Largest cattle feedlot in Nebraska to begin taking feeders later this month

Construction workers are hurrying to put the final touches on what is planned to be the state’s largest feedlot for feeding cattle.

Blackshirt Feeders, led by a trio of Canadian veterinarians who are veteran feedlot consultants, plans to begin shipping in cattle within a month to its sprawling complex of pens north of Haigler, a village in the far southwest corner of Nebraska.

The first shipments will slowly ramp up to 50,000 head, and over the next two years, the feedlot is projected to expand to hold up to 150,000 cattle, the largest such complex in Nebraska and among the largest in the nation.

It’s been billed as a “beyond a state-of-the-art” feedlot with a rolled, compacted concrete base that will reduce odors and flies and be easier to clean, improve the health and weight-gain of the cattle, and eventually allow the tons of manure to be used by biodigesters to produce methane.

“It will have as much innovation as any feedlot in the state, much less the nation,” said Dean Settje, whose Lancaster County-based company is managing construction of the facility.

“I want this to be good. I want to really showcase this thing,” said Eric Behlke, a native of Benkelman and one of the three Canada-based veterinarians behind the project.

Behlke, speaking from Alberta before stepping onto an airplane for a return to Nebraska, said the Blackshirt ownership group identified southwest Nebraska as “probably one of the best areas in the world to feed cattle.”