Johnston Brangus cattle operation at the Alabama ranch

Nutrition Partner

A LiveAg Original
Presented by VitaFerm

Six Generations.
One Herd. Still Growing.

The Johnston Brangus story: a family, a legacy, and the nutrition program helping write its next chapter.

▶ Watch the Film View Cattle on LiveAg →

“My family has stayed together since the late 1600s.”

— Wat Johnston, Johnston Brangus

For nearly four hundred years, one family has stayed rooted to the same land. First in Virginia, then in Alabama, when the cotton wore the soil thin and a young Navy veteran came home looking for what came next. What he found was cattle. Generations later, that decision has grown into one of the Southeast’s most respected Brangus operations.

Multiple generations of the Johnston family

A Legacy Rooted in the Land

1600s — Virginia

Family farming operation begins.

Cotton to Cattle

Soil wears thin; family relocates to Alabama.

1945

Navy veteran returns home, starts the cattle herd.

1960s

Next generation returns, takes over operation.

1988

New leader joins; buys the purebred side.

38 Years & Counting

Herd doubles the operation, triples cow numbers.

Where Pedigree Meets Performance

SIZE OF OPERATION
IN 38 YEARS

NUMBER OF
COWS IN HERD

91%

CHOICE & PRIME
GRADE ACHIEVED

PROFITABLE PROGRAMS
PUREBRED + COMMERCIAL

Fertility comes first. Every female is culled and pre-checked with one goal in mind: a herd where the end product fits most everybody. The breeding philosophy favors moderate-framed cattle with plenty of bone and substance, backed by an AI and embryo transfer program in place since day one.

“We put so much stress and emphasis on fertility in our herd by culling and pre-checking so the end product should fit most everybody.”

— Alan Haney, Johnston Brangus

Working cattle through the chute at Johnston Brangus

The Bulls That
Built the Herd

The decision to invest heavily in bull power looked risky at the time. It has since built a heifer replacement market that speaks for itself, along with steer performance that regularly grades choice and prime.

“Everybody thought we might have been losing our minds with the money that we put out for the bulls, but in the long run it has built us a phenomenal heifer replacement market.”

— Alan Haney, Johnston Brangus

Official Nutrition Partner

VitaFerm

Premium Genetics Deserve
Premium Nutrition

Decades of genetic progress don’t mean much without the nutrition to back them up. Every added pound of performance and every calf born on schedule depends on what’s going into the cow before any of that genetic potential can show up in the pasture.

“Premium genetics require premium nutrition. We’re not putting cheap gas in genetic Ferraris.”

— Dr. Chris Cassady, VitaFerm

The VitaFerm and Johnston Brangus teams working together

~100 MORE

cows bred across breeding and heat seasons after switching to a VitaFerm Concept Aid mineral program, with no other management changes.

VitaFerm mineral feeder in a Johnston Brangus pasture

Explore VitaFerm Nutrition Programs →

It’s a People Business

“The fact that we’ve had such a good relationship with the Johnston family, VitaFerm, Elite Livestock, and LiveAg, think along similar lines. When you’ve got a good team, you need to just make that thing grow.”

— Craig Green, CDP Brangus

“One of the beautiful things about this operation is it keeps your family together.”

— Wat Johnston, Johnston Brangus

From Pasture
to Podium

Genetics and nutrition only carry an operation so far without the right marketing behind them. Johnston Brangus cattle have moved through Elite Livestock’s marketing programs and onto LiveAg.

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