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History
Sellers Feedlot was established as a commercial enterprise in 1972 by Steve Sellers, but its history is deeply seeded in the Kansas plains. Joseph Sellers, Steve's grandfather, purchased the ground that is home to Sellers Feedlot in 1917. The land was passed on to Steve's father Lloyd and eventually to Steve, the current owner.
 When I was 4, in 1943, we moved to the lot, recalls Steve Sellers, president of Sellers Feedlot. We fed cattle. When I was in high school, we built our first fence-line feed bunk. Before that, there were just wooden bunks. I remember going along on rides to feed the cattle. Lloyd went to New Mexico to buy cattle and the family built working pens out of solid hedge posts. Those posts were new at the time, said Steve, and some of that fence is still here. I guess I just don't want to take it out for old-time sake. Today everything is built out of oil field pipe and cable.
As the farming business grew, so did the cattle pens. We had two pens when I was a kid then there were four, then five. We just started building more pens. Business was different in those days and the Sellers increased their cattle holdings to help sell more farm product. Feeding cattle was way to market grain. Eventually, it became a business in itself. Dad loved to farm so I took over the feedlot.
We went commercial in 1972 with 1500 head, continued Steve. In the 1980s, we were up to 30 then 40 pens. We added more pens in the1990s and we're getting ready to build more. Today, Sellers Feedlot can accommodate 10,000 head and has approval from KDHE (the Kansas branch of the EPA) to go to 12,000.
 A critical and plentiful benefit to the central Kansas area is water. Initially, we just used irrigation water, but later converted to stock water, starting in 1964 with a 2000 gallon per minute pump. It was upgraded in 1985 with capacity to server 12,000 head of cattle. And water is critical for healthy cattle. Here in central Kansas, we're in a high re-charge area. The Arkansas River Underflow is nice and close to the surface and we receive moderate rainfall. So the water is plentiful and of good quality. We're far enough west to be out of the high humidity and rainfall, but not so far as to be in the arid areas of the high plains. And in the winter, the high plains get 10 blizzards to our one.
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