2024 Fall Cattle Journal | Connealy Angus  

Where Innovation & Tradition Meet

Ranching can be full of contradictions. It’s sometimes a mad rush to get the work done, yet it takes years to establish a reputation and program. Connealy Angus of Whitman, Nebraska knows this well. This multi-generational, family-owned and -operated cattle ranch is steeped in history, yet always looking to the future. Jerry and Sharon, along with two of their three sons, Jed and Gabriel and their wives, Jais and Becca, daughter Hannah, and a slew of grandkids are committed to using the best combination of tradition and innovation to produce genetically superior Angus cattle to serve producers throughout the United States.  

Jerry is a fourth-generation rancher in the Sandhills of Nebraska. His ancestors were the first county commissioners in the area and raised horses for the United States Calvary before getting into the cattle business. Hannah Connealy had this to say of her father, Jerry: “He’s never been afraid to buck convention.” Perhaps it runs in his blood, as his parents, Donnie and Marty, were the first to bring Angus cattle to the area in 1961. At the time, they were a “unicorn here,” according to Jerry. After a few decades of challenges, they finally gained some traction and have since become forerunners in the cattle industry.  

Connealy Angus is a family operation to its core, where there are “a lot of decisions made at the kitchen table.” Jerry and Sharon have been on the ranch growing their family and business since 1981. Jerry is involved in all operations, and Sharon handles all of the record keeping, merchandising, and accounting. She is integral to the work they do, as her son, Jed, jokes, “We hope Sharon doesn’t think she’s going to retire anytime soon.” Daughter, Hannah, adds, “This place would fall apart without her.”   

As Jerry and Sharon’s children have grown and returned to the ranch, they have brought with them their own talents and ideas. Jerry is proud to say that he and Sharon “no longer consider ourselves the bosses; we’re partners.” Jed has a knack for building relationships and works closely with customers in different capacities through his commercial marketing and custom AI work. Gabriel has a “sixth sense for cattle,” according to his sister, Hannah, and does a lot of the hands-on work with each year’s bull crop, and Hannah is the family storyteller and marketing guru, giving people an insight into the human aspect of the ranch via their social media presence and website. Daughters-in-law Jais and Becca are also valuable to the ranch, as Jais is the resident veterinarian, and Becca helps with data entry, event planning, and other ranch work, while also working her way towards becoming a nurse practitioner.  

Because each member of the family has their own “lane,” so to speak, they can really do it all. They are a group of people that do not shy away from hard work and wear many hats. Sharon said, “It’s really hard to peg any of us in a particular slot with regard to day-to-day operations, as most do everything.”  As with any family business, there are challenges, but Jerry said, “The good days far, far outnumber the bad.”  

The Connealy’s success is due in large part to their hard work, humility, and ability to adapt. With the headquarters in Whitman and four different camps, each with its own breeding and calving season, there is always work to be done. The Connealy’s have embraced science and technology from early on. Jerry’s dad, Marty, was one of the first AI technicians for American Breeders Service in the 1960s, so they have used artificial insemination since day one, first by heat detecting through natural cycles. Around 2010, they started synchronizing and mass breeding the herd. With their customers in mind, the Connealy’s are always looking to improve genetics and produce better cattle. By taking the cattle that are not performing in the top-tier and turning them into recipient cows for embryo transfers, they are able to magnify the genetics of their most elite cows.  

As a purebred operation, they have also embraced all of the technology out there for utilizing DNA. Each animal in their herd has a tissue sample taken so DNA can be pulled, which, according to Jed, “adds validity to what we think we know.”  Jed feels that they have an “obligation and responsibility to our customers and to ourselves to use [this] tool.” Having the animal’s DNA increases accuracy of the EPDs substantially and allows them to better guarantee that a particular animal will perform in a manner that fits the customer’s needs. When the tissue samples are taken, the calves are given an electronic ID tag, which is tied to a tattoo and a visual ID tag to ensure that each animal is properly identified. The electronic ID tags are handy chuteside to organize data entry and increase efficiency.   

According to Jerry, “We have stretch marks here at Connealy Angus. We’ve changed, and we continue to change.” Embracing change and seeking out innovative solutions to problems has been instrumental in their growth through the years. In recent years, they have switched from a single bull sale per year to one in March and another in November, spreading out their risk and making the sale more manageable. In addition, they have two other businesses that complement the ranch– the first being Connealy Marketing, which is run by Jed Connealy.  

Jed and the crew at Connealy Marketing work with bull customers that want them to assist in marketing cattle. This is a service they have been providing their customers for around twenty years and is conducted primarily through their two Northern Livestock Video Auction marketing sales  in January and July. Jed has a strong relationship with different feedyards and backgrounders that are looking for genetically superior cattle and can tell prospective buyers how cattle are programmed and how they’ve been managed to determine where they may or may not fit. This allows the Connealy family to follow the genetics of their cattle and allows their customers to know how their cattle are performing at the next step, which Jed said, “is information that oftentimes gets lost when the gate drops on the truck.”  

The Connealys are passionate about producing cattle that deserve their registration papers and helping their customers to be as profitable as possible. Jerry recognizes that “our commercial customers are our heartbeat,” a fact they do not take for granted.  

Jed said their customers are, “good people, and they’re good operators. Getting to be around those people day in and day out just makes you want to do better here. If you can do better here, they can do better there.” Working with their customers through marketing and custom AI work keeps them engaged in how a particular sire line of bulls is performing, helping them build a better relationship and understand what a customer’s needs and goals are. Connealy Marketing is a testament to the family’s commitment to their customers.  

Aside from helping customers with marketing, breeding, and the like, the Connealy family also dabbles in meat marketing. Hannah Connealy was living in Boston in 2016 when she “recognized the disconnect that existed between people that lived in urban areas and their perception of beef and the beef industry, cattle husbandry, and land stewardship.” Seeing how the beef industry is often demonized for various reasons, Hannah came up with a solution. She started the company Honest Beef, which traced every steak and pound of ground beef back to the animal of origin “in hopes that transparency would lend a level of trust.” After moving back to the ranch in 2018, Honest Beef was rebranded and became Connealy Angus Meat Market. Today, Connealy Angus Meat Market harvests 8-10 animals per week and provides quality Angus beef to restaurants across the state of Nebraska, as well as Hy-Vee. Connealy Angus Meat Market continues to expand, adding Connealy beef to menus across Nebraska, helping consumers feel more connected to the land and where their food comes from.  

Between raising top-notch Angus cattle, providing marketing and breeding services, and making sure there are prime cuts of beef on plates across Nebraska, the Connealy family has plenty to juggle every year. Their ability to pair innovation and tradition sets them apart, and one could bet that the future generations of Connealy kids are only going to continue what was started all those years ago when Donnie and Marty first brought Angus cattle to the Nebraska Sandhills. As Jerry said, “We’ve embraced science, but yet we do have our feet firmly planted on the ground, and our roots run deep.” It has been 63 years since the first Angus cattle stepped foot on the ranch, and this may be just the beginning.