Getting to Know the Lawler Family, Sunnyslope’s Oldest Customer

In 1904, Thomas Lawler purchased a bull from Sunnyslope Angus. This summer, his great-grandsons purchased three heifers at our production sale, continuing a valued customer relationship that has spanned 116 years.

Wanting to become better acquainted with the family that has been purchasing cattle from Sunnyslope for generations, I contacted Tim Lawler and invited myself and my husband, Keith, over for a visit. He and his brother Steve graciously welcomed us to their historic farm near Rochester, Minnesota.

I was moved by the similarities between the Lawler farm and Sunnyslope. Both farms were established in the early 1860s by immigrant ancestors. Both also feature that classic staple of a bygone era: a big, red, handcrafted barn dominating the homestead. A collection of sheds and outbuildings dot the yards of each farm, sheltering modern tools and conveniences alongside relics from the past—like early model tractors.

Each family honors the past by appreciating and preserving what their forefathers built and left for them, while recognizing the future success of their operations lies with their herds of black Angus cattle.

“It’s not a fancy operation,” Tim humbly stated. “The only fancy things here are the Angus bulls and heifers we buy in Lanesboro. And a paycheck now and then,” he added with a chuckle. “That’s a close second!”

We walked through one of their carefully managed pastures where the prevailing mood was utter contentment. Black cattle calmly strolled through the grasses, barely acknowledging our presence. Steve noted, “We bought two heifers from you last year and three this summer. They are fat as butter on the pasture. Doing great.”

We encountered one of the heifers they bought in 2019. S S Miss Enchantress E81, an Enhance daughter, relaxed in the grass, chewing her cud, as she surveyed her former and current owners. Indeed, she did seem to be “doing great” and would likely continue to do so for many years.

Sunnyslope females enjoy long, productive lives with the Lawlers as members of their “base herd.” Tim told us about one female they had just shipped. “She was fifteen years old and had 14 calves. She ran out of milk for the last calf, but he’s a hardy little devil.”

Both Lawler brothers work full-time off the farm in professions they enjoy. Tim is the Senior Vice President for a bank in the Rochester area, and Steve is the Soil Scientist and Resource Specialist for the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District. While each brings valuable expertise to their farming operation, their time on the farm is limited to evenings and weekends. Therefore, efficiency is key—and that goes double for the cows and heifers. The Lawlers schedule calving for late spring in order to avoid the mud, but the females must do the rest; with no one there during the day, they have to calve on their own without assistance.

The Lawlers sell feeder calves. They also have a group of fall calves they graze through the summer, then sell as yearlings. “We also have a little market for people who want locally grown beef,” Steve said. “Our fats here are all natural,” which appeals to many in the Rochester metro area, and because the product is Angus, it’s an easy sell. “We love Angus because people love Angus. It’s such a tremendous brand name.”

After our tour, Keith and I sat down with Tim and Steve to discuss the long historical connection between the Abrahamson and Lawson families. I showed them the entry from my great-grandfather Peter’s farm diary where the Lawler name first appears.

April 14, 1904: Lawler bot a bull, made a crate and shipped him on noon train…

Peter Abrahamson had established his Aberdeen-Angus herd in 1898, which means Thomas Lawler, Tim and Steve’s great-grandfather, was one of Sunnyslope’s earliest customers.

Tim gave me a copy of a letter my great-grandfather had written to Thomas’s son, William P. Lawler, dated November 6, 1916.

Peter Abrahamson’s letter was written in reply to an earlier note from William, who was inquiring about bulls for sale. We marveled at the professional stationary, formal language, and elegant handwriting.

Wm. P. Lawler, Rochester Minn.

 Dear Sir: Yours of recent date at hand and noted. I have several young bulls on hand, the oldest ones large enough for immediate service. The oldest one I have now is going on 17 months old and is developing well and will be a very large bull, kind and gentle as the last two weeks we have left him in the barn and he leads by halter very good. The other bulls are younger but there are some good chunky fellows amongst them, the makings of good bulls. The sire of these bulls is also to be sold this fall. He weighs 2000# or better. Would like to have you come and see them. It is only a short drive by auto.

 My price is from $100 to $125.00 each. The oldest one is $125.00. Have one 13 months old for $100—but he is not as good a bull.

 Let me know when you come here and I will try and be home.

 Yours very truly,

P. Abrahamson

 A 2-cent stamp graced the envelope, addressed to “Wm. P. Lawler Esquire.”

My great-grandfather included his business card with the letter. It listed his main enterprises—“Percheron and Coach Horses, Poland China Hogs, Shropshire Sheep, White Wyandotte Chickens”—with “Aberdeen-Angus Cattle” most prominently displayed in the largest font.

“P. Abrahamson, Proprietor” wanted to make sure people could find him. The card provided directions to town: “Lanesboro is on the Southern Minnesota Division of the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, 54 miles west of La Crosse, Wis., 58 miles east of Austin, Minnesota.”

Directions were also provided from town to his place of business: “Farm three miles southeast of Lanesboro, on the Amherst-Lenora Telephone Line.”

Tim and Steve’s father told them stories about their grandfather, William, buying bulls from Sunnyslope. It sounded like quite the adventure. “Grandpa had a cutter and a special horse,” Tim recalled. “In those days, a cutter was kind of like a sports car. I don’t know if they could make it to Lanesboro in a day or not, but they sure had a great time.”

“We’re Irish Catholic,” Tim continued. “My grandparents loved to go south to visit the Norwegians, stay overnight, and have a ball. They’d buy a yearling bull and ship it back here in a crate.” The animal would board the train in Lanesboro and disembark at Chester, just two miles south of their farm. In those days Chester—not Rochester—was the main arrival point for commercial cargo in the region. “There was a livestock yard in Chester too,” Steve added.

My father, Phil Abrahamson, also grew up hearing stories of customers coming to Sunnyslope in the early years to buy bulls, then ship them home on the train. “There were a number of bulls shipped on the train,” Dad later told me, “and crates needed to be made to ship them in.” Not only was the bull heavy, but “even the crate would be heavy because it was made of oak,” which was the most plentiful wood in our area at that time.  

My dad, Phil, was acquainted with Tim and Steve’s father, Richard, who was born in 1915. Dad recalled, “I was at the Lawler farm when they had the state cattlemen’s tour there, and Dick talked about a bull that came in by rail to Chester. He remembered it.”

Richard Lawler managed the family farm while also working as the Director of the Federal Land Bank for 29 years. Then management of the farm passed to his sons, Tim and Steve, in 1981.

Tim attended the University of Minnesota to pursue an Education degree. After serving in the Peace Corps, he returned to the St. Paul campus for a Masters degree in Applied Agronomy. “I had an interest in agronomy and animal science because we were raising cattle. And honeybees,” Tim said. “And I ended up in banking.”

After working in extension for a while, Tim moved back to southeastern Minnesota in 1981 and took a job in a bank. He started his career as an ag lender at the very moment “the organic matter hit the oscillator,” Tim recalled, referring to the Farm Crisis, when interest rates hit 21%. “What a time for everybody. That was a real crisis. We don’t know what problems are today.”

Though the bank kept him busy, he reserved his spare time for taking the family farm in a new direction. While he was at the university, he had heard about an emerging movement in the beef industry called performance testing—a way to evaluate cattle with objective scientific data versus a subjective grading system. “Somebody from the university said that Sunnyslope Angus was performance testing.”

Steve, who first heard about performance testing while he pursued a minor in Animal Science at UW-River Falls, concurred. “We were looking for performance tested herds in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We wanted performance tested bulls, and Phil’s name came up immediately, because he was one of the only ones doing it at the time. We adapted it right away and started performance testing about 1979-1980.”

Phil Abrahamson was the first breeder to work with the University of Minnesota in the experimental arena of performance testing. In 1960, with assistance from Dr. Jay Meiske, Dr. Bob Jacobs, Dr. Al Harvey, and Dr. Chuck Christians, Phil developed a way to genetically advance cattle through scientific measurement rather than through aesthetic, visual perspectives.

The early phases of performance testing only included data for birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight, as well as a performance ratio based on that data calculated by the American Angus Association. “That was it,” said Tim, “but it made sense.”

“Though it seems like hardly anything now,” said Keith, in light of all the scientific data genomic testing provides today, “it was such a leap forward back then.”

Steve’s son, Joe, is a member of the sixth generation to grow up on the Lawler farm. Like his father and uncle, Joe has a full-time job off the farm, but he spends his weekends farming.

“I have a degree in Accounting, but I’m not an accountant,” Joe said. “I use my accounting more on the farm, actually.” While he was in college, he started working for a mechanical company in Mankato. “I started as a sweeper in the shop and worked my way up to management. I was called ‘the shop rocket,’ and they still call me ‘Rocket’ today.” Sixteen years later, he is still at the same company working as a project manager for the largest power plant in southern Minnesota. His job is worth the long daily commute from Rochester, where he lives with his family, to Mankato. “It’s great because there’s a lot of variety. I’m not doing the same thing every day. I learn more trades as the days go on. If they need something done, I have to figure out how to get it done.”

Joe’s job sounds kind of like farming; today’s farmer needs to be a jack-of-all-trades—a  consummate problem solver. Like his father and uncle, Joe works in a profession he loves, yet the farm keeps drawing him back. “It’s a sickness!” Joe said with a hearty laugh. Growing up on a farm, “you’re just programmed at a young age, and you just can’t get it out of your system.”

“We enjoy it,” Tim said, “or we wouldn’t be doing it. You gotta keep thinking. That’s half the fun of doing it—thinking of something new.”

Before the sun is up, they begin their days by collectively thinking outside the box when Joe leaves for work at 4:15 a.m. Steve smiled and said, “I usually get a call at 5:00 in the morning.” Joe laughed, “I’m driving, drinking my coffee, thinking of all sorts of new ideas for the farm!”

Joe admits some of their ideas might raise a few eyebrows. “Whatever the neighbors are doing, we usually do the opposite,” he chuckled. “We’re probably the black sheep in the neighborhood, because we’re always trying new things.”

Not only are the Lawlers trying new things, but they are also exploring new markets that can keep their family farm viable in an ever-shifting economy. “Small farms cannot rely solely on the commodity markets,” Steve said. “We look at this wonderful city (Rochester) next to us, and the potential for direct marketing is unbelievable. Our next challenge is to figure out where our fit is and then get the land ready for it.”

As a soil scientist, Steve has spent decades studying soil health, working in the conservation industry, and advising farmers in Mower County. It was during his college days, however, when he learned about a novel idea that is fundamental to their program today: rotational grazing. “In 1978, rotational grazing was brand new,” Steve recalled. “The management of our pastures today goes back to what I learned in 1978-79 at River Falls.” Steve gives particular credit to a scientist at the university who taught him forage management. “He said, ‘It’s real simple, Steve. You don’t look at the top of the soil, you look underneath the soil. It’s all about the root development on your forage.’” The key is to get as much root extension as possible. “The height of the grass determines the depth of your root system. The grasses have to grow to physiological maturity—you’ve got to get them mature. That flies against conventional thinking, but it’s very, very true. If you keep hammering that grass below 6 inches, you will stunt it. We’ve had to learn and relearn that. That guy at River Falls was right.”

The Lawlers have been rotational grazing since the early 1980s. They have also been experimenting with double cropping in recent years. “We have the only cover crops in a 17-mile radius,” Steve said.

“Having the cattle back on the crop land is one of the best things you can do for your soil,” Joe added. “We use cattle to graze the covers and the stalks. The manure and urine gets spread naturally.” Fertilizer costs are high, and other sources like potassium are becoming limited, Steve explained, “so we feel we’re ahead of that curve by being able to produce our own biological fertilizers.”

“The nutrition from the rumen of the cow very much matches the biology of an anaerobic soil,” Steve said, “so having these critters available is a great way to replace nutrition in the soil.” He pointed out the interdependence between grassland and ruminant animals. “Soil health has made us realize it’s actually not about the soil—it’s about the plants. We think soil makes plants, but it’s really the other way around. Plants make soil. The ruminant animal is a key part of the plant portion of that.”

Tim said their focus is to produce a product the consumer will buy: “well-marbled, juicy, tender beef.” This economic sustainability works hand in hand with their ultimate goal. “We want to save our soil. That’s why we’re here. That’s our job. That’s our responsibility.”

Their pursuit of soil health keeps this generation of the Lawler family coming back to Sunnyslope. “The kind of cattle we need is the same kind you raise on your farm,” Steve told us. Like many of our customers, the Lawlers need calving ease in their animals, as well as feed efficiency and growth. Beyond the basics, though, they are looking for animals with good feet and big rumens—“good square cattle”—that can thrive on both grass and crop land. “They need to be able to handle forages—not a lot of corn—and put on weight,” Joe said. Steve expounded, “They’re going to be walking and eating forage until Christmas time. Those that can’t handle that, won’t have the condition. Most animals go to feed lots, but we want to take the calf, get it fat on forage, and direct market it.”

Steve added, “We’re kind of going back around to what raising cattle looked like many decades ago,” when his forefathers were buying cattle from Sunnyslope.

“Every generation of our family has had a relationship with Sunnyslope Angus,” Steve said, adding that his grandchildren love the Angus cattle too. The seventh generation of Lawlers frequently visits the farm. “The calving shed is always their first stop when they come down the driveway.”

“The Angus are here to stay,” he concluded. “They are wonderful animals.”