Rockin Oz Ranch
Aug 1, 2023
by Keri Whitney
For 15 years, Rockin Oz Ranch and Performance Horses has been home to Nate and Missy Osentowski, 24-year-old son, Hunter and their two young daughters, Emma and Ellie. The Osentowski's own Riata Buckle stallion, Oz Ona Hot Streak. The operation breeds performance horses, hays, backgrounds and runs commercial cattle, raising some of the best Red Angus/Charolais cross feeder cattle in the business. While young Emma and Ellie are still working on the family ranch, Hunter has graduated from the University of Nebraska, works for a farmer and has ownership in a fertilizer business.
As his mother always said, "Nate was born with his boots on." Although not raised in the industry, Nate always found a way to incorporate agriculture into his life. His passion for horses forced his parents into horse ownership at an early age. Nate found a way to work in feedlots and team rope with friends. Nate has never looked back. After graduating from University of Nebraska – Kearney he started out with a company providing real estate and mortgage brokering services. He lived on the cheap, in a 1976 trailer house, so he could start gathering his brood mare herd. He admits that he spent much more time studying breeding programs, stallions, and crosses than he did the local real estate market! Today, after much blood, sweat and tears with his wife anchored in the cattle business, Nate, he has been able to pursue his dreams and make many of his magic crosses come to fruition. "Nate's vision has brought so much joy into our life at several levels," states Missy.
"People shouldn't be afraid to pursue their passions and dreams," says Nate. "The worst day on the ranch is still better than an office job. Missy and I are working to build up the ranch for our kids to live this lifestyle one day, if they choose. Thanks to Missy we live the way we do. Without her, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. We are a good team."
Nate's wife, Missy, was born on her family's cattle ranch in Rose, Nebraska. The cattle industry is the state's largest industry, outnumbering people 4 to 1. She is a 4th generation rancher, coming from a family known for being exceptional cattlemen. Her late father was a bonded order buyer and field man for one of Nebraska's largest sale barns.
"My Dad always told me, 'You can't trust cows, get an education,'" says Missy. "I was just a ranch girl. I lived 40 miles from a gas station and went to country school until the eighth grade; in fact, I didn't drive in a town that had a stop light until college. I had a lot to figure out. After high school, I went to University of Nebraska and graduated with my bachelor's degree. I felt like the only thing my degree was good for was asking 'Would you like fries with that?', so, I continued my education."
Missy was offered a full ride scholarship in the master's program for Social Work at Arizona State University. She packed up her belongings and moved to Arizona with the thought that she could become an Extension Agent and work with the 4-H programs locally when she came back to the ranch. Paying for her own education, she applied for the only paid internship the program offered at the time. It was in parole. She worked her first year as a parole officer for the Arizona Department of Corrections and the next year they created a position in Baker Ward, a JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) accredited unit with 60 beds for the most unstable of 30,000 inmates in a maximum-security prison in Arizona. Post graduation, Missy relocated to Gillette, Wyoming where she worked and eventually opened a private practice. When her father suddenly passed away back home in Nebraska, it was time for Missy to sell her practice and move back to the family ranch.
Missy hung her shingle in Nebraska, uncertain of what kind of a practice she could build there. She has grown one of largest privately owned outpatient mental health clinics in the state of Nebraska. Total, she has 8 locations of practice and is committed to helping meet the unmet mental health needs of rural Nebraska and South Dakota. While Missy works in town, Nate keeps the ranch going. The couple focuses on breeding cow bred and race bred mares. All mares are either money earners or have raised proven winners.
"I love what I do, but I do it to support the land, cattle and horse habits that fill our cup," says Missy. "My husband studies the industry every day. He is as passionate and knowledgeable about breeding horses as I believe anyone can be. Nothing brings me more joy than to see him have success with his vision, and have the opportunity to meet, partner with and enjoy the fabulous people in this industry! Although we breed for versatility, our focus is on the team roping world, because of all the incentives."
Their Riata Buckle stallion, Oz Ona Hot Streak was a colt that was born on the Rockin Oz Ranch. His dam, Oz One Hot Mamma is ranch bred and raised. She is the first foal Nate and Missy ever bred together in their courtship. At age 3, Oz One Hot Momma was bred to A Streak of Fling. The decision to breed the mare to A Streak of Fling was a last-minute deal. The plan had been to breed another mare, but that fell through. Oz One Hot Mamma was the only mare on the ranch that wasn't bred. Nate had started riding her and falling in love with her potential and apparent athleticism, but with a stud fee that needed to be used, he dismounted, and Oz Ona a Hot Streak was the result.
Oz Ona Hot Streak was sold as a weanling. The owners eventually sent him to Brad Lund where he made his debut in the AQHA world, winning the world heading and placing in the top 10 in heeling in 2019. The owners planned to send him to a calf roper, but covid hit and they chose to bring the stallion home. Health problems then arose, and the owners needed to sell him. The Osentowski's purchased him back as a 5-year-old.
"We asked our friends Antone and Jennifer Williams to come look at him. We wanted their opinion on what to do next," says Nate. "They suggested entering him heeling in the American Rope Horse Futurity, so we did. It was his last year of eligibility. The Williams were friends with Ross Ashford. We asked Ross to show him, which he did. The horse showed really well, and Ross really liked him. In fact, after the show we actually unloaded him out of Antone's trailer and into Ross' trailer and away he went. He's been with Ross ever since."
Oz Ona Hot Streak is part of the 2019 Resistol Rookie of the year and 2021 NFR Qualifier's rodeo string. Ross won the 2022 Rocky Mountain Stampede in Calgary, Alberta and has placed in several other rodeos on him. Oz has over $200,000 in earnings and is still competing. Nate's goal is to see them at the NFR!
With a handful of Oz Ona Hot Streak babies on the ground, some are being sent to trainers to get started correctly and to ensure they get placed in the right hands that will help promote the stallion.
"The Riata Buckle has opened up doors for us, and we are grateful to be part of it. There is a lot of money his progeny is eligible for. We like the way Riata is set up, it's the number system and time. It fits what our customers are wanting to do, and The Lazy E is a great spot for a roping."
Exciting plans are coming for Oz Ona Hot Streak in the very near future! Starting this fall, he will stand at the Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
To learn more about Oz Ona Hot Streak – Click Here
