Twenty Two for 2022 Mackenzie Johnston
Freelance Reporter/Rancher Brewster, Nebraska facebook.com/mackenzie.johnston2 by ABP & Mackenzie Johnston *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! 1. Where do you live? On my family’s ranch near Brewster, NE. 2. Where are you from? I’m originally from Alliance, NE where my Dad started ranching with my grandad. 3. What do you do with your day? 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. 4. We watch your daily posts to keep current. You’re definitely attracting more viewers each week, how do you feel about that? Cattle News Central has gained more viewers than I ever expected in such a short amount of time. To 70
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. 5. What was your first job? 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. 6. How did you end up working for NCBA? 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. February 2022
