There may be life off the ranch, but any Fremont County farmer or rancher will tell you – The #aglife is “the good life!” #Aglife is a County 10 series, brought to you by Wyoming Community Bank, that pulls the curtain back on farm and ranch life in Fremont County.
You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy. After a successful NFL career that spanned 13 seasons, a remarkable four years at Brigham Young University, and a legendary high school career that saw the 6-6 post name the Gatorade Player of the Year, Brett Keisel is still on the farm.
Brett Keisel was well known in his playing days at Greybull High School, frequenting the fields and courts of Shoshoni, Wind River and Wyoming Indian back in the mid-1990s.
The Pittsburgh defensive end found a home not far from the Steel City in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
“My grandpa had Hereford cattle,” Brett said. “That’s where I learned to be a cowboy. Fast forward and I always wanted to own my own ranch. I found my place in the Laurel Mountains of Western Pennsylvania.”
“Part of my farm is the Turkey Foot,” Brett said. “George Washington floated down the Yough River and built Ft. Necessity. There is a lot of history around here. The Appalachians are the oldest mountains in the world. It’s amazing what erosion will do.”
The Turkey Foot is near the confluence of the Youghiogheny River, known to locals simply as the “Yough” (pronounced ya-cuck) with Laurel Hill Creek and the Casselman River.
For a kid from Wyoming, calling the 4,000 to 5,000-foot high peaks of the Appalachian Range mountains is a bit of a stretch.
“Growing up on the Big Horns, it’s hard to call these mountains,” Brett said. “When I first got to training camp, our coach said face the mountains. I said OK, which one.”
Brett started with Angus cattle after purchasing 230 acres in Somerset County.
“It has great grass and great water,” Brett said. “I thought I’d bring back the cowboy lifestyle.”
A casual drive near his property changed his entire operation.
“I drove by another ranch, and they had these big, beautiful Texas Longhorns,” Brett said. “They’re awesome to look at with cute little babies. They’re like Easter eggs. They’re all different and unique.”
The Keisel operation is named Mighty Oak Farms.
“We have a longhorn bull named Khan, from the Jungle Book, short for Shere Kahn,” Brett said.
The 230-acre Mighty Oak Farm features 25 acres of corn and grain, with grass and alfalfa for the operation and a few soybeans.
“The best part of the property is that it has live water. I taught my kids and other kids how to fish on those ponds,” Brett said. “I just had my son’s hockey team up there to fish. No trout, just largemouth bass, blue gill, perch, and crappie.”
The Keisel kids share their dad’s love of the outdoors.
“I taught them how to gut a fish, then throw them on the grill, they’re delicious that way,” Brett said. “We’re fortunate because the water is so good. There is a good reproductive process happening in those ponds.”
As an avid hunter, it’s taken some time to adjust to hunting styles in Western Pennsylvania. It’s vastly different than in the foothills and mountains of Wyoming.
“The pheasants are done. There are a of lot places where they release birds, but the wild population isn’t in a good state,” Brett said. “There are a lot of turkeys. I’ve had fun hunting turkeys out here. I’ve learned to call a little bit.”
There aren’t any mule deer or elk, but the whitetail population is tremendous, and part of the reason Brett plants corn and grain each year.
“It’s the fun. I learned to hunt whitetails,” Brett said. “Sitting in a tree is way different than walk and stalk like I grew up. I hunt with friends and teammates. Even now, I butcher deer myself. Sometimes we eat them at camp. If we open them up and don’t see a problem, it’s right to the grill with a little Hi Mountain Seasoning.”
Fun is a way of life for the big man from Big Horn County. He’s begun naming cattle after teammates.
“One year one of my Angus cows had an ear tag 75, “Brett said. “So, I thought, Mean Joe Greene. I had 68 too, so I named that one L.C. Greenwood. That’s how it started.”
Soon, many of the cows, bulls, and steers on the place carried current or former Steeler names.
“During Covid, we had a cute white calf, I threw it out on Steeler Nation for ideas, “Brett said. “We came up with Bull Cow Her (in reference to former Steeler head coach Bill Cowher) He did have an underbite, (a comment to Cowher’s famous dimpled chin) that helped in the process. He’s living the life at Tom Rooney’s place in Florida.
Horns Ward for Heinz Ward, Dick LaBull for defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau.
“He’s my football hero,” Brett said. “I’ll send Dick pitchers of Dick LaBull to show he’s doing well. He has the run of the heifers.”
One of the more interesting names on the farm isn’t a longhorn or Angus at all, but a soon-to-be two-year-old colt.
“James Harrison was born on May 4, which is also defensive tackle James Harrison’s,” Birthday. “Brett said. “I bought two mares from my brother Chad in Greybull, he’s a dang good horseman. With one of the mares, I found a place in central PA with a nice stallion. She had James, he’s a year and a half. His first rider was Dick LeBeau’s grandson Bowden.” 
The Steelers take it all in stride, with many of them eagerly waiting to have something named after them.
“James did great, he’s doing super. I haven’t trained a colt since I was a kid,” Brett said. “It’s been fun to learn it all over again.”
The Wyoming connections remain strong, joined by friends who were the best in the NFL during their playing years.
“It was such a blessing and honor to be in Pittsburgh with guys like Troy (Palamalou), Heinz (Ward), Aaron (Smith), and James,” Brett said. “We had a Rolodex of great players and better humans. It’s been a ton of fun to play ball out here and circle back around to do things like I did growing up in Wyoming.
Brett mentioned his late high school football coach Phil Julliard.
“Phil was unique, he was his own person. He cared a ton about the community. He really helped coach the young people around there. That’s why I’m proud to say I’m from Wyoming and was raised that way,” he said.
Brett had praise for his uncle Ben Smith, another Greybull grad who spent much of his career at rival Rocky Mountain High School.
“Ben did great things for that program and the youth, Brett said. “Lots of those kids are successful now because of that foundation.”
When you raise longhorns, there are two markets for these animals. One is beef, which grows a bit slower than breeds like Angus and Hereford, the other is the massive horns they grow.
“We fit the horn before they go into the chute with horn slides so we can measure their horn,” Brett said. “Just like anything you want to keep your best stuff.”
Marketing his beef hasn’t been a problem.
“It hasn’t been hard selling the meat, it’s delicious,” Brett said. “I feed them well. They’re well taken care of. Friends and family have been buying them.”
Expanding markets is all part of the agricultural world. With Brett’s NFL connections, he recently moved to another partnership.
“We just landed a contract with Parkhurst who feeds the Steeler and the Pitt Panthers, “Brett said. “Future Steelers and Pitt guys will be eating Mighty Oak Beef
Another enterprise that keeps Brett busy is Mighty Oak Adventures.
“We work on spending time together where the concrete ends and the adventure begins,” Brett said. “We like to go fishing, sit around the campfire and learn how to make things better. It’s like going from one dream right into another.”
You don’t play four years of high school football, four at the Division I level and 13 in the NFL without a few aches and pains.
“I feel great, I ache of course. I played a lot of snaps, so there is some aching,” Brett said. “I get up in the morning, get the motor revved up, and get going. Coach LeBeau always said it’s a great day to be alive.”
Business, public appearances, and farming take a lot of time, but so does raising a family.
Brett married his high school sweetheart, Sarah, the 1997 Greybull High School valedictorian, and the couple have three children, Jacob 16, Gracie 13, and William 12.
“When you have a farm and kids that are teenagers there is no shortage of things you can get done,” Brett said.
The kids are all athletes but in sports far removed from most of the Big Horn Basin.
“They’re all hockey players, Brett said. “The next six months we’ll be Uber drivers for them. I’ve learned the game, mostly I coach effort, the Xs and Os work themselves out, but effort will take you a long way in life. I have a few tricks about training and eating right from 13 years in the league.”
Mighty Oak Farms is self-sustaining with corn, grain, soybeans, alfalfa, and grass raised on the place. Brett partners with a neighbor on feed. They both run about 50 head of cattle.
“Sometimes it feels like you’re in a whirlwind. I learned hockey and lacrosse. I didn’t get a chance to play that as a kid, but anything the kids can do to compete, I’m all for that. It’s competitive out here in western Pennsylvania,” Brett said. “Pittsburgh is a unique little slice of sports heaven. The nursing and medical care is unbelievable, we have so many great businesses here.”
Sleep apnea is one of his ailments.
“My wife has been telling me I need to go in and get tested for apnea,” Brett said. “I went into the hospital and tried to sleep, I ripped it all off and walked out. My boys like Hamp (Casey Hampton) and some of the others swear by the sleep apnea machine.”
He’s named about 10 of his cattle after men in the Steeler organization.
Big A for Aaron Smith, Nunnies for front office man Bill Nunn, and a fan favorite, Paula Mala Moo for Troy Polamalu.
“It’s a total flow cow,” Brett said. It looks like it has some Highlander blood.” (in reference to Polamalu’s famous long hair hanging in the back of his helmet)
There is one former teammate who bugs Brett to name something after him, Ben Rothlisberger.
“I name them after everyone else, he says, what’s the deal, what do I have to do,” Brett said. “Some of the longhorn’s bloodline goes back to a bull named Big Ben. He’s been on me, I told him to calm down. There’s a burger in his name already.”
It’s a little slice of paradise in the Laurel Hills for Brett Keisel and his family.