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Louie Dinklage: The Wisner Feeder Who Ran the Country's Largest Cattle Operation

A farmhand with an eighth-grade education turned a corn-picking champion's work ethic into a feeding operation without equal in its day.

Who Was Louie Dinklage?

Louis Dinklage, known as Louie, was the Nebraska feeder whose yards near Wisner became, by the late 1960s, what the Hall of Fame calls the country's largest cattle feeding operation. His Hall of Fame biography lists him as born in 1902 and associated with Louis Dinklage, Inc., in Cuming County, and says he mentored many young feeders who went on to succeed.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013 after his death. A seed note from a trade report gives 2012 as the year, but the Hall of Fame and a local McCook Gazette profile say July 2013, so that is used here.

Early Life in Wayne County

The McCook Gazette says Dinklage was born in 1902 to German parents who had moved to Wayne County, Nebraska, in 1894, and was the fourth of six children. He left school after eighth grade and worked on farms. He and his wife Abby Faye had no children.

His work ethic became local legend. The Gazette says he won the Nebraska State Corn Pickers Contest in 1923 by picking 237 bushels, and that he once dug a half-mile trench by hand, six feet deep, to lay water pipe.

Building the Wisner Feedyards

By the 1920s the Gazette says he had 160 acres and 25 cattle, with a goal of feeding 1,000 head. In 1930 he built his first large feed yard east of Wisner, near the railroad, and the yard still operates. The Nebraska Studies account of industrial cattle feeding instead credits him with starting the state's feeding industry in the 1920s with about 3,000 head near Wisner, so sources differ on the early numbers and dates.

He chose the area for its dry climate, feed supply and water. He built a feed mill in Wisner that is now a local symbol of the town's feeding industry, and a former foreman, Bill Holland, credited him with being the first to feed a lot of protein, which brought out more muscling and red meat.

The Largest Feeder in the Country

By the 1960s Dinklage ran the largest feeding operation in the country, with capacity for about 170,000 head, according to both the Gazette and Nebraska Studies. Postwar technology helped. Bigger tractors, fertilizers and mechanical corn pickers raised corn output, and feed wagons and trucks let one person feed large herds from long bunks.

The operation grew beyond Wisner. In the early 2000s Louie Dinklage Inc. had feedlots in Sidney, Mitchell, Minatare, Broadwater and Alliance, Nebraska, and Torrington, Wyoming.

The Key to Dinklage's Success

Dinklage's record shows how a hard-working farmhand with little schooling could scale up in the age of mechanized agriculture. He combined cheap local feed, rail access and a willingness to invest in the industry's institutions.

The sources do not describe failures or labor disputes, so this section keeps to documented actions.

  • He picked his location for dry climate, feed supply, water and a railroad.
  • He built a feed mill and yards, starting at 25 cattle and growing to a 1930 yard that still operates.
  • He fed protein heavily, which a former foreman said improved muscling and red meat.
  • He helped rescue the National Cattle Feeders Association, formed in 1932, by getting ten local feeders to pledge $5,000 each.
  • He mentored young feeders and set up a trust that still funds community projects.

Legacy in Cuming County

Dinklage died in 1984. The Louis and Abby Faye Dinklage Foundation gives hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to Cuming County schools, fire and EMS groups, cities and nursing homes, and he and his wife funded a park, a ballfield and the county fairgrounds in Wisner.

To read more on Plains cattle country, see farm.FM's ranching section, or a farm.FM story about Nebraska cattle feeding history.

Timeline

  1. 1902Louis Dinklage is born in Nebraska to German immigrant parents
  2. 1923Wins the Nebraska State Corn Pickers Contest with 237 bushels
  3. 1930Builds his first large feed yard east of Wisner
  4. 1932National Cattle Feeders Association formed; Dinklage helps back it
  5. 1960sOperation considered the country's largest, about 170,000 head
  6. 1984Dinklage dies
  7. 2013Inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame

Frequently asked questions

Who was Louie Dinklage?

Louis Dinklage (1902-1984) was a Nebraska cattle feeder from Wisner whose operation was considered the largest in the United States by the late 1960s, with capacity for about 170,000 head.

How big was Dinklage's feeding operation?

The McCook Gazette and Nebraska Studies both report capacity for about 170,000 head by the 1960s. Nebraska Studies adds that it was considered the largest in the country.

When was Louis Dinklage inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame?

The Hall of Fame lists 2013, and the McCook Gazette says July 2013, posthumously alongside Leo Timmerman. One trade report gives 2012, so sources differ.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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