16 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN December 2024 to look forward to. He’d get off work from the post office at 4:30, and if I didn’t have athletics or something, I was ready to go immediately. I looked forward to blizzards and storms and such because I was with my dad.” Pierce’s younger brothers ended up on the place his grandparents had and, while he was in the service years ago, his brothers and father got into hogs. However, like his dad, Pierce always liked the cattle side of the operation. No matter what enterprise they were in, it became a way of life for all of them. “We are not in agriculture or in the cattle business because there is some romantic relationship that we have with it,” Pierce says. “How many times have you heard someone in the cattle business say that they are going to sell out and move to town? And yet they never do. It’s a way of life. It’s bred into us. That is why agriculture is not for everybody.” When Pierce and Janna came back to Nebraska, they started raising hogs but also began building the cow herd with her parents. Janna worked off farm as a speech/English teacher at Sumner-Eddyville-Miller schools for several years and then became a freelance grant writer after resigning from teaching to support their “dream.” As a grant writer, she was able to secure nearly $18 million for various entities. In the Pierce farming and ranching operation, they have remained flexible over the years with an eye on profitability and change – whatever makes the most sense moving forward. Pierce and Justin work well together, with Pierce saying that Justin is the “brains” of the business due to his ability to crunch numbers and keep a business approach to it. “We are not traditional, old-school cattle producers in that we do not have a base cow herd that we raise our replacements from, but instead we buy our replacement heifers,” Pierce explains. “We looked at it and it is more economical to buy someone else’s genetics to put into our herd and get a calf immediately. On paper it makes more sense to do it that way.” They run their cows on a combination of owned grass and some they rent from Justin’s in-laws, allowing them to be flexible in how they utilize and manage that resource as well. “We own much of our own grass and sometimes we buy pairs, run yearlings or rent it out to someone else. Whatever makes the most sense and most profit is what we do,” Pierce says. “You may not classify us as cattlemen in the truest sense of the word as we harvest the grass in the most efficient, profitable way. In that regard, we are grass farmers.” The farming part of their operation is mostly irrigated and center-pivot irrigated, and they raise corn and some soybeans but also alfalfa and feed crops. They are neighbors with Wood River Dairy and have an arrangement with them to have all the dairy slurry spread on their farm ground – an arrangement that has proven to be beneficial for both operations. “The place keeps us busy. It’s not the biggest in the area, but we remain profitable and, over the years, have put together a pretty good family operation,” Pierce says humbly. PASSION FOR HORSES Those who know Pierce knows he has a passion for draft horses, stemming from a childhood fondness of horses. He thought he would eventually get into saddle horses, but fate steered him to draft horses instead. His first team was a pair of older mares and after that, he simply replaced the mares as needed when they aged out. Eventually, he purchased three bred mares from a breeder in Missouri and continued to grow his horse herd over the years. Currently, Pierce has a number of Percheron broodmares and a couple of stallions and an arrangement with a trainer in Colorado who trains his young horses, shows them and markets them as needed throughout North America. Pierce is also very involved in the draft horse industry as a judge and an organizer/staff of the Buffalo County Draft Horse Show and the National Western Draft Horse Show. He’s also been highly involved in many national draft horse shows and events. “The draft horse world is also part of my world,” Pierce says. NEBRASKA CATTLEMEN Pierce’s service to the cattle industry began when he was part of LEAD #8 class, which opened up many opportunities and sparked his interest in policy and government affairs. He was involved in youth organizations and that likely set the stage for being involved in organizations as an adult. He’s since been involved in the local school board and served as a Buffalo County Commissioner for 16 years. He has also served on the Community Action Board, Behavioral Health Board, Ag Land Valuation Board, Archway Board, is a commander of the Sumner American Legion and is an elder in his church, among other things. Whew! However, it was when Barb Cooksley asked him to serve on and chair the NC Taxation Committee, which he did for many years, that started the path to NC presidency. He has served on the NC Executive Committee for many years on his way to where he is now. “Your past always prepares you for what comes next, and I think my past has done that. I’ve watched a string of presidents now all have significant challenges to face in PIERCE’S DRIVING PHILOSOPHIES 1. If you’re not going to work, don’t hire out. 2. If a job is once begun, never leave it ‘til it’s done. If that task is great or small, do it well or not at all. 3.Make a difference and make things better because you were there. PREPARED FOR WHAT COMES NEXT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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