Rowse started manufacturing double sickle-bar mowers around 1967. Fee mounted an IH Number 24 pitman type mower on the drawbar of an H Farmall tractor and another 24 mower on the front axle of a car. Both mowers ran from the PTO of the tractor. A trailing mower was designed and patented in 1976. As Fee and Betty began building a new brick home in 1968, Fee designed a threeyard scraper to fill dirt around the foundation. Rowse scrapers were born. A seven-yard model was added in1974 and a five-yard model shortly after. In 1984, the windrow fluffer, a line of wheel rakes and the V-rakes were added. Throughout the years, calf cradles and bale movers were added, and most recently the Ultimate V-Rake was added in 2004. Rowse Rakes markets its products directly through dealers and independent sales representatives. Rowse equipment is sold in 32 states and Canada. Rowse has also sold equipment as far away as Mongolia. Today, Rowse has two plants: one in O'Neill, NE, and the original plant north of Burwell. They operate with a total of 40+ employees, with Freeman's son Dan Rowse, still in a Secretary/Treasurer position, and grandsons, Randy Worden and Rod Rowse, as President and CEO, respectively, heading up the corporation. Betty still lives on the home place and is still an active consultant regarding the business. Great-grandsons Ty Rowse and Cameron Worden are involved in production at the Burwell plant with Ty also being Vice President. Rowse Hydraulic Rakes are proud to be a stop and Ribeye Club sponsor of this year’s Nebraska Angus Tour.
M
iKE SitZ ANGUS rANCH At Mike Sitz Angus Ranch, we believe that the Angus cow holds no comparison. Efficient cows lines have emerged by staying on track, being attentive to detail,
Debra & Mike Sitz
avoiding fads and being committed to raising fault-free, balanced cattle. For over 90 years our cowherd, through rigid selection, has stood the test of time, through market ups and downs. By 1923, Grandfather, William August Sitz and his wife Frieda, were in the Angus business. By 1926 William and Frieda were in serious pursuit of adding to their registered herd. They purchased the bulk of their registered Angus cows from William Williams of Clarks, Nebraska. By agreement between the Sitz's and Mr. Williams, the bull calves that were born to these first heifers would be traded back to William Williams for more heifer calves, which quickly expanded the Sitz’s Angus cowherd. The Marshall Queens, Blackbirds, Evidences Eppionias, Erica Ellens, Proud Formeras, Doras (which were recently discovered to be a Proud Formera cow line), and the Emma Es all found in our herd today, trace back to Grandfather Will Sitz’s original cow families. Mike’s parents, Bill and Dee (Stout) Sitz continued to build the cowherd Will and Frieda started at the present ranch in southeastern Rock County where they raised their children, Bill Jr., Judy, Sheryl and Mike, and where Mike continues to ranch today. An eye-appealing, efficient, functional and problem-free cowherd is the first emphasis of Mike and Debra’s program, and the resulting bulls are how others can tap into these genetics.
22 • August/September 2016 • Nebraska Angus Association News
The Mike Sitz Angus Ranch bull program markets exclusively top coming two-year-old virgin bulls that are raised under range conditions with the goal of developing long-term soundness. Since our cows forage grass, their real proof of efficiency of their performance is in a grass-based environment, our yearling bulls are not supplemented with other feedstuffs besides native Sandhills pasture. This guarantees our bulls perform on grass and are more easily evaluated. While they continue to exercise on a quarter section pasture, the bulls are started on a high roughage ration in November prior to the sale. On the first Monday in February, the coming2-year-old bulls will travel to Burwell for the 44th Annual Sale. Mike and Debra Cook, a cattle feeder’s daughter, were married in 1975. They continue the Angus tradition on the ranch where Mike was raised in southeastern Rock County, where they raised their four children: Jesse is a tax attorney and chair of the Wealth Management practice group at Baird Holm LLP in Omaha, Nebraska. His practice focuses on business succession and transition issues, estate planning and administration, tax disputes, and charitable planning. He has a wife, Tori, and a ten year old son, John. Joel, Bethany Johnston, and their young daughter, Jordee, ranch southwest of Thedford. Shortly after Joel and Bethany were married, they traded a horse to Mike for their first three registered Angus cows. Since
Joel, Bethany & Jordee Johnston