Nebraska's best ranch hands

As a fifth-generation Nebraska cattleman, Norm Andrews is equal parts realist and hopeful romantic. Echoing his great-great-grandfather who, in 1873, emigrated from Europe to Cambridge, Neb., with little more than the clothes on his back, Andrews believes successful ranching comes from a willingness to "trade everything except my family and my dog." And when a day goes so poorly that he's left shaking his head as he lumbers to the house, he rehearses his motto: "It shoulda worked." Andrews is just one of many ranchers who believes that, with a good dog at your side, it usually does. "I don't know if I can put words to it, but there's a bond between owner and dog," Andrews said. "The dog's not worried about weather or the note at the bank. He'll go through mud and manure because it's his job." But don't be fooled, he said, "because you don't own the dog as much as the dog owns you." On his own operation, which consists of 1,000 or so acres near Dwight, Andrews considers himself indebted to his best four-legged hand, a cattle dog named Tuck. And before Tuck, there was Spike. "I once tried to put 90 cows in a pen that would only hold 80," Andrews remembered, "and Spike held the 80 in place while I put 10 in my trailer so we could shut the gate."...more