Cattle crowd inside a feedlot. (John Moore/Getty Images)

LINCOLN — A proposal for the largest cattle feedlot in the state — a project estimated to cost $200 million — got the green light from a southwest Nebraska county on Thursday.

The Dundy County Board voted 3-0 to approve plans by Blackshirt Feeders to build a 150,000-head feedlot north of Haigler, near the Colorado-Nebraska state line.

The project will feature a digester to turn manure into methane, and will have a rolled concrete surface that Blackshirt officials say will cut down on dust and be easier to clean.

‘Beyond state of the art’

“This is going to be beyond a state of the art facility,” said Steve Mossman, a Lincoln attorney who represents Blackshirt Feeders.

The site north of Haigler was chosen after controversy arose about another proposed location in Dundy County, 23 miles north of Benkelman.

The new location has fewer neighbors, better water and fewer road issues, according to Mossman, and all the property tax benefits will go to Dundy County schools.

Richard Bartholomew of Benkelman, the vice chairman of the Dundy County Board, said there were few negative comments about the new site.

“It’s kind of hard to predict the future, but we’re certainly hopeful that this will be a positive influence on our county, on our area,” Bartholomew said.

The facility, which will be built in three phases of 50,000-head capacity each, is projected to provide 65 full-time jobs in Dundy County. The rural county of just under 2,000 people is west of McCook, in the extreme southwest corner of Nebraska.  

The facility is being developed by three Canadian veterinarians with experience in feedlots, including Dr. Eric Behlke, a native of Benkelman.

The approval came with nine conditions concerning groundwater testing, controlling flies and dust and proper disposal of dead livestock.

The facility still needs to gain permission from the local natural resources district and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy before it moves ahead.

Mossman said that 13 center-pivot irrigation systems in the vicinity of the proposed feedlot will be retired to transfer enough water for the project.

Among the concerns raised locally and elsewhere was the increasing size of such feeding operations, and whether it might push smaller livestock feedlots out of business. Mossman said a bigger issue is too much concentration in the meatpacking industry.

by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner August 11, 2022

by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner August 11, 2022

LINCOLN — A proposal for the largest cattle feedlot in the state — a project estimated to cost $200 million — got the green light from a southwest Nebraska county on Thursday.

The Dundy County Board voted 3-0 to approve plans by Blackshirt Feeders to build a 150,000-head feedlot north of Haigler, near the Colorado-Nebraska state line.

The project will feature a digester to turn manure into methane, and will have a rolled concrete surface that Blackshirt officials say will cut down on dust and be easier to clean.

‘Beyond state of the art’

“This is going to be beyond a state of the art facility,” said Steve Mossman, a Lincoln attorney who represents Blackshirt Feeders.

The site north of Haigler was chosen after controversy arose about another proposed location in Dundy County, 23 miles north of Benkelman.

The new location has fewer neighbors, better water and fewer road issues, according to Mossman, and all the property tax benefits will go to Dundy County schools.

Richard Bartholomew of Benkelman, the vice chairman of the Dundy County Board, said there were few negative comments about the new site.

“It’s kind of hard to predict the future, but we’re certainly hopeful that this will be a positive influence on our county, on our area,” Bartholomew said.

The facility, which will be built in three phases of 50,000-head capacity each, is projected to provide 65 full-time jobs in Dundy County. The rural county of just under 2,000 people is west of McCook, in the extreme southwest corner of Nebraska.  

The facility is being developed by three Canadian veterinarians with experience in feedlots, including Dr. Eric Behlke, a native of Benkelman.

The approval came with nine conditions concerning groundwater testing, controlling flies and dust and proper disposal of dead livestock.

The facility still needs to gain permission from the local natural resources district and the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy before it moves ahead.

Mossman said that 13 center-pivot irrigation systems in the vicinity of the proposed feedlot will be retired to transfer enough water for the project.

Among the concerns raised locally and elsewhere was the increasing size of such feeding operations, and whether it might push smaller livestock feedlots out of business. Mossman said a bigger issue is too much concentration in the meatpacking industry.

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Senior Reporter Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska Legislature and Nebraska state government for decades. He started his career reporting for the Omaha Sun and later, editing the Papillion Times group in suburban Omaha. He joined the Lincoln Journal-Star as a sports enterprise reporter, and then a roving reporter covering southeast Nebraska. In 1990, he was hired by the Omaha World-Herald as a legislative reporter. Later, for 15 years, he roamed the state covering all kinds of news and feature stories. In the past decade, he served as chief of the Lincoln Bureau and enterprise reporter. Paul has won awards for reporting from Great Plains Journalism, the Associated Press, Nebraska Newspaper Association and Suburban Newspapers of America. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of the John G. Neihardt Foundation, a member of the Nebraska Hop Growers and a volunteer caretaker of Irvingdale Park in Lincoln.

Nebraskans want accountability from their elected officials and government. They want to know whether their tax dollars are being well-spent, whether state agencies and local governments are responsive to the people and whether officials, programs and policies are working for the common good. The Nebraska Examiner is a nonprofit, independent news source committed to providing news, scoops and reports important to our state.

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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.