Johnston's Corner Farm

10/04/2025

It’s harvest time! If you want to eat, give them space.

04/04/2025

Back then, no one smiled for photographs. That changed when a pig ran in front of the camera. (1927)

12/14/2024

08/06/2024

The same experience for us. Two fields we have not been able to get into. No first cuttings from them. No seconds. But God knows.

At 10:07 last night, (Sunday)they shut down for the night. It was too hard to see the rows for the new seeding.
The field is finally prepped,
the seedbed is ready and rolled,
waiting for the new hay seeding.
They filled the planter, left the extra bags there ready to grab at first light, when they finish the field first thing tomorrow morning.

There isn’t any rain in the forecast for the night.
It will be be easily completed in the morning.

This season has been a challenge.
What started as a pretty decent end to corn and soybean planting year, sharply turned to wettest and most difficult hay season that we can remember.
Rain.
Inches and inches of rain have prevented dry hay farmers from getting that necessary 3 day minimum window to put up their crop.

It’s been a test like no other.

A month ago there appeared to finally be a break in sight- a whole week predicted without any rain! We knew the field would need a few of those days to dry up, so at the end of that dry week, they headed out only to find standing water, the discbine thrown sideways and mud up to the axels.
Ruts.
Fields that will now need replanted.
The week ended without harvest.
More rain.
And the cycle continued.
Yet, mercifully, there’s been a few small windows since. A few precious bales put in the barn.
It’s a fateful thing when your livelihood depends on the weather of those 3-4 months given for the summer hay season.
Testing.
Constant prayer.
Faith building.
Remembering of His promises that He works all things together for good.
That His purposes are for our good and His glory.
Remember.
Remember.
So, when the sun shines, we run.
And go as long into the night as we are able.
Wagon after wagon, rushing inside to protect from the weather.
Making the most out of every precious hour of dry sky.

5:06 Monday morning.
It’s raining.
Pray.

03/28/2024

The only thing a kid needs to hear when they leave the showring.

03/28/2024

I love
Watching
You show.

03/26/2024

Maybe a mini cow?…. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/fDnhBQHs7GqEg4cB/?mibextid=QwDbR1

- 💕 Our break between AI and pasture breeding was short and sweet, even though we waited 2 weeks to turn our bulls in after we AI’d. RCM Blondie gave us a little panda faced heifer calf on March 23rd. Is she 9 days past AI or 9 days pre clean up? Sired by RCM Black Chewbucca, we are finding out that Chewbucca is a short gestation bull from other calving stats. This little heifer calf is precious 💕 She is a smaller framed heifer calf, non chondro and horned and she has perfect little panda eye markings. I’m drawn to her white face from our years of raising commercial cattle and having white faced baldys which where always my favorite in the herd. Baby girl is a cutie patootie all the way 💕 -
https://rcmminiaturecattlecompany.com/rcm-2024-available-calves

03/16/2024

A family of ranchers in North Dakota were shocked to find that one of their cows gave birth to healthy triplets.

02/25/2024

Interesting post about hardware

The old cow was 4 days post-calving with a low grade fever, off feed, and reluctant to move. On physical exam, she also had distended jugular veins with pulses, indicating heart failure, and a "washing machine" murmur- caused by fluid around the heart and sounding like your washing machine at work. This was a classic case of hardware disease

Hardware disease, technically known as traumatic reticuloperitonitis, occurs when a cow eats a sharp piece of metal or other object, which travels to the stomach compartment known as the reticulum, and then perforates the wall and stabs into the heart (or it can pierce the lungs, liver, or other organs).

For less severe cases of hardware, we can try to treat them but it is often not successful. For cows already in heart failure from it, the prognosis is hopeless.

This cow was euthanized and an inquisitive producer opened her up to see what that might look like. Note the magnet recovered from the reticulum with a bent nail and various scraps of metal attached to it. The magnet did its job but it didn't catch the small, pointy piece of metal on my hand. And that piece of metal, the size of a paper clip, brought down a 1500 lb cow.

ADD-ON: Since I posted this, I've been told multiple times that it is sad. It is sad. It is absolutely devastating to see this happen. So the obvious question is what else can be done to prevent it.

The source of the hardware can be from building or demolition projects, but often, it is from people's garbage. Roadside garbage like glass bottles and aluminum cans find their way into a cornfield or hayfield and get shredded by the harvesting equipment. I've even heard of an archery hunter's broadhead being lost in a cornfield and later removed from a cow that died this way. And besides the magnets in the cows stomachs, many farms have magnets on their feed mixing equipment to catch any metal. But the sharp objects are not always magnetic. Cows are particularly susceptible because unlike other livestock that use their lips and teeth to eat, cattle use their tongues and they are far less particular about what they grasp and swallow.

So the biggest thing you can do to help these cows out is to get rid of your garbage properly. Farmers don't throw their garbage in your front yard. Don't throw your garbage where they and their cows live, work, and eat.