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Award

Nebraska Hereford Assn. 2012 Commercial Breeder of the Year Award

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Rob & Diana Wilson were recently presented with the 2012 Commercial Breeder of the Year Award from the Nebraska Hereford Association. The banquet dinner and awards ceremony was held at Fonner Park  in Grand Island on Saturday, November 17, 2012. Ron Schutte presented the award.

The Wilson Hereford Ranch located in Webster County is owned and operated by Robert Wilson. Rob’s grandfather, Con Wilson, bought the first registered Hereford cattle in 1922, beginning with only four bred heifers and a bull. Rob’s father, Johnny, started operating the ranch after WWII and sold Hereford seed stock for years. Rob came back to the ranch in 1973 and now runs a commercial Hereford cow/calf and yearling operation of around 190 head. His heifers are sold privately all around the country and he markets his steers at local sale barns.

Rob is an active member of the Webster County Fair board and sponsors the Champion British Breeding Heifer each year. He has also been a 4-H leader for more than thirty years and sells club calves to local youths. Rob and his wife, Diana, along with their children and grandchildren continue the family’s longstanding tradition of raising quality Horned Hereford cattle.


Centennial Farm Family honored by Ak-Sar-Ben at 2008 Webster County Fair

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Otto T. Skjelver
SE1/4 28-3-12
Webster County, Neb.

Otto Skjelver Sr., born in Norway in 1849, came to America as a young man. He settled in the SE quarter of Section 28, Catherton Precinct in Webster County, Nebraska, where he raised his family of five daughters and two sons. In the late 1880’s, the post office was named in his honor as “Otto” Post Office.

Otto Sr. died March 13, 1925. His son, Otto Jr., inherited the land and raised his family of four daughters there. At one time, the telephone switchboard between Campbell and Inavale was in their home. Otto Jr. raised corn, wheat, cattle and hogs.

When Otto Jr. died, his oldest daughter, Bonnie, bought the land, and she and her late husband, Johnnie, farmed the land for many years until their son, Robert and his wife Diana, began farming it in 1974. Rob and his wife are still farming the land today. They raise Hereford cattle and hope to pass the land on to their two daughters, Laci and Amber and their families.

Over the years, Otto Skjelver Sr.’s descendants have played an integral part in the success of the Webster County Fair. While Bonnie volunteered as an Open Class Superintendent for many years, Rob has also volunteered his time as a past 4-H leader and a current Fair Board member. Rob’s family helps every year working at the fair, ensuring that the tradition of the Webster County Fair stays alive. There have been three generations of the family who are current 4-H members in attendance at the Webster County Fair over the span of the last several decades.