Infrastructure and Capacity

The Johnson Farm is located in the south half of 31-10-18 W along Lori Road, one mile east of Brandon. It shares its western border with the First Street pasture and is one half mile south of Highway #1.

The Johnson Farm (formerly the AAFC’s Beef Research Farm) has an extensive paddock system designed to provide the ideal setup for performing complex, large-scale grazing research studies. The 320 acres of pasture are divided into an east and west half: the west half of the farm has 10 pastures between 10-15 acres each while the east half of the farm has 34 paddocks that are between 3-5 acres each. All are intended for replicated research projects. An extensive summer and winter watering system provide dozens of watering points that allow all paddocks to be subdivided for a variety of project designs. Additionally, Johnson Farm includes 91 acres of land used to produce hay for winter feed.

The amenities at this site include a lean-to style cattle shelter (30’ x 70’), a cattle handling facility (42’ x 60’) with a heated laboratory, a heated shop with Wi-Fi (23’ x 33’), a washroom, and a canvas quonset storage shed (30’ x 100’). The cattle handling facility has a portable chute/scale/tub system, portable steel panels with multiple pens for sorting, portable wind breaks, as well as feed and forage handling equipment.

Johnson Farm also has a mobile laboratory trailer (9’ x 25’) that includes equipment for sample processing and storage, sleeping quarters for up to 3 people, and a 3-piece bathroom. The trailer is available to rent by all academics for onsite and offsite use.

At MBFI we encourage and support project collaboration with academic researchers. As such, we are willing to work hard to accommodate a number of different research projects on the Johnson Farm.