The Hempstead County Arkansas Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year 2025 is right now in between taking care of flocks of broiler chickens in their six houses.  The houses are empty now, but in a little over a week Johnny and Priscilla Johnson will welcome about 160,000 chicks into their six long houses, raise them to their adult sizes for six weeks and then let them go to be processed. After about a 12-day break, the family prepares again for the next flock.

The Johnsons also take care of about 40 cows, including several Brahmans, one of which their middle son Russ pampers so it can compete in county fairs and livestock shows.  Brahmans are large cows whose ears are much longer and larger than those of the more common Herefords, Anguses and Holsteins. They also have humps just behind their heads that store water and fat.

At their farm, just southwest of Hope, the Johnsons have been producing chickens, beef and hay for about 12 years.  Johnny’s father, Johnny Johnson Jr., mainly focused on his plumbing business but he also raised cattle.  Helping his father is how his son, Johnny the third, learned his first lessons in agriculture.  Seventeen-year-old Landon, Johnny the third’s son, is planning to carry farming forward by majoring in Agribusiness when he starts at Arkansas State up in Jonesboro this fall. He graduated from Garrett Memorial Christian School where he was on the trapshooting team

His two brothers, Russ (about to turn ten this month) and Jace, seven, don’t yet help in the chicken houses, but Russ does raise cows for show while Jace is raising a rabbit named Nibbles who he held when the family’s pictures were taken. Nibbles’ name came from what he did to fingers when he was first held.  Both brothers go to Garrett Memorial and enjoy hunting and fishing.  “If they’re not working on the farm, they’re killing some kind of animal,” their mother Priscilla said of her three boys.

Johnny and Priscilla were married about 12 years ago.  As Pricilla described it, the two get the opportunity to build the first four poultry houses, 500 feet long each, just before they were built in 2019.  Two more that were 575 feet were added in 2024.  Johnny said farming appeals to him because, “I was a never an eight-to-five kind of person.” 

Priscilla said she grew up on a farm that also had a combination of poultry houses and cows, but her contribution to it was limited.  “My parents had a farm, but I never had hands-on.  My dad did all the [work], then once Johnny and I got married, he let me do everything. I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse,” she said with a laugh.

The Johnsons took me on a tour of their place.  First, I got to meet a Brahman bull who had found good shade from the near 90-degree heat of the Friday afternoon.  Priscilla and Jase went out to meet him as if visiting with a near-neighbor. We then drove again a short distance and met two Brahmans being raised in a separate enclosure a bit to the west who were both so tame they let themselves be petted, much like the Johnson’s Black German Shepherd Poca, short for Pocahontas, does.  Johnny said the Brahmans are “Too smart for their own good.  They don’t miss anything.”  The fact that the two Brahmans, one a snowy white and the other a deep autumnal brown, met us at the fence line as we emerged from the Johnson’s SUV was ample demonstration of Johnny’s remark.

Brahmans are not always so tame, but these were raised by the Johnsons from when they were young calves.  The Brahman is the breed of cattle honored in India. They’re noted for their hardiness against insects, parasites and disease as well as for their hanging ears and their oily skin which helps repeal pests. The ones on the Johnson place put you in mind of Walt Whitman’s line that he could easily “turn and live with animals.” They had soft brown eyes and liked having their heads stroked.

We also toured the poultry houses, now empty but eventually to host a new flock in a little under two weeks.  They feature numerous fans on one end and fully automated temperature control that use evaporation to cool the birds down. During the warmer months, the chickens need to be “walked,” that is caused by humans to get up and move around a bit so they can displace their heat.  

The Johnsons’ houses also use a cooling cell system that can reduce temperatures and humidity and also enhance air quality for the birds inside during hot days. According to a Youtube video produced by Mississippi State University’s Poultry Science program, the system uses a combination of water, tunnel fans and filtering.  Since chickens, unlike Brahman cattle, cannot sweat, it’s important to reduce heat and humidity to help them breathe and resist heat-related mortality.

The other crop the Johnson’s harvest is hay.  With tractors and bailers that wind the cut, dried hay into large bails, Johnny, Landon and Johnny Jr. have seen a good year for the essential crop for animal feeding this year.  Pricilla said chicken litter from the houses is used to help these grasses thrive. An orange mama cat is raising her little ones in the equipment shed.

When they come home, the Johnsons have a most inviting place to rest and relax.  Their home dates back to the 1980s when a local dentist had it built.  It has been renovated since. The most unique feature is that it was built around a swimming pool that can be seen through panel windows as you enter the front door.  The Johnsons have decorated the interior with taxidermy that includes deer, boars, duck, geese and even one large raccoon.  The wall hangings also include family portraits and paintings.

The Johnsons are complimentary of their relationship with Farm Bureau, having relied on their agent Darrell Davis, who Johnny describes as just a phone call away and who Priscilla said they met in church.  Johnny is on the Farm Bureau Board of Directors while Pricilla is a member of the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee here in Hempstead County.  She said her group often helps educate children.  “We go to schools and let kids know where food comes from,” she said.  

Farm Bureau names farm families of the year for every county in which there are nominations and applicants.  The families then compete to be one of eight families chosen as District Farm Family of the Year. From these, the Arkansas Farm Family of the Year will be announced this coming December 12th.  

This year’s Southwestern District Farm Family of the Year was the Lockeby Family of Little River County, which raises poultry, hay and pecans on their 600 acres.  State winners compete for the Southeast Farmer of the Year at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia. Criteria for judging includes “farm production, efficiency, management, family life and rural/community leadership.”

Last two photos below are by Mandy Marcum.