Nebraska’s agriculture WyLR features western Nebraska’s ag industry

In the early days of 2018, the Wyoming Livestock Roundup’s staff traveled across western Nebraska, visiting farms and ranches, feedlots and agriculture industry stores, realizing Nebraska’s western ranches are similar to Wyoming’s southeastern corner.

The stories from across Nebraska’s Panhandle were collected in our 2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition, inserted in this week’s Roundup.

Nebraska’s Department of Agriculture says, “Nebraska’s agriculture has been described as an extensive and diverse industry with an abundance of natural resources. The landscape varies from large pastures dotted with feeding cattle to miles of rolling hills bursting with a wide variety of crops and everything in between.”

Nebraska is a leader in the U.S. in terms of agriculture outputs and ranks third in the nation for total livestock receipts. The state ranked first in beef and veal exports, commercial red meat production, commercial cattle slaughter, Great Northern bean production, all cattle on feed and popcorn production in 2016.

It also ranked second for all cattle and calves, pinto bean production, Proso millet production and bison.

“Cash receipts from farm marketing contributed to over $23 billion to Nebraska’s economy in 2015 and 6.1 percent of the U.S. total,” according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. “Nebraska’s 10 leading commodities, in order of value, for 2015 cash receipts are cattle and calves, corn, soybeans, hogs, chicken eggs, dairy products, wheat, hay, dry beans and potatoes.”

Find the 2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition, featuring western Nebraska inserted in the paper. Enjoy a glimpse inside the agriculture industry of Wyoming’s neighbor to the southeast.