Located down a winding dirt road just a few miles east of a local highway, visitors are welcomed to Ran-Mar Farms by an American flag waving behind a gate bearing the farm’s name.
Seminole County Farm Bureau members Angie Johnson and her husband, Darran, are co-owners of Ran-Mar Farms alongside their daughter Dusti and farm manager Ashton Dennie. Ran-Mar Farms is a contracted commercial farrowing hog operation located near Okemah. As pig farmers, the family cares for breeding females and raises litters of pigs that they wean before the animals are sent to another farm where they grow.
The Johnson family’s agriculture roots run deep in the area. In fact, the farm
is named after two family patriarchs who Angie said set the mould for future generations as hard-working men. Ran-Mar is a combination of names from Ashton’s father, Randy, and Darran’s father, Marland.
Darran was raised around cattle, and Angie spent her formative years as an FFA member. The couple started their own cattle and custom haying business in 1995 as Diamond J Cattle and Custom Hay.
Besides their agricultural enterprises, Darran and Angie have each had full-time careers off the farm. Angie currently serves fellow rural residents in the local community of Wewoka as the President of the First United Bank, and Darran had a long-term career with OG&E, a position from which he retired a handful of years ago.
Although Angie and her husband, Darran, had been involved in agriculture with cattle and custom hay baling throughout their marriage, pig farming was a new venture the couple embarked upon to provide an opportunity to allow family members to return to agriculture near Okemah.
Angie credits the idea of starting their own pig farm to her husband, Darran. The venture tapped into his entrepreneurial mindset while providing an opportunity for their daughter Dusti, and then son-in-law, Ashton, and grandkids to move closer to home.
“We partnered with my daughter and Ashton in order to move them back home so my husband and I could be around to watch the grandkids grow up,” Angie said.
In 2010 Ran-Mar Farms was established by the Johnsons with help from Dusti and Ashton. The farm was purchased in 2010, which at the time included 240 acres and six barns with a capacity to house 1,200 sows.
After their first five years of raising pigs, the Johnsons added a new barn, which allowed them to raise 2,400 pigs on the farm.
The Johnson family prides themselves as being a family-oriented operation. When their daughter moved back with her family, they lived on the farm. Darran began working on the weekends and during holidays in addition to working a full-time job, and since retiring, he has continued to work alongside family members in the pig barns. Angie keeps the financial records for Ran-Mar Farms, and Ashton continues to work as farm manager, overseeing the daily care of 2,400 sows and supervising seven employees.
Angie said not just anybody can purchase a pig farm and get their start in commercial pork production. All four family members were required to complete an interview process with their contractor in order to be allowed to sign their own contract to raise pigs for the company. The purchase of the land with the facilities came shortly after the interview process.
“The contractor owns the pigs,” Angie said. “Our job is to provide the facilities, labor and care for the animals.”
With the Johnson family providing the facilities, labor and care, the contractor provides the animals, the feed, supplies for medical care, veterinarians needed to keep the herd healthy and thriving, and a certain level of expertise to raise the pigs.
The contractor also has managers who conduct regular inspections to ensure the pigs are being raised properly with the highest standards of care.
“Animal welfare is our top priority,” Angie said. “These animals are cared for with kindness, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for animal abuse.”
Animal care is a crucial part of pig farming and a central focus for the Johnson family. As contract growers, Ran-Mar Farms sets and maintains their own high standards for animal care in addition to the standards set by their contractor. Each employee is required to get their Pork Quality Assurance certification, which is an industry program that helps pig farmers and their employees constantly improve production practices.
As the manager at the pig farm, Ashton’s main priority is animal care. In fact, when Ashton talks about the sows that are in the family’s care, he refers to them as “his girls.”
“Every one of these girls is worth money,” Ashton said. “We can’t go out to the farm and put unnecessary stress on any animal because that could cause them to lose their litter or get someone hurt.”
To keep “his girls” healthy and safe, the pigs are kept inside purpose-built barns that shelter them from the elements, predators and insects. The barns are temperature controlled to keep the animals comfortable no matter the weather outside. In the summer, cooling cells and misters installed above each pen cool the animals while the barns are kept warm in the winter by the body heat produced from the pigs.
Angie said that when the weather is nice outside, curtains installed on the side of the barns are rolled up to allow fresh air and sunshine in for the pigs.
The health of the pigs is also a crucial focus for Ran-Mar Farms. Biosecurity is a step all pig farms have to take when it comes to animal health. Not just anyone can go up the driveway to see the pigs. Vehicles have to be cleaned, including semi trucks used for hauling pigs and feed, and visitors who wish to enter the barns cannot be around pigs for at least three days prior to entering the farm and must shower in and out to prevent the spread of any disease.
Keeping track of 2,400 sows may seem like a daunting task, but the family gets some assistance from modern technology. Each pig on the farm has an electronic RFID tag that is specific to that animal. When a pig eats from an automated feeder, that animal’s RFID tag is read, and the feeder then provides the animal with a specific amount of feed. This electronic logging allows Ashton to track individual animal health and trends to provide an even more individualized level of care. The pigs also have unlimited access to clean fresh water by the on-demand water spouts installed in each pen.
The heart of Ran-Mar Farms is the farrowing area where each pregnant female pigs have litters averaging 13 piglets each. The sows have individualized pens where the piglets are born and cared for, helping keep the piglets safe. Without the stalls, baby pigs could be easily crushed or injured, but by using the protective pens, heat lamps and individualized feed and watering systems for the mothers in each pen, Ashton and his team are able to monitor and care for each newborn.
Once the piglets have been weaned from their mothers at three weeks old, they are transported to a nursery until six to eight weeks of age, and from there are transported to a finishing barn to facilitate their continued growth.
While raising pigs is a whole-family operation, Angie takes time away from the farm and her day job to help advocate for fellow pig farmers through involvement with the Oklahoma Pork Council. She has served on the Oklahoma Pork Council board of directors for the past eight years. During her tenure on the board, Angie has served as a director, treasurer and even president of the council.
She said being on the Oklahoma Pork Council board has been an eye-opening experience for her, whether it is learning about foreign animal disease preparedness, educating the public about pork products or the advocacy work the Oklahoma Pork Council staff takes on with the state legislature.
“My tenure serving on the board is coming to an end in August,” Angie said. “I have enjoyed my time on the board working with the Pork Council team and seeing the incredible things they have done for our industry.”
Whether she is on the farm, at the bank or in a Pork Council meeting somewhere across the state, Angie said that the agriculture way of life is important to her and her family.
“Agriculture is not for the faint of heart,” Angie said.” It is all day and every day if that is in your core — it becomes a passion for you. You either have a love for agriculture and the work that goes with it, or you don’t.”
