Next Level Diversification | September 2025

By Cheryl Kepes

Photos courtesy Linn Haven Farms

Linn Haven Farms spreads its assets throughout its broad-based agriculture operation.

Linn Haven Farms has so many proverbial irons in the fire that one might find it difficult to see the flames. Yet, for as long as John Prasil can remember the operation has leveraged the benefits of diversifying its business ventures based in Lisbon, Iowa. John and his business partners’ love for agriculture and knack for multitasking has created a formula for success.

Linn Haven’s team keeps constantly busy with two multifaceted businesses - Linn Haven Farms, an agriculture enterprise, and Linn Haven Land Improvement, an excavation and site preparation company.

The companies are owned and managed by John and his wife, Julie; their middle son, Carter, and his wife, Jess; along with John’s childhood friend, Adam Morgan, and Adam’s wife, Cari. The trio work together to keep all aspects of the operation running smoothly.

Linn Haven Farms operates a commercial and purebred Angus herd, row crops beans and corn, raises and markets locker beef, as well as custom bales and sells hay. Linn Haven Land Improvement takes on construction dirt work projects such as digging basements, clearing fence rows, building pads, and farm excavating jobs.

John’s greatest passion is running the cattle operation. Adam takes the lead with the construction projects and Carter’s primary focus is on managing Linn Haven Farms’ row crop operation.

Within each aspect of the business operations, there is diversification. “We do a little bit of everything,” John Prasil said. “We are very diversified as far as what we do,” he added.

Cattle Operation

Though each aspect of Linn Haven Farms and Linn Haven Land Improvement profits from unique approaches, the cattle operation reflects the greatest diversification. Linn Haven Farms runs 200 Angus cows on 200 acres in eastern Iowa. The cow herd is split fairly even between commercial and purebred cattle.

John’s long appreciated the growth, maternal nature, and carcass quality of the Angus breed. John’s father and grandfather introduced the family to Angus cattle in 1952. The genetics of Linn Haven Farms’ cattle are heavily influenced by Schaff Angus Valley, Herbster Angus Farms, and Voss Angus.

While Linn Haven Farms continues to seek new genetics to add to the cow herd, the operation has relied heavily on its own cattle ranks to assist in expansion. “For the most part we are raising our own replacement females and retaining as many as we can to grow our operation,” John shared.

Their plan is to increase their cattle numbers with the goal of developing additional marketing opportunities. “We are getting to the point where we are able to offer replacement females to other cattle producers, both purebred and commercial cattle every year,” John stated. “We already offer bulls private treaty and through the Iowa Angus Bull Test Sale annually,” he added.

Additionally, Linn Haven Farms markets steer calves through the local sale barn as feeder calves. In another segment of the cattle business, Linn Haven Farms sells beef direct to customers. “We do have a very good clientele base of people who buy fat cattle from us. We will feed out 30 to 40 head and market them through the locker as quarters, halves, or wholes,” John explained.

Linn Haven Farms utilizes calves from the herd for the direct beef sales. “If we have some tailender steer calves that don’t really fit the group or heifers that don’t turnout or develop the way we want – we have the option to put them in the feedlot, feed them out, and market that beef and gain a premium back out of those calves,” John said.

Bull Power

Linn Haven Farms utilizes artificial insemination (AI) when breeding its heifers, but only about 10 percent of cows in the herd are bred via AI. John and his partners put in 20 to 30 embryos each year to keep the herd genetics fresh.

Most of the cow herd, both commercial and purebred, are bred through natural service. Linn Haven Farms invests in industry leading bulls. “Honestly with the bull power we have been buying, we are trying to get as many calves as we can out of the bulls we have purchased so we are using a lot of natural service,” John commented. “If you are going to go spend good money and buy good bulls, then you might as well get as many calves out of them as you can.”

One of John’s favorite bulls Linn Haven Farms purchased is Herbster Southern Breeze 1245, who is a full brother to BUBS Southern Charm AA31. Both bulls have made an impact in the Angus industry in and out of the show ring.

Crops and Hay

John, Carter, and Adam plant and harvest 1,000 acres of beans and corn each year. The row crop operation gives them yet another avenue of diversification. They bale 300 acres of their own hay fields and custom bale another 300 acres. Part of the hay operation includes producing square bales to sell to their customers with horses.

A couple of years ago, John and his team implemented a new strategy to mitigate some of the challenges associated with baling hay during extended stretches of wet Iowa weather. The team now wet bales some of the hay fields.

“That’s been a game changer as far as for us in the hay operation. We utilize all the wet hay that we make, very rarely do we sell the wet hay,” John said. The practice of wet baling allows them to keep up with hay production during the times the weather fails to deliver three to four dry days in a row.

Cherished Connections

John’s spent decades building relationships with people in the agriculture industry. He started selling feed right out of college. Through the years, John has ventured into seed, fertilizer, and Conklin products sales. The years of networking has created a vast conglomerate of connections and friendships that serve as a cornerstone to the operation and his personal life.

He currently serves as the Iowa Angus Association President and on the Lisbon school board. In his role as president of the Iowa Angus Association, John travels across the state to as many sales and events as he can to support cattle producers.

While balancing such a diversified operation has its challenges, John and his partners take it all in stride by following their passion for agriculture and devotion to fellow farmers.

Sale Offerings:

Iowa Beef Expo Angus Sale: Monday, February 16, 2026

Iowa Angus Bull Test and Female Sale: March 2026