Cattlemen and Cowboys of Nebraska

Profiles of beef cattle people connected to Nebraska.

• 1862-1911Bartlett RichardsA Vermont-born rancher who ran the Spade and built a vast fenced empire in northwest Nebraska until Theodore…Nebraska
• b. c. 1935Bill FoxleyFrom a three-acre family pen near the Omaha Stockyards to 300,000 head on feed, Foxley turned hedging, steam-flaked…Nebraska
• 1926-2002Bob GottschA Depression-era farm boy and military policeman turned a $3,000 service station into one of the Plains' major feeding…Nebraska
• 1847-1935Charles Franklin CoffeeHe drove cattle north from Texas as a young man and settled in the Nebraska Panhandle, where ranches and banks carried…Nebraska
• 1932-2007Charles W. BrownC.W. Brown spent a military career as the Cowboy General, then spent his later years keeping his family's Nebraska…Nebraska
• 1909-1999Chester PaxtonA county judge at 23, a banker and a one-term state senator, he put his career into building the Paxton Ranch in…Nebraska
• livingCraig HaythornCraig Haythorn leads three generations of a Nebraska Sandhills ranch family that has bred cattle and Quarter Horses…Nebraska
• Cudahy Packing CompanyTwo brothers, Philip Armour's backing and a stockyards bonus turned a South Omaha plant into one of Omaha's Big Four…Nebraska
• 1899-1991Earl H. MonahanBorn in Hyannis in 1899, he ran the Monahan Cattle Company, bred Herefords and wrote a Sandhills history that is still…Nebraska
• 1840-1885Frank Joshua NorthA Nebraska frontier interpreter who commanded the Pawnee Scouts and later ran cattle on the Dismal River with William…Nebraska
• 1847-1926George Ward HoldregeAs general manager of the Burlington, he stretched Nebraska rail from 495 to 4,713 miles and invested in ranch land…Nebraska
• b. 1940Gerald TimmermanGerald Timmerman and his brothers bought a Springfield, Nebraska feedyard from their father and worked it into a…Nebraska
• b. 1929Howard C. HaythornHoward Haythorn carried a Sandhills ranching family into the Longhorn era, the steer roping arena and the front rank…Nebraska
• 1856-1930James C. DahlmanFrom a Texas riding champion and Sandhills range hand to eight terms as Omaha's mayor, Cowboy Jim never stopped being…Nebraska
• 1857-1942James Henry CookA Michigan orphan became a Texas cowboy, a frontier scout and a Nebraska rancher who befriended Red Cloud and guarded…Nebraska
• livingJeff BiegertA Texas Christian business graduate returned to Nebraska in 1976 and built a liquid feed company with ten plants.Nebraska
• livingJerry AdamsAfter a 1971 land purchase and a punishing 1973 price freeze, Adams stayed on and helped build one of the most…Nebraska
• 1842-1918John P. BrattA Staffordshire-born bullwhacker rose to run a major Platte River cattle firm, then helped build the town of North…Nebraska
• d. 1997Leo TimmermanA banker's loan for six head of cattle launched a Nebraska feeding family that now spans several operations in the…Nebraska
• 1902-1984Louis DinklageA farmhand with an eighth-grade education turned a corn-picking champion's work ethic into a feeding operation without…Nebraska
• 1823-1899Morell Case KeithHe reportedly started with five cows in 1868 and built one of western Nebraska's larger ranching and business fortunes.Nebraska
• 1946-2023Norman TimmermanHe hauled cattle to the stockyards before school, then spent more than 50 years building the family business with his…Nebraska
• est. 1870sOgallalaOgallala began as a railroad water stop and became a wild end-of-trail town for Texas herds from the mid-1870s to 1884.Nebraska
• built 1926Omaha Livestock Exchange BuildingAn eleven-story tower from 1926 is what remains of the market that made South Omaha the nation's biggest stockyard town.Nebraska
• Roy DinsdaleAfter graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1948, he went home to Palmer and spent six decades growing the…Nebraska
• est. 1884South OmahaThe Nebraska stockyard district that fed the nation's packers for more than a century.Nebraska
• 1837-1907William A. PaxtonA Kentucky-born contractor drove cattle to Omaha, ranched near Ogallala and became first president of the stockyards…Nebraska