Nebraska Pioneer Award Winners
Pete Becker
Pete and the late Lassie Becker greet
a
visitor on their stop on the 1993
World Angus Tour.
The Becker ranch is located in the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the greatest cattle producing regions in the world. Peter Becker, an immigrant from Luxembourg, purchased the ranch now known as Pete Becker, Inc. in September 1897. He, his wife Catherine and their five children, Anna, Felix, John, Mary and Claire moved to the ranch from Mullen, NE. They built a sod house and Peter continued to buy land surrounding their homestead. A sixth child, Edward, was added to the family in July 1898.
Peter began his cow herd by trading two colts for two calves - one heifer and one bull. A few years later he was able to buy a small herd, mostly Shorthorns. After several years, Becker bought out a man named A.E. Sheldon. With the purchase of the Sheldon Ranch, it was agreed that Peter would also get Sheldon’s 800 cows, which brought the total herd number 1,200 head.
In 1911, Peter bought a house in Alliance and moved to town. Felix and John remained in the Sandhills to run the ranch. During this time Felix began a small herd of his own. In the 1920s when Pete’s father, Felix and Uncle John took over, they turned to Angus.
Felix began shipping cattle to the Chicago market, and later began to sell to feeder-buyers. He continued to sell his cattle to the same feeder-buyer for 16 years and the Z T brand became well known in the Omaha and Chicago markets.
In October of 1924, Felix married Minnie Jons. They had two children, a son Pete and a daughter Jean. In 1960 Felix and Minnie retired and moved into Ashby, and left Pete and his bride Lassie, to run the ranch. Over the next few years Pete and Lassie added four daughters to their family. A highlight for Pete and his family was when their ranch hosted a stop on the 1993 World Angus Tour.
The calves from the Becker Ranch are always in demand. The steers are sold through the auction ring, and the heifers that Pete does not retain on the ranch often top the market bringing more money per hundredweight than their steer mates.
Pete says that the Angus cow is “probably the best, most trouble-free mama you’ll find.” Ideally, he likes her to be moderate in size. To stay on the ranch she has to wean a calf over half of her own weight. She has to do it on grass, hay, water and a minimum of protein supplement. And she has to do it every year to pay her own way”. It is the Angus cattle that have allowed Pete and his family decades of success in turning grass into beef. |
