Nebraska Pioneer Award Winners
Jim and Twila Johnson
of Frontier Angus
Frontier Angus Farm dates back to 1952, when Twila purchased her first registered Angus cow from Harold and Nadine Deviny with hard-earned school teacher wages.
Jim Johnson and Twila Max met at the Frontier Co. Fair in 1954. Jim had just returned home from the Air Force and Twila was about to return to college to renew her teaching certificate. They were married June 26, 1955. At that time Jim had a small herd of Hereford cattle and Twila's Angus herd was multiplying.
Which would it be Angus or Herefords? Since Twila refused to sell her Angus, the Herefords were sold and more Angus were purchased, which became the foundation of their herd. Since that time they have built the herd into what it is today, by using good breeding stock.
At the time they lived just southwest of Stockville, NE, the county seat of Frontier County, and since they met at the Frontier County Fair, it seemed only fitting that they name their farm Frontier Angus Farm.
In addition to raising cattle, they raise corn, sorghum, and wheat on their farm. They also raised 3 boys: Paul, Bill and Rod who are all grown and have families of their own. The boys were very active in working with the cattle and showed them in 4-H. They are very proud of their boys as well as their cattle. Paul has a farm and ranch business of his own and takes care of the purebred herd and farms the land. Bill is an engineer for Halliburton Oil at Edmund, Oklahoma, and Rod is a computer technician for Lancaster County and the city of Lincoln. They have 8 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.
Their first two bulls were sold at the Heart of Nebraska Sale at Broken Bow. They sold bulls for several years at the Southwest NE Sale in McCook. They had production sales in conjunction with Twila's Dad, Jacob and brother, Alva Max in McCook and Cambridge, NE. For three years they held their own sale at the Curtis sale barn.
In 1979 they put up a sale barn and had sales at home. As it got more expensive and they got older and were not able to halter break all the animals, they started selling private treaty which has worked out real well for them. They usually keep around 20 of the best bulls to sell and 20 heifers for replacements. The rest are put in the feedlot. Through their A.I. program they are able to offer the best and a variety of easy calving bloodlines for their repeat customers.
The first cows were Eileenmere and Blackcap breeding. Some of the sires they have used are Investor, Pacesetter, Mr Angus, and New Design. More recent A.I. sires used include, Frontier 095, Destroyer 093, Thunder, Safelead, TC Franklin 619, Imagemaker and Fortune.
They are involved in Angus Production Testing, so have EPDs and data available. Through this program they have had several Pathfinder® cows over the years.
Their son Paul does all the work of taking care of the cattle and does the A.I. work. He and his wife are in the process of purchasing the cattle, and Jim and Twila are semi-retired. It's hard to give it up after 58 years, so as long as they're able they will stay a little involved. The Angus business has been very good to Jim and Twila. |
