several alkali lakes allowed five potash reduction factories to flourish but only until the war was over. At that time, the U.S. procured its potash, once again, from Germany and France, and the short-lived boom town dried up. There is a State Historical Marker along the Byway just to the west of Anitoch.

9. Carhenge

Carhenge, an oddity on the western Nebraska plains can be found just a few miles north of Alliance along Highway 87. In the summer of 1987 Jim Reinders, with the help of family members, built a replica of England’s Stonehenge. Carhenge consists of thirty-eight American-made automobiles, all painted gray, in a 96 feet diameter circle with dimensions and layout to mimic Stonehenge. Some of the automobiles that make up this tourist attraction are buried trunk-down in five-foot pits, others are soldered on top, creating arches. The heel stone is represented by a 1962 Cadillac. Additional automobile sculptures have been added to the site as part of the “Car Art Reserve.” This attraction is a great place to stretch your legs and be sure to sign the ‘autograph’ car!

10. Morgan Store

Ellsworth is home of Morgan’s Cowpoke Haven and is better known as simply, Morgan’s Store. The store, on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally built in 1898 on the then-existing Spade Ranch as its supply store. It was, at that time, a depository for inbound supplies to be used on the 500,000 acre ranch. These essential goods were hauled 23 miles northeast to the Spade headquarters every three days by a 10-horse hitch. Wade Morgan and his general store currently offer a wide variety of merchandise including a few snacks, western clothing, tack, and a large stock of guns. You really must experience this stop. After spending some time in Morgan’s Store, walk the very short distance to the Nebraska Historical Marker that provides information about the Spade Ranch. Also located in the little town, see the well-preserved one room school house on skids – the first ”mobile home” in the hills. Check Morgan’s Cowpoke additional cultural finds on a trip through the Sandhills.

Star Gazing on Byway

Sun, 16 Aug 2020 17:42:00 GMT

There is a place where the light solely from the milky way and stars casts a shadow on the ground. Pristine and clear dark skies are remote and rare, and by their nature it takes effort and dedication to get to places that have them.

My experience:

Our entire lives we live and we go about our business seldom stopping to take notice. People go about life as fast as they possibly can, hardly recognizing the beauty of a landscape that is at the heart of the greatest grassland ecosystems on earth.

While I appreciate the beauty of oceans and mountains, I have to confess, I’m most comfortable in the wide open space of the prairie. I am not an expert in most things. I appreciate birds, but I am not a birder. I love the sandhills, but I am not a rancher. I also marvel at the stars above, but I am not an astronomer. As a photographer, I see the beauty in them and want to photograph them, or at least try.

I took astronomy classes in both high school and college, but never really looked up until I met my good friend Dan Glomski. For four years, Dan and I worked together at the Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center located along the Platte River near Alda. Dan’s contagious enthusiasm for all things in the celestial universe got me to start looking upward, so it was only natural that he would invite me to the sandhills near Mullen and cause me to point my camera up.

My astrophotography started closer to my home in the Grand Island area, but it became evident that the nemesis of night sky photography is light pollution. Light pollution is something that we seldom notice because we have grown accustomed to its ever present glow. When you take long exposures, it creates a muddy or cloudy look in the image that is evident immediately.

When Dan reviewed my images, he said “you need to get out to darker skies” and the sandhills of Nebraska are just the place to start. Modern digital cameras gave a distinct advantage over film cameras of the past, opening up possibilities that heretofore were not possible. I also learned one of the most important parts of astrophotography is patience with the weather and practice with your camera. I continue to be drawn to the Milky Way against the Sandhill’s landscape and spend most of my time trying to capture with my camera what I can see with my eyes.

There is proper etiquette while on the observing field. When your eyes become accustomed to the dark even a dim white light can be very annoying, therefore lanterns, campfires and other outside lights sources are prohibited. Flashlights must be equipped with red filters or red bulbs which is much easier on individuals’ night vision. Vehicle headlights and parking lights must remain off at all times, and those that want to leave the viewing area before the night is over are asked to park approximately a quarter mile away from the observing field facing away so the headlights have minimal impact on the other viewers.

~Brad Mellema

Executive Director

Grand Island Tourism

Ranching on the Byway

Tue, 05 May 2020 14:28:00 GMT

The Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway has diversification on its 272-mile route like no other highway in the state. – where land has been adapted by man to fulfill human needs – in the villages and the cities and the fruitful and abundant farm ground that helps feed the world. One can see this on both ends of our byway, from the corn and soybean fields of the east to the wheat, sunflower and sugar beet fields of the west.

In the central area, west of Anselmo to just past Ellsworth, 160 plus miles, begins the ranching sector. Here, man has adapted to the land to raise the beef that helps feed the world. Yes, there are fences, windmills and other man-made objects that help make this the best cattle producing area on earth, but one does not need to go far in these Sandhills to see land that is untouched by human hands. Farming was attempted by the early homesteaders, but the ground is too sandy to sustain crops, so cattle ranchers bought out the homesteaders. Here, it was not the gun that tamed these hills, but the barb wire and the windmill.

Open range was the norm in the early days, where cattle from several owners mingled. The only way to tell them apart was the brand from a hot iron that marked ownership then, and still is one way that marks ownership today.

Ranching, like farming, is hard work, labor intense but a great way to raise a family. Many a ranch here has been in the same family for five or six generations. Ranchers like farmers, are good stewards of the land and the animals they care for. If they weren’t, multi-generational families would not call this area home.

Ranching through the year has many seasons, late winter, early spring is the ‘season’ I share with you here.

As the cranes arrive in March on the Platte River near Grand Island, baby calves have arrived or will arrive for many. This is the product that a cattle producer has worked all year to obtain. Seeing the new babies up on their feet, frisking around with their playmates or getting nourishment from their mama brings great satisfaction to their owners. Now though, the work to raise them from the ‘gate to the plate’ begins in earnest. Vigilant producers save many a calf from deadly diseases, but weather’s wrath cannot be controlled. Single digit temperatures, blizzards with bone chilling winds can cause a newborn calf to freeze in a matter of minutes. These hills offer great protection for mother cows to have their young when it is just windy, but adding moisture and single digit temps, the calf loss is more than one would like to see.

The rancher though, downtrodden through these times, will state “Maybe next year” and continue to do what his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather did before him – carry on the best way they can.

One of the busiest days on a ranch in the spring is branding day, done after most of the calves are over two weeks old. For many, the only additives from a century tradition is portable panels, propane branding pot that heats the irons, and the vaccines that help keep the calves healthy. Neighbor helping neighbor, rope, drag, wrestle, castrate (making steers out of the bull calves) vaccinate – one calf done every 10 seconds or less takes an orchestration seen like no where else. Several producers have gone from this method to less labor intense means – a calf table that the calf is put into to complete all the above tasks. Any way done, branding is a necessity to tell ownership of one black calf versus another. Ranching is not for everyone, but God knew He needed a caretaker for some of His creatures, so he made a rancher.