Nieslanik Beef: Keeping up with the times Roots date to 1920 By John Colson Sopris Sun Staff Three generations of the Nieslanik family, whose East Mesa ranch sits at the top of White Hill Road and looms over Carbondale’s southeastern neighborhoods, have been busy putting together a renewed marketing campaign to sell their locally grown beef to customers in the Roaring Fork Valley and around the Western Slope. The family company, Nieslanik Beef, has put together a new website (nieslanikbeef.com) and is rebranding itself, in keeping with growing demand for organically raised and processed beef products. It’s the latest move in an effort that patriarch John Nieslanik, Jr., 87, said “started a long, long time ago,” when his father, John Nieslanik, Sr., started a cattle ranch in the Spring Valley area north of Carbondale, nearly a century ago. That legacy is proclaimed in a simple sign on a ranch building, which states, “Nieslanik Beef 1920,” and its continuing vitality harkens back to 1960, when John, Jr. bought the 166 acres that forms the nucleus of the family enterprise. But the driving force behind the latest phase of the Nieslanik ranching business is coming from the younger generations — John’s son, Marty Nieslanik, with the able assistance of his wife, Jerilyn, and their
sons, Parker, 27, (with his wife, Cara) and Johnny, 22 (known as Little John, as contrasted with his grandfather, Big John). “It was the younger generations that got it started,” said Marty Nieslanik, who had just come in from mowing hay on a large field next to the ranch house complex and talked to The Sopris Sun. “They were wanting to make more income.” Parker noted that he left the family ranch at one point after graduating from college, to strike out on his own as an electrician and a construction supervisor, before deciding that leaving had been the wrong choice. “I wanted to come back because it’s a good life,” Parker remarked, adding with a laugh, “less money and more work — seemed like a good deal to me.” Turning serious, Parker continued, “My mission in life is to try to keep this place how grandpa started it.” But where John Sr., back in the early part of the 20th century, focused on raising beef that would be part of the nationwide beef industry, the current crop of Nieslaniks have a more localized market in mind. “He shipped it away in those days,” said John, Jr., discussing his father’s business during an interview at the family ranch this week. “There wasn’t no market around here, much.”
Changing times Changing times have resulted in changes in the way the family runs its business. For one thing, the Nieslaniks are
The John Jr. part of the Nieslanik clan, left to right: Parker, Jerilyn, John, Marty and Johnny. Together, they compose the core of Nieslanik Beef, which recently launched its new website, complete with a family history and locally produced videos. Photo by John Colson now raising grains for use by the Marble Distilling Co. on Carbondale’s Main Street, in brewing up various kinds of alcoholic beverages. But the main thing, as it always has been, revolves around cattle. These days, Nieslanik Beef raises a mixed breed of cattle (Angus, of Scottish derivation, and Simmental, a Swiss breed) that are free of steroids, hormones and an-
tibiotics. They are raised on hay grown on the family ranch and fed to them in the winter months, and quartered on leased federal lands in Thompson Divide, at the base of Mt. Sopris in Coal Basin near Redstone, in the summers. Johnny noted that a significant change in the business is, “We got certified organic” by Where Food Comes From, a food certiNIESLANIK BEEF page 9
Mt. Sopris 4-H sending nine to Garfield County Fair By John Colson Sopris Sun Staff Writer (EdITOR’S NOTE: The Sopris Sun profiled one of Carbondale’s two 4-H clubs, The Black Sheep, on April 7, as this summer’s preparations for the upcoming Garfield County Fair in Rifle (Aug. 1-7) got under way. The following article is a look at the community’s other 4-H club, the Mt. Sopris 4-H Club, which also has members planning to exhibit at the Fair). There are nine members of the Mt. Sopris 4-H Club who plan to take a variety of projects to the Garfield County Fair in early August, according to a list compiled by club leader Wendy Hayden. The club’s list of projects includes several “market swine,” or pigs raised to be sold at the Fair and slaughtered; about half a dozen breeding beef or market beef (cattle); two baking projects; a horse; and exhibits about archery and photography. The members include Hayden’s 17-yearold daughter, Hannah, who is entering nine different categories for market swine in this year’s Fair, as well as: • Skylar McLaren, 13, who is entering the photography competition; • Gus Carney, 12, who is entering breeding beef and market beef; • Trent Goscha, 12, with two market swine; • Tess Goscha, 10, in the baking and the market swine categories; • Avery McLaren, 10, in archery; • Aubrey McLaren, 10, in the horse category; • Brady Samuels, 10, in photography and poultry;
• and Scarlett Carney, 9, entering market poultry and breeding beef. The entries for projects, including livestock, county contests, shooting sports, general project, the horse show and the dog show, all were due on July 1, and for the first time exhibitors were being asked to register online at a special web site. The process of registering online apparently was acknowledged by fair organizers to be difficult enough to warrant a proviso in the June 4-H newsletter: “This
is the first year for online entries, so if you need help understanding the entry system you can always call the Extension Office for assistance.” Reached by phone this week, Hannah Hayden confirmed that the Mt. Sopris club members had, after consulting with one another, submitted their entry forms online as directed by the deadline. “We just all got together, talked it over, and submitted them at the same time,” Hayden recounted.
Members of the Mt. Sopris 4-H Club, from left to right: Aubrey McLaren, Skylar McLaren, Avery McLaren, Scarlett Carney, Brady Samuels, Trent Goscha, Gus Carney, Hannah Hayden and Tess Goscha. Courtesy photo
She also confirmed that this is her last year of 4-H due to the organization’s age limits. “I’m definitely kind of sad about it,” she told The Sopris Sun. But, she added, “4-H is like family,” so she plans to continue to be involved in the activities, whether helping younger members with her projects or becoming a club leader in some capacity. She said she also hopes to keep up with her animal husbandry work when she goes to college, perhaps at Texas Tech in Lubbock, whether that is in collegiate level rodeo or in livestock judging competitions. Hayden indicated she, like other club members, takes it in stride whenever a project is thrown off track because an animal is attacked by a predator (bears and mountain lions have been known to kill or carry off swine and other animals headed for the Fair) or fall victim to disease. “We all deal with stuff like that,” she said, reporting that last year she lost a swine to pneumonia, despite heroic efforts to save the animal, and that this year one of her swine had developed complications related to castration and is still on the mend. She hopes to enter that swine in competition at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo in late August. The Mt. Sopris club, like the Black Sheep club, holds regular meetings where members discuss their project, practice showmanship and other aspects of 4-H activities, and continue their preparations to compete in the Garfield County Fair. The Garfield County Fair runs Aug. 1-7 in Rifle.
THE SOPRIS SUN, Carbondale’s weekly community connector • JULY 7-13, 2016 • 3