SYA FARM

You would need to be a local to this part of Nebraska to know what “SYA” stands for! The pastures where our cattle graze are right along US Highway 34 just west of Lincoln Nebraska. As you continue west on US 34 you will encounter the following County Seat Towns: Seward, York and Aurora (SYA).

We are thankful to Sheila’s parents, Orell and Jane Piening for selling us part of the SYA Farm to build our home. Sheila’s dad Orell says the SYA Farm was his best Milo (sorghum) farm. How times change! One would be hard pressed to find a milo field within 50 miles of this farm now. The farms cropland was entered into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) around 1987 and has been in permanent grass cover since.

Cattle on SYA Farm through the years

Besides raising milo, the SYA Farm has always had some pasture that Orell grazed with a herd of Hereford cattle and where our herd grazes today. Sheila always enjoyed the Herefords growing up and was all for us starting our current cow herd. When Sheila and I first started looking for cattle, Herefords were the breed of first choice (Doug’s Grandpa also raised Herefords). Unfortunately the Hereford breed had changed enough through the years that it was difficult to find good “grass type Herefords” for our 100% grassfed program.

The Hereford, as a cattle breed, has increased in overall size through the years since these pictures were taken in 1972. Note the bulls shoulder height in these photos. This bull does not even reach Orell’s shoulder height! The compact size and depth of this bull along with the noticeable soft hide (visible rolls along the neck and over the rib) are all indications of an animal that will do excellent on a grass only diet. Doug would love to have this kind of bull in our herd today. Over the past few decades, all cattle breeds have been “bred up” for taller and larger calves that will spend a lot of time in feedlots getting fat on corn. It is very difficult to find a compact “grass type” bull like this today.

How to load a bull

Our boys learned to drive using the 1966 Chevy pickup truck pictured in the above photo. Orell tells how he could simply load this bull on to the truck with a lead rope (note the ring in the bulls nose and lead rope in the earlier photo). Yes, that is Sheila with her siblings in the background admiring this good looking “grass type” bull. We are grateful that Orell and Jane have allowed us the opportunity to transform SYA Farm into DS Family Farm. Even though our current herd is not made up of Herefords, with pretty white faces, we did stick with “red” colored cattle.