How Being Fired for Speaking Up Gave a Young Rancher Her Voice
Mackenzie Johnston interviewing bronc riders at the Mile City Bucking Horse Sale for the RFD-TV show Special Cowboy Moments.
By Mackenzie Johnston
From a young age, I knew I would be involved in the cattle industry in some way, shape or form. I was blessed to be born into a long line of ranchers, and I am proud to say that I am a fifth generation rancher. Everyday I have the opportunity to work alongside my father who has lived and breathed cattle since the day he was born.
The love I have for the industry and those within it can only be described as that one true love that we all hope to find in life and because of this, despite the efforts of many to silence me, I have made my voice heard within the industry.
Mackenzie’s father Jim Johnston, Johnston Ranch, Milburn NE
After working at Nebraska Cattlemen for six years, I was fired in March of 2020 for an editorial I had written regarding the negative impacts of Brazilian beef imports. There is no doubt in my mind that Nebraska Cattlemen thought I would walk away quietly, but in the following weeks I did my best to inform the industry where the state cattle organization stood, along with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Watching these cattle organizations put their grassroots members on the back burner, the cattle producers across this nation that produce the best cattle in the world, was disheartening then, and still is today.
Not long after being fired, I was blessed with a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for Tri-State Livestock News promoting their fair cattle markets initiative through daily cattle industry updates and interviews with a wide range of individuals in the industry. I had the honor of interviewing industry leaders such as Senator Chuck Grassley, Brad Kooima, Steve Stratford, Corbitt Wall and many others. These interviews brought awareness to meatpacker concentration and manipulation, the threat of vertical integration in the cattle industry, the fact that our beef checkoff dollars aren’t being spent in a way that is benefitting cattle producers and numerous other staggering topics that made a person realize our industry and livelihoods are slowly slipping away.
After working for Tri-State Livestock News for a year, I was approached by Special Cowboy Moments on RFD-TV to help tell the story of the cattle industry through the prime time television series Wild Rides-Cattle Industry Today aired on RFD-TV and the Cowboy Channel. I now have the privilege of interviewing cattle producers all across the nation telling their stories, their struggles, their passion for the industry and their thoughts on where the industry is headed. Additionally, I have been able to continue my daily cattle industry updates through Facebook thanks to my many followers and my sponsors that continue to support me.
Being fired from a nationally renowned state cattle organization who is highly influenced by NCBA, opened the door for me to speak up for independent cattle producers. I knew the backlash from speaking out would be tremendous, but at the end of the day I had nothing to lose, and I think the same can be said for all producers in the industry today. More than ever our stories need to be told; we need to make it clear the struggles we are facing, the losses we have incurred and the uncertain future that looms ahead because of what our industry has become.
The manipulation and corruption that we have seen within the cattle industry over the past eighteen months, and continue to see today is unfathomable. If our industry continues down this path, the independent producer will be no more in a matter of years.
Editors note: If you are tired of the NCBA controlling the narrative and controlling beef checkoff dollars, please sign the petition for a checkoff referendum at checkoffvote.com.
Also read: Fired for Standing Up for the American Rancher
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Editors note: If you are tired of the NCBA controlling the narrative and controlling beef checkoff dollars, please sign the petition for a checkoff referendum at checkoffvote.com