The Brawner family owns and operates Bullis Creek Ranch deep in the heart of the Nebraska Sandhills.

Ranching runs in Brawner's veins. His family’s ranch has been in operation for over 100 years and they’re no stranger to running cattle in rough country.

After kicking things off in Illinois, Rob Brawner’s grandfather, Herbert Brawner, moved the ranch to southwest Montana, just 30 miles from Yellowstone, in 1917.

In 1997, the family decided to move the operation from Big Sky Country to its current location, nestled in the Sandhills between Valentine and Ainsworth, Nebraska.

The Brawner’s are in good company there. The Nebraska Sandhills are home to the nation’s largest population of beef cattle.

The landscape in both Montana and Nebraska posed unique challenges for ranching, ultimately leading the Brawner’s to choose to raise Limousin in 1971.

“We found out Limousin females were really good foragers,” Brawner said. They’d go to higher altitudes in the mountains than other breeds.

They are also extremely feed efficient, are tremendous converters and calve easily, he said.

“And we also like the fact that they bring so much to the table when it comes to the carcass,” he said, adding that they’re very lean and high yielding.

Limousin cross nicely with Red Angus, a breed the Brawner’s added to their operation in 1993.

A composite breed has been developed at Bullis Creek which they call the “Three X Cross,” which is a combination of Limousin, Red Angus and Shorthorn.

“You really put together some good traits in there with what the three breeds bring to the table. You've got the muscularity of Limousin. The Shorthorn cattle are highly maternal and marble well. And then Red Angus also brings marbling and maternal to it. So, I think it creates a female that’s just awfully hard to beat,” he said.

At Bullis Creek Ranch, raising the best beef and cattle that perform has been the top priority since day one.

There is a photo hanging in Brawner’s home that was taken at the Chicago Union Stockyards in 1902.

It shows a pen of fed Shorthorn steers and heifers that were bred, raised, and fed by Henry Brawner.

The picture’s footnote states that the cattle sold 70 cents higher than any other group that day and they commanded a price of $7.25 per hundred weight and weighed 1,577 pounds.

The cattle yielded 67% cold beef net to the purchaser.

That was quite a feat in that day and something that the Brawner’s still strive for today, with “generations of predictability,” a key focus.

“We run our cows on a pretty rough environment,” Brawner said. “We’ve got the best grass in the world from the first of May until the 15th of July and after that it isn’t worth much nutritionally,” he said with a chuckle.

Brawner tries to run his cows like commercial cows, feeding hay less than 90 days per year. The sale bulls are fed a minimal amount of supplemental feed and grazed on pasture prior to sale time. The cattle are expected to pull their own weight without a lot of extra purchased forages.

The rest of the time is spent grazing on grass in warm months and corn stalks in the winter.

“We try to breed our cows to be lower maintenance yet still really performance driven,” he said.

Brawner said he’s a firm believer in in performance breeding, utilizing EPDs, ultrasound scan data and DNA genomics for both their breeding program and for shaping goals for the future.

Another way Brawner assesses his cattle is by selling beef directly to the consumer, something Bullis Creek has done for the last decade.

Brawner said selling directly to customers gives even more information about what they need to do on the ranch to continue to produce a top quality product.

“You know you’re doing something right when people order and then reorder again and again,” Brawner said.

In addition to being involved in all phases of the cattle industry, the Brawner’s have also raised working border collies since 1986.

Brawner said they sell their dogs 100% guaranteed.

“A cowboy’s best friend is definitely a good working border collie,” Brawner said.

Bullis Creek Ranch is also home to the Killdeer Nook guest cabin, a place Brawner said is a great place to rest, recharge, and do some fishing in the near-by trout pond.

While many guests come from Lincoln and Omaha, Brawner said the cabin hosts guests from all over the world.

The Brawner’s have earned SuperHost status on AirBNB, which means the Brawner’s “are experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests,” according to the AirBNB website.

Brawner said the cabin is currently ranked as the fifth best guest cabin in the whole state of Nebraska.