Earl Brookover
Cattle rancher Earl Brookover was born on October 8, 1906, in Scott County, Kansas. During his youth he attended public schools in Scott County.
Brookover attended the Kansas State College of Agriculture in Manhattan and graduated in 1934 with a degree in civil engineering. He returned to Scott County to start his own irrigated farms but later moved to Grant County, Kansas, to try a venture in the oil and gas business. He moved to Garden City in 1947 and between the years of 1946-1951 he inspected Kansas feedlots before starting his own agricultural business in 1951 with the establishment of Brookover Feed Yards, Inc., which was located just north of Garden City. This feed lot was the first commercial feed yard in the Midwest and to this day, still remains an industry leader.
Among the first Kansan farmers to alert government officials and policy makers about the impact of irrigation, Brookover cautioned about the water level of the Ogallala aquifer. He advocated better understanding of water usage, timing of irrigation and more efficient methods of water extraction.
For his work in agriculture and management, Earl Brookover received awards throughout his life. He received the National Beef Feeder Award for Commercial Feedlots in 1963 for his work in pioneering the feed grain approach to cattle feeding. Brookover received the Kansas State University's Distinguished Service Award in the Field of Agriculture in 1976. Brookover was a director of the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce and was one of the president's of the Livestock and Meat Industry Council, Inc. the Kansas Livestock Association, the Kansas State University board of trustee's and was a member of the Agriculture Advisory Council.
Brookover married E. Denelda Shafer on January 1, 1934. The couple raised four children. He passed away on November 12, 1985, and was buried in Valley View Cemetery in Garden City, Kansas.
Entry: Brookover, Earl
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2015
Date Modified: June 2015
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
