Friday, March 11, 2022
CapitalPress.com
9
Clint Johnson: Brings out the best in cattle dogs
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
SEE YOU AT THE SHOW
Growing up on a six-generation
cattle ranch, Clint Johnson always
had dogs around, but it wasn’t until
later that he became aware of what
ranch dogs can do.
“My mother-in-law Jeanne
Warnock had some real cow dogs,
border collies that I got to see work
and I was very impressed and
intrigued and really wanted to get
a lot more serious about it,” John-
son said.
“For a long time, many ranch-
ers were pretty anti-dog,” he said.
“They’d had hired hands or neigh-
bors that had dogs that weren’t very
well trained and could be tough on
livestock and weren’t much help.”
Over time, that attitude has
changed, he said.
“Working dogs are becom-
Clint Johnson will demonstrate
cattle dogs at 11 a.m. Saturday
and 10 a.m. Sunday at the Cen-
tral Oregon Ag Show.
Clint Johnson plans his next move at the family-run Warnock
Ranches. Johnson will be offering cattle dog demonstrations Satur-
day and Sunday at the Central Oregon Ag Show.
ing more prevalent in the West
as ranchers are seeing what they
can do,” Johnson said. “They’re
slowly changing their minds about
having them and becoming more
willing to shell out a lot of money
for them.”
By putting on working dog
demonstrations at the Central Ore-
gon Agricultural Show, Johnson
hopes to convince more people of
their value.
“I’ll set up a little field out there
with some obstacles that I’ll put the
cattle through and explain how this
is useful in an everyday ranching
situation,” he said. “You don’t need
as much labor which, in today’s
Midstate Power Products:
Kubota tractors and more
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Monica and Frank Platt,
co-owners of Midstate
Power Products, are no
strangers to taking the show
on the road.
The Kubota dealership
was one of the first to sign
up to sponsor the first-ever
Central Oregon Agricul-
tural Show March 26-27.
For 10 years, they have
sponsored and exhibited at
fairs, trade shows and other
ag-related events from
about February through fair
season in August, setting up
booths and displays of the
latest Kubota machines.
“During COVID, nothing
was happening; it was very
weird,” Monica Platt said.
“Everybody said to take
advantage of the downtime
because when the shows are
on, we’re moving around a
lot and there’s always some-
thing in the works while
we’re also trying to keep the
stores staffed.”
The Platts purchased his
brother Gilbert’s 30-year
Kubota dealership in 2011
and set about making it
their own.
“We started out small,
with three or four peo-
ple in the whole operation,
and just kept expanding
from there,” Platt said. “We
started taking on larger trac-
tor lines with larger equip-
ment that couldn’t fit in the
shop doors and knew we
had to move.”
The Platts found a three-
acre property on Highway
97 that included a large,
vacant building — a for-
mer KidZone indoor play
facility.
“It was dilapidated,
and we were able to pur-
chase the land,” Platt said.
“Then we found a contrac-
tor to basically recycle the
majority of the cinder block
building.”
The new building was fin-
ished in 2014, complete with
taller roll-up shop doors.
“It had such a dynamic
effect on the business,” Platt
said. “Productivity went up
and sales increased by 30%
just from changing to a loca-
tion with better visibility
and access; it was absolutely
amazing what a difference it
made.
“We were able to bring
in more product offerings,
which also helped,” she said.
The following year they
opened Pelican Tractor
Company in Klamath Falls,
followed in 2018 by Mal-
heur Machinery in Hines.
“Kubota has evolved over
the years with their tractor
horsepower offerings and
are not just small hobby trac-
tors anymore,” Platt said.
“They’ve gotten up into the
higher
horsepower-range
tractors, which is what you
need to work with some of
those larger ag implements.
market, is extremely hard to find.
“They’re just amazing animals;
one well-trained dog can replace
four guys on horseback — and the
dog never shows up hungover or
drunk,” Johnson said. “They show
up to work every day, eager to work
and are happy to be yelled at.”
Warnock Ranches is operated
by Johnson and his wife, Cassi; her
parents, Randy and Jeanne War-
nock; and siblings Jerod Warnock
and Abby Warnock.
Between their locations in East-
ern and Central Oregon they run
pairs and retain yearlings to place in
a feedlot to be sold through a nat-
ural beef co-op, Country Natural
Beef, that the family helped found.
Dogs are an integral part of their
daily operations, with about eight
finished dogs helping run some
1,600 head of mother cows and
1,400 yearlings over large expanses
of range, meadow and forest.
Seven dogs are in various stages of
training.
Johnson works exclusively with
border collies.
“There are lots of breeds that
will do a decent job, but if you
Google ‘smartest dog in the world’
the border collie comes up,” John-
son said. “Besides being extremely
intelligent, they’re extremely eager
to please, whereas Jack Russells,
for example, are very smart dogs
but they’re also eager to get away
with doing things you don’t want
them to.”
High Desert Stampede: Attracting
rodeo’s finest to Central Oregon
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Unlike most rodeos, the High Desert
Stampede has been operating as a start-up
since its inception in 2015.
“Typical rodeos, especially PRCA
rodeos, have long traditions going back
75 or 100 years, so to be young is very
unusual,” High Desert Stampede Board
Member Chad Morris said. “Our board of
directors is composed of business owners,
not necessarily rodeo athletes or those who
came up in rodeo, and so we operate a lit-
tle differently.”
For one thing, the Stampede takes its
lead from the National Finals Rodeo by
keeping side shows and specialty acts to a
minimum.
“We focus on the athletes and the animal
athletes that we’re bringing to town,” Mor-
ris said. “We feature them and get them into
the arena one after the other as quickly as
we can so that we’re entertaining and pre-
senting the rodeo product more than trying
to fill time.”
Always at the end of March, this year’s
High Desert Stampede is March 23-26 at
the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center’s
First Interstate Bank Center in Redmond.
Though they’ve been able to draw world
champions with less money, the board is
taking a bit of a gamble this year by add-
ing $10,000 in prize money to each event.
Combined with entry fees, the anticipated
total payout will exceed $150,000.
“Last year we opened on Wednesday
night with the Wrights out of Utah, who
are in the national news regularly, and they
went on to win a couple of national titles, so
we have top-caliber athletes and top-caliber
stock,” Morris said. “Our livestock budget
alone is more than $90,000 so we’re doing
everything we can to bring fans the best of
the best on both sides.”
Central Oregon has a longstanding bare-
back tradition with local talent including
Bobby Mote and Steven Peebles. Austin
Foss is considered the latest in that lineage.
“We know Austin Foss is planning
to attend the High Desert Stampede and
expect to see other NFR qualifier names
when entries open,” Morris said. “Our goal
is to continue delivering a fast-paced, enter-
taining, family-friendly rodeo, with the best
athletes and livestock we can bring to Cen-
tral Oregon each year.”
The Central Oregon Agricultural Show
at Deschutes County Fair & Expo March
26-27 will overlap with the Stampede on
Saturday, so folks will be able to visit the
Ag Show on their way to the rodeo.