22 Questions for Mackenzie Johnston

by ABP & Mackenzie Johnston

***Derek's note: We are big fans of Mackenzie and her daily “Cattle News Central” facebook posts. She‘s current on trends in the business and has a great attitude while reporting the ups and downs that ranchers deal with on a daily basis. Take a look for yourself and FOLLOW HER if you like what she has to say... We think you will!

On my family’s ranch near Brewster, NE.

I’m originally from Alliance, NE where my Dad started ranching with my grandad.

My day starts at 4:30 with a strong cup of coffee and an eight-mile run. I then take some time to scan the internet for breaking news before I head down to our main place to start the day with my Dad. Right now, we are busy feeding and working on fencing and corral building projects. Once the day is done on the ranch, I head back home, which is only two miles from our main place, and begin perusing the internet for noteworthy news to include in the next day’s Cattle News Central update. Between compiling the update and getting it recorded, I spend about three hours each day putting together the next day’s update. Then I usually spend the rest of my evening working on freelance articles.

Cattle News Central has gained more viewers than I ever expected in such a short amount of time. To retain current viewers and continue to attract new viewers, I make sure I keep my news reporting as current and relevant as possible. Throughout my day I scan sites such as Drovers, Cattle Range, National Beef Wire and Reuters Agriculture News to catch the top stories of the day.

My first job was driving the cake pickup for my Dad on our ranch in southwest South Dakota. I also remember that year I started driving a John Deere MT tractor raking hay.

I never worked directly for NCBA, I worked for one of their strongest affiliates, Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association. I started working for NC part-time in April of 2014 as a field representative in Central Nebraska. At that time, I was searching for a part-time job off the ranch as I have always been a people person and when the opportunity presented itself, I thought it would be a good way to broaden my horizons.

I worked for Nebraska Cattlemen for six years until March of 2020. In February of that year, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue reopened America’s borders to Brazilian beef imports. I have always felt that importing beef from a crooked, corrupt country such as Brazil is bad for America’s cattle industry, so I took it upon myself to write an opinion editorial for Tri-State Livestock News concerning the matter. This opinion article stated the clear evidence of Brazil having far lower standards when it comes to beef production compared to domestic beef produced in the U.S. The piece also highlighted the fact that Foot and Mouth Disease is endemic in Brazil and if that would somehow find its way to the U.S., our industry would suffer greatly. After the article was published, I was abruptly fired from Nebraska Cattlemen. I was told that my position was terminated because the article did not align with the values of Nebraska Cattlemen or NCBA.

NCBA, our nation’s largest cattle organization claims to be a grassroots organization that represents cattle producers; however, their actions prove otherwise. Time and time again NCBA’s policies have benefitted the packers instead of cattle producers. A couple examples of this are NCBA adamantly opposing MCOOL and their voluntary approach to increase negotiated cash trade. I also believe that greed has gotten the best of the organization. NCBA received over $26 million checkoff dollars for fiscal year 2022. I understand that part of that will go towards education and research, but a large chunk of that will go towards NCBA salaries. Producers are required to pay into the checkoff, and for that money to go towards NCBA fat cat salaries is a complete disappointment.

The cattle industry is at a crossroads. If our industry can’t restore competition in our fed cattle sector by increasing negotiated cash cattle trade, we will go down the same path as the hog and chicken industries and become vertically integrated. The packers have their foot on the throat of cattle feeders; through captive cattle supplies and alternative marketing agreements, they continually manipulate the market in their favor. Unfortunately, as an industry we are incredibly divided and can’t seem to find middle ground to fix this issue. Now, with inflation skyrocketing, I think it’s fair to call our industry ‘shaky’. Yes, our markets are darn good right now, but are cattle producers making that much more money considering how input costs have drastically increased over the last year? If we continue to see input costs rise, at some point producers won’t even be able to break even. At the end of the day, one can only make so many cuts to keep the wheels turning.

In theory it‘s a great plan, however I’ll believe it when I see it. We’ve seen numerous administrations make similar promises to improve our industry, not just this current one. None so far have followed through with their words. It seems as if Biden’s plan encompasses all that we want to hear, but we’ll be lucky if we see any action.

It would be incredibly beneficial for the industry to restore MCOOL, however I don’t see it happening. I believe the World Trade Organization (WTO) will do everything in their power to keep MCOOL at bay. Additionally, NCBA has always strongly opposed MCOOL and since they are the largest cattle organization in the nation, I see them being a major roadblock. With that being said, transparent labeling is not only what our cattle producers deserve, but also our domestic consumers. When consumers go to the meat counter, they should be able to differentiate between a piece of foreign beef and beef that was born, raised, and slaughtered in the U.S. Our domestic cattle producers produce the highest quality beef in the world and there is no reason that they shouldn’t be able to put a ‘Product of USA’ label on it.

When it comes down to it, I would be in the camp somewhere between United States Cattlemen’s Association and RCALF USA. I don’t wholeheartedly align with just one organization because there isn’t one that I completely agree with. I do think our cattle organizations often spend too much time dragging each other down when they should be focused on achieving the goals of their members. Additionally, we have some organizations that feel like you must be all in, agree with every stance of theirs, or you’re against them. This kind of mentality has gotten us to where we are in the industry, incredibly divided. Somewhere along the line we forgot that we could disagree and not consider each other enemies.

The push for Beyond Meat is laughable. For so many years dieticians and nutritionists pushed wholesome, unprocessed foods, but now there is this push for a product that is fake, contains almost thirty ingredients and many of those ingredients can’t even be pronounced by a common individual. Despite the push for the fake product, Beyond Meat is a fad. At the end of the day, the nutritional benefits and the impeccable taste of beef can’t be replicated.

They are narcissists rolling in the dough these days and beef producers are making less money than ever. What are your thoughts? According to Cassie Fish who produces the daily Beef Read, on average, packers profited over $600/ hd. in 2021; they’re doing okay for themselves to say the least. It’s no secret that the packers have figured out a way to manage supply and work the market in their favor. I don’t think there‘s any doubt that the big four have partaken in illegal activity along the way, such as collusion to depress the cattle markets. However, at the end of the day, we need the packers. They’re an integral part of our industry and if we didn’t have them our industry wouldn’t be able to function like it does today. The cattle industry needs more competition in the packing sector and in a few years we will have that. We have regional plants coming online across the country, as well as smaller processing facilities that will also help the situation.

We must help ourselves to save the cattle industry. Many folks are waiting for government intervention to do the trick, but has the government ever gotten more involved in an industry and it resulted in a positive outcome? From what I know, the answer is a hard no. I agree that our industry has some major issues when it comes to transparency and fair markets, but producers need to find ways

to be innovative, seek out new marketing tactics, possibly find a niche market. These changes aren’t easy, but our industry isn’t the same as it was back in the 1970s; we have to continue to evolve to stay competitive, sustainable and relevant.

Either asking my opinion on current legislation or asking my thoughts which way the cattle market is heading. I’m in no way a market analyst, so I usually repeat what ShayLe Stewart with DTN Progressive Farmer has reported and help them the best I can. I live for questions regarding legislation since it is my true passion. I’ve always been interested in politics, so any inquiries regarding legislation impacting the cattle industry is right up my alley. As of late, the questions have mostly been about Senator Cory Booker’s recent legislation, Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act of 2021, and the cattle industry compromise bill.

In the early part of January, I spent a day in the ER due to a viral infection that led to Bell’s palsy and a hemiplegic migraine that hit at the same time. The day it occurred I felt completely fine; I was backing a 4-wheeler out of our shop to take care of some chores and I was hit with deafening ringing in my ears. I attempted to step off the 4-wheeler and found that I had little to no control of my legs. Luckily, my folks were close by as we had just started the day feeding cattle. When they realized that I had very little control of my arms and legs and my speech was greatly impaired, they rushed me to the Broken Bow hospital, an hour away, as they were greatly concerned that I was having a stroke. The doctors in the ER discovered the virus and migraine. The two together were somewhat of a perfect storm that caused symptoms much like a stroke, but luckily that was not the case. Since then, I have recovered from the Bell’s palsy and I‘ll see a neurologist in the middle of February to figure out how to manage my migraines.

In ten years, I see myself still involved with production agriculture. My heart has always been in ranching, being around cattle, but I also have an interest in feeding cattle, so I would like to expand our operation in that sense. I also see myself continuing to be a voice within the cattle industry. I plan to grow Cattle News Central into a news reporting company that features breaking news in the form of journalism and live updates.

My daily motivation comes from the long line of ranchers that came before me. I am a fifth-generation rancher who is blessed to be able to work with my Dad each day. The sacrifices, the work, the losses that were incurred for me to be able to live this lifestyle and do the job I do is what gets me out of bed every day. The people in the cattle industry are salt of the earth and I do my best to help them by keeping them up to date on impactful issues.

Running. I‘ve run numerous ultra trail races (anything over marathon distance) across the U.S. 50 miles is my preferred distace and my favorite race is the Bighorn 52 miler hosted near Dayton, WY. I also enjoy crossword puzzles and live music when I can.

My favorite store is Lululemon.

Currently my favorite music artist is Morgan Wade.