Johnson Family Cattle Company

The Johnson family owns and operates a 45 head cow/calf beef farm in Shawano, Wisconsin where the tall trees and stretching pastures make for the prettiest drive on a Sunday afternoon.  Brad, Lindsay, Isaac and Charlotte work hard on the farm to provide a nutritious beef product for their customers through a local restaurant and farmer’s market.  

Brad and Lindsay grew up on beef farms and started their own operation with an alfalfa field. “The first thing we did was build a fence!” says Brad. The couple always knew beef cattle were in their future. Throughout the years, Brad and Lindsay have added a home and barn to the land to raise their two children. While their children are young, they are very involved in the cattle operation. Isaac and Charlotte’s favorite jobs on the farm are to fill feed buckets, clean pens and work with their animals in the barn. Charlotte has become the record keeper while working chute-side with her family by writing down eartag numbers.

The Shawano community is very important to the Johnson family. Not only do they sell high quality beef to their family, friends and neighbors but the farm also welcomes farm tours for local schools and customers who wish to learn more about beef production. “We know that most people do not get to grow up on the farm like we did and our kids get to,” says Lindsay. “People want to see where their food comes from, and we are happy to show them!” The Johnson Family Cattle Burger at Luigis Pizza and Pasta is a small town hit which continues the conversation about beef production. “We love to tell our story, and the kids love showing off their favorite calf in the pasture!”

Brad works for a cattle genetics company in the area where he leads his team to make important decisions for the future of the beef industry. “Through reproductive technologies such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization, beef farmers are able to increase the quality of their herd at a very fast rate. Beef farmers select bulls based specific qualities of which are going to make more efficient cattle” says Brad. The Johnson Family use these technologies to select for traits such as carcass quality, demeanor, feed efficiency and more to implement in the next generation of cattle. “It is important that we are continuously improving. Not only do we need to make efforts to become more efficient environmentally and economically, but we must meet what our customers demand from our product.”

Family and cattle are extremely important to the Johnson family as well as raising high quality beef. “We enjoy what we do and are proud to be raising our family and cattle on this farm—for your dinner table and ours.”