Jeff and Laura Johnson live in a nicely appointed home along U.S. 59 south of Moran. They are parents to two sons, Trent and Ty, and depending on the time of year they care for about 800 cattle.
There was a time when tossing flakes of hay from a flatbed truck wasn’t so prominent in their plans.
Wednesday evening the Johnsons will be recognized as Grassland Award winners at the annual Natural Resources Conservation Service meeting. Allen County banks are sponsors.
Jeff grew up on a family farm east of Redfield. He being the only boy among three siblings, Jeff took to chores early. “I started driving a tractor (2510 John Deere) when I was six or seven years old. My legs weren’t long enough to reach the pedals,” so he sat perched on the edge of the seat.
He attended school in Uniontown, completing high school at Jayhawk-Linn where he starred on the football team and graduating in 1983. His goal then was to return to the farm. His parents, Andy and Karen Johnson, had other thoughts.
“Go to college and then get a job,” they admonished, so young Jeff could gain perspective as to whether farming was for him.
A football scholarship — he was a defensive back — took him to Baker University, Baldwin. After graduation, Jeff took on with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and spent two years in Des Moines, 1987-89. A banker had told Jeff if his interest were banking, starting as an examiner would open doors. Following were terms at several local banks — moving mostly because of changes in ownership. Today he is with Community National Bank in Iola.
A time at Humboldt National was meaningful. Sandy Ellis, a fellow employee, arranged a date with a Humboldt girl, Laura Walburn. “I’d seen her at track meets,” Jeff said, in his mild-mannered way. They married in 1992.
His duties at Community National mesh well with his cattle business. “They’re really good to me,” Jeff said. He works one or two days a week in the bank, “and I’m available to customers anytime on my cell phone or by appointment.”
That allows him and Laura — with a hand from the boys mainly during summer, Trent being a student at Kansas State and Ty at Iola High School — to do all that 1,650 acres of grass and 800 cattle demand.
THAT’S WHERE the farm story of the Johnsons really begins.
In younger days on the family farm, tending crops and cattle on 1,200 acres gave him a firm background. When he found himself in coat and tie on the banking circuit, Jeff helped out evenings and weekends. When his father died in 2014, Jeff cut back at the bank to devote more time on the farm.
He also added land, and today the Johnsons have 1,650 total, 450 acres in native grass, 1,200 in cool-season grasses, fescue, along with clover and lespedeza.
With a background in irrigation of crops, from the Marmaton River on the Bourbon County land, Jeff took another step to make his cattle operation more efficient. After seeding down 200 acres surrounding the irrigation system’s pivot, he put in a concrete tank fed by the eight-inch irrigation line that takes water from the Marmaton.
He also depends on pond water and has installed tanks connected to rural water district lines. While that adds to expense, it guarantees a supply of water for the cattle, Jeff said. The tanks have a trickle coming in regulated by a thermostat that keeps them frost-free during cold weather. Solar power keeps all working smoothly.
With help from Trent, the Johnsons have added four miles of new fence, including some cross-fencing, as well as partitioning off tributaries and the Marmaton. Cross fencing within larger pastures permits the Johnsons to move cattle from one smaller cell to another. That makes for better utilization and density of forage and reduces soil erosion. Cattle in a large pasture tend to create paths that eventually sink in and lead to erosive rivulets. Moving cattle every few weeks gives the grass a chance to regenerate, a more efficient method of grazing than just turning them loose for the season on one large smorgasboard of grass.
Jeff also is careful to keep pastures free of brush, thistles and briars, by spraying and periodic mowing. He does some seasonal burning and also applies lime and fertilizer to enhance growth.
In a concession to manpower — sometimes Jeff alone — he bales, and occasionally purchases, traditional small bales for feeding. Small bales are his preference with just he and Laura doing the chore. Alfalfa weighs about 100 pounds, prairie less. That is a departure from most cattle operations, where big round bales, in the half-ton class, are carried to fields on truck-mounted spears and deposited in round feeders.
Jeff frequently is found at livestock auctions, such as Allen County’s at the southeast edge of Gas, making purchases to keep his stock numbers at a desirable level. It’s a time-consuming part of the operation, he allowed, partly because “of advice an older farmer once gave me. He said, ‘If you have the patience to sit through auctions to the end, you’ll usually find a bargain.’”
That advice wasn’t lost on Jeff, who has worked professionally with profit and loss statements for 25 years, and knows as well as anyone keeping costs under control is a road to success in any business, particularly agriculture.
