Limousin365_October | Page 53

Chad and his wife Kristi , along with their daughters Reagan , 19 , Kennedy , 17 , twins Baylee and Brynn , 13 , and Bergan , 9 , represent the third and fourth generations of the Lonely Valley program .

Though he spends his work weeks as an agricultural insurance

agent , Chad Settje is no stranger to the Limousin breed . The Nebraska native has graduated from the halter-breaking duties he was given at 16 years old to co-owning and managing Lonely Valley Seedstock , a cow-calf and row crop operation in Creston , Nebraska .
Stan Settje and his sons Mike , Mark and Dean established the Lonely Valley program in 1981 . Looking for a way to increase the weaning weights of his commercial Angus cattle , Stan purchased two Limousin bulls in 1983 . Upon adding females from Wieczorek , Symens Brothers and Dottie Bee Limousin , the Lonely Valley program was off to a solid start .
“ As I grew up , I was involved with the bull sales , and after college , I got more involved in the marketing side of things , working alongside my uncle Dean .” Chad Settje said . “ When he decided to focus on his own agricultural engineering company a few years ago , it was a natural step for me to take the reins .”
Chad ’ s father Mike and his uncle Mark are still major contributors to the Lonely Valley operation . Stan is now 85 years old , but still enjoys feeding bulls , Chad Settje said . A true family affair , Chad ’ s younger brother Alex , cousin Reed , and brother-in-law Kyle Dlouhy have come back to the farm and are involved in day-to-day operations .
Originally , Stan , Dean , Mark and Mike each owned a set of cows . Stan and Dean ran their herds together and Mark and Mike did the same , though all cattle fell under the Lonely Valley umbrella .
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The Settje ’ s have taken at least one pen of bulls to the National Western Stock show every year since 1994 .
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