Early years

Jiggs worked his way into the cattle business naturally, although his start was inauspicious. Born in El Paso, Texas, Jiggs was nine when his family moved to an Imperial Valley cattle ranch where his Dad worked as a hired hand. The Johnson family’s start in California was challenging, to say the least. Their ranch house, for example, had no water or electricity. Jiggs recalls, “We had to shovel Milo maize off the floor because the house had been used on the ranch for storage. It was a tough, tough start.”

But Jiggs loved being around horses and cattle, and when the ranch owners’ built a feed yard, Jiggs made himself useful by performing a variety of tasks, including cleaning water troughs and, eventually, breaking horses.

Johnson’s unusual nickname came early in life — and it stuck. He picked it up as a young boy when he accompanied his sister to barn dances, “We’d get out on the floor and handle our feet pretty good. Folks said I could jig to just about any song. So they started calling me ‘Jiggs’ and they still do!”

Regarding his work ethic, which he also developed at an early age, Jiggs relates, “My dad used to say that if you enjoy what you’re doing you’ll never have to work another day in your life. And that’s true. I’ve always liked to work.”

Jiggs continued his feed-yard work until his early 20s when a neighboring yard manager noted Jiggs’s skills and enthusiasm and offered him a more demanding position.

“Suddenly,” says Jiggs, “I was managing a 5,000-head yard, in charge of buying feed, and buying and selling cattle. But it just came naturally to me.”

The cattle feeding industry, like most agricultural businesses, has had its ups and downs throughout his lifetime, but Jiggs weathered each cycle. Perhaps the key reason why he has remained successful and smiling is his natural honesty and integrity, as well as his good business sense.

Jiggs’s talents were such that he was lured from one feed yard to another. He made it a point to stay with each employer for several years, took care to learn more about the care and feeding of cattle and got better at it at every stop. Each move improved his financial situation, as well. “If they wanted me to stay, they would have to provide a better offer because I had a family to feed,” he said. “My wife and children were my first priority.”

Business partner

Ultimately, Jiggs arrived at El Toro Land & Cattle, in Heber, Calif., in the late 1950s. He managed the operation until Matt LaBrucherie and Bob O’Dell bought it in 1965. At that time, the feedlot was virtually empty with only about 3,000 head of cattle.

But those numbers changed rapidly. “Within three months [of their arrival],” Jiggs says, “it was full at 36,000 head. Our friends and fellow feed-yard owners brought their cattle to us, because everyone wanted to help get us running.”

Shortly after purchasing the business, Matt and Bob offered Jiggs a piece of the partnership. The fact that Jiggs had no investment capital to offer did not bother the original partners. They knew there was no one better than Jiggs at keeping the lot filled with cattle. Plus his experience and knowledge were precisely what the business needed to grow and thrive.

And grow it did ... today, Jiggs the former cowhand who grew up in a ranch house with no electricity and no running water, is part owner of not one but two thriving operations in the Imperial Valley (see box).

Setting an example

Jiggs attributes his success in agriculture to his natural sense of honesty, integrity and respect that he demonstrates among his colleagues. These characteristics lend themselves to a high level of teamwork at El Toro Land & Cattle. Jiggs not only displays these core beliefs and values in all that he says and does, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty either. “There is nothing more important for employees,” he says, “than observing the ‘manager’ doing exactly what he requests of his employees.”

For example, Jiggs routinely arrives at the feed yard a half hour before the help shows up and he leaves 30 minutes later than anyone else. He started the practice as an employee in other feed yards and continues it today. Jiggs says, “You have to be one of the employees.”

El Toro’s employees appreciate Jiggs’s presence and have implicit trust in his leadership and decision making for one simple reason: he has done their work.

Indeed, Jiggs is never one to hang around the office all day poring over spreadsheets. “Computers are wonderful,” he laughs,” but they can’t clean water troughs, doctor the cattle or run the mill. It takes more than numbers to do those things.”

Consequently, you are far more likely to find Jiggs out in the feedlot than behind a desk. “If you watch daily workings of your business,” he advises, “your employees will do a better job.”

Solving problems

Jiggs is always available to help any employee who has a problem, workrelated or personal. And talk about personal contact — he shakes hands with every El Toro employee every day! “They are used to it, and I love it,” he says. “I ask them about their families and if they need any kind of help. If someone has a problem, we figure out how we can give them a loan so they can pay the doctor bills, even though we offer a comprehensive health program.”

He adds, “It’s a nice way to run a business. Plus we have very low turnover.”

Employees also appreciate El Toro’s generous bonus program. He explains, “If we make a good amount of money, then at the end of the year, we divide 20 or 30 percent of it for employee bonuses. If we don’t give it to the employees, Uncle Sam will get it. Plus you have happier, more productive employees.”

Customers often have questions about feeding and animal care at El Toro, and Jiggs always responds honestly and directly. “Honesty is natural for me,” he says. “I have always told my employees to answer customer questions about how we feed and care for their cattle honestly.”

“Most customers don’t believe you,” he adds with a grin. “That’s just human nature.”

He continued, “Let me tell you a story. A customer once called me while he was on vacation and asked me what his cattle were worth. We talked it over, and he told me to sell them, which I did. When he returned he inquired about his cattle, and when I said I sold them, he yelled, ‘You shouldn’t have sold those cattle.’

No doubt about it, he was angry, so I said, ‘We’ve been friends for a long time. Let’s not feed anymore cattle together. Let’s be friends instead. If the business gets in the way of our friendship, let’s not do it.’”

At El Toro, the character and skill of individual managers like Jiggs, who practice what they preach, helps to build a successful business. That may be the reason why El Toro Land & Cattle has also never had a losing year.

“I haven’t lost money because I’ve never put myself in that position,” Jiggs says. “During my eight-mile drive home every night, I figure out how much I’ve made or lost for the day ... in my head. I always know the bottom line, because you need to know how your business is working.”

Regarding specific business practices, Jiggs believes that a key reason for El Toro’s long-term success is the fact that the business itself owns just 500 of the 24,000 head of cattle that typically occupy the facility.

Jiggs says, “There is nothing like a full restaurant, which guarantees that people want to show up. We don’t own more of our own cattle because the market is too volatile. Prices may be strong one day, but the market can change from five cents to five dollars a pound the following week. We don’t have to gamble on the profit and loss on the cattle, because our yard is always full of customer cattle.”

Community service, family ties

Another reason for El Toro’s success is the company’s relationships with its neighbors. El Toro spends about $35,000 annually providing pit barbecues for community schools, churches, little leagues and other nonprofit groups.

According to Jiggs, “We like to give to the community, but our barbecues are also our best insurance. They are good public relations with your neighbors.”

And finally, Jiggs credits his family for his success. “I have been very lucky,” he says. “I was married to my former wife, Mary, for 36 years before she passed away. Then I was lucky a second time to have met and married Deanna, who has always been very supportive and has helped raise a great family. Jiggs is referring to the five Johnson children, all of whom have worked for the business over the years. In fact, daughter, Jan, has been a bookkeeper with El Toro Land & Cattle for the past 35 years, and his son, Gordon, works for a sister company, El Toro Exports.

Of course, as is the case with tens of thousands of U.S. farmers and ranchers, Jiggs and El Toro have a long and mutually rewarding relationship with Farm Credit, in this case, Farm Credit Services Southwest.

Jiggs says, “Farm Credit has some of the best, most friendly people. My contacts, such as Bill Collins [Vice President and Branch Manager, El Centro, Calif. branch], are down-toearth, smart people who know what they are doing and explain complex issues in a way anyone can understand. In addition, their patronage program works a lot like our bonus program ... they give back to their customers, and, in turn, we give back to our employees.”

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