It's a Wonderful Life
According to the Farmers Almanac, it’s going to be a cold, wet winter. For most of us, that means pulling out the cold-weather parka, winterizing the car and maybe a day or two out of school. It means getting to work a little later than usual because of the roads and bringing leftover soup for lunch. For farmers and ranchers, a cold, wet winter means something else entirely, because there is no sleeping in, no day off, no staying inside to keep warm. It means waking in the middle of a cold winter’s night to check on your newborn calves or chopping up tanks of ice so the animals have water to drink. While most of us will sleep in and lay around in our pajamas on Christmas morning, Clint and Mindy Johnson will be awake with the sun tending to the animals on their ranch. And they don’t want it any other way.
A Ranching Family's Own Brand of Happiness
When you think about spending a winter holiday on a ranch, you might picture a cozy cabin decorated with garland and lights nestled on a widespread plot of land with the occasional horse in the background. You might drink your hot apple cider on the porch, or perhaps you take it next to the stone fireplace and fully decorated Christmas tree. The days are busy and boisterous and filled with stories and laughter, as the revolving door of family and friends keep the ranch in swing.
For the Johnson family, those things very well may happen on their ranch, located downstream from the Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Canyon. However, before all of the holiday memories are made, Clint and Mindy, along with their children, Ben and Janie, and ranch hand, Danny Stocker, make sure their working ranch is tended to.
“We bought this place in 1996 as an already functioning ranch,” says Mindy. “We combined two little houses by building a roof over them, which created a second floor. It was set up like a lodge originally, so we converted it. It was a year and a half project.”
They bought the ranch from Arley Barnett, the first Coors Distributor in Amarillo, who built the place in 1939 to be more of a hunting and party getaway. When the Johnsons bought it, they immediately got to work on making it their new family home and livelihood.
For Clint, the ranching life is what he’s always known. Born and raised in Spearfish, South Dakota, Clint was the youngest of eight children and has early memories of bottle-feeding bum lambs and driving his father’s pick-up truck around their ranch – when he could barely reach the pedals – at feeding time. He grew up a 4H kid, showing horses and sheep, doing chores before and after school, and stacking square bales of hay all summer for winter storage. In addition to the ranch where the Johnson family lived, they also owned a 20,000-acre sheep and cattle ranch 50 miles north of Spearfish. Today, two of Clint’s brothers own and maintain that South Dakota land.
At 10 years old, Clint got his feet wet in rodeo, riding calves at 4H competitions, and going on to compete in high school. He went South Dakota State University on a rodeo scholarship but left in 1977, after three years, to try his hand at the professional level. Clint started with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association at 20 years old, making it to the finals in 1978 and 1979. He went on to win the finals four times – in 1980, 1987, 1988, and 1989.
Clint and Mindy met in 1985, between his Championship wins, at the Horseshoe Casino her grandfather owned in Las Vegas. Mindy was no stranger to ranching either, as she was also born in South Dakota and spent her early years in Jordan, Montana. When she reached school age, her father found a job in Amarillo and her family moved to the Panhandle. Mindy attended West Texas A&M University for a few years before transferring to the University of Texas in Austin, where she studied business. It was while she was still attending UT-Austin that she met Clint.
“The National Finals had just moved to Las Vegas. They had been in Oklahoma City for years. My parents were big rodeo fans since my dad used to ride saddle broncs,” she says. “A friend of Clint’s was from Montana and his family knew my family and he kept saying that Clint and I had to meet. But Clint lived in South Dakota and I lived in Texas, so I just knew it wasn’t going to work.”
Little did she know that it would, in fact, work out quite nicely. The two married in January 1988 and spent a February honeymoon in Calgary, Canada, where Clint participated in a cultural event during the Olympics. He won a gold medal in saddle bronc.
Clint retired from the PRCA in 1991 shortly after Ben was born. He was ready to hang up his hat and focus on the second phase of their life. He’d had a successful run in rodeo, able to walk away uninjured, and the focus now was to build a ranch near Amarillo. In 1994, they welcomed their daughter, Janie.
“We kept an eye open for a ranch and over a couple of years looked at buying a few places. We looked in Canadian a lot but nothing came up that we could buy,” says Clint. “We had a small camp of land in Channing with some cattle on it, but we wanted something more.” When the Barnett place came up for sale, the Johnsons jumped and purchased it in August 1996.
Renovations to the ranch began immediately when they converted the house and built pens at the barn. It had been dry all summer but right after buying the ranch, the Panhandle got a burst of rain. The six inches of water quenched the dry earth and brought a beautiful fall. Clint purchased 120 registered Angus heifers from Kansas and thus began their new phase of life raising replacement heifers and registered bulls and breeding their better mares for cutting competitions.
By 1998 the Johnsons moved into the house, and in a way, Clint and Mindy created a lifestyle similar to Clint’s upbringing. The family worked the ranch together, calving, breeding and branding.
“It’s definitely taught me how to work. I enjoy it now, working with my hands. I mean, I do a lot of book work but it’s good to clean stalls too,” says Ben. “It’s like when a parent gives their kid a dog to teach him responsibility. Well, here it’s like having 25 really big dogs.”
Ben graduated from high school a year early and is currently a sophomore at WTAMU, while Janie is a sophomore at Canyon High School. Both grew up showing cutting horses, doing high school rodeo and helping to run the Johnson ranch.
“My friends have never had to do anything like what I do but I really love living out here,” says Janie. “Every single day I have to ride my horse, but I love it. It’s me time.”
Right off the bat, you realize Ben and Janie are the kind of kids parents hope for, hard-working, respectful, and affectionate with one another. They truly enjoy their life and, while it isn’t clear whether either of them will end up ranching they way their parents have, Ben and Janie are content to work alongside them for now.
“They weren’t interested in it at all when they were little, but that’s changing,” says Mindy. “We’d always do big projects on the weekend so it was good family time. They really pride themselves on what they accomplish.”
“They’ve always helped,” adds Clint, his spurs clinking under the table. “They probably had a better deal than I did as a kid.”
A typical day on the ranch isn’t much different from when they first bought it 13 years ago. There were plenty of mornings when both Mindy and the kids would help Clint in the early morning hours before school, but those days are fewer now. They hired Danny two years ago, which enabled the Johnson’s to travel and participate in cutting competitions. They insist that they wouldn’t have near the freedom they do, however little, if it weren’t for him.
Danny went to Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari on a rodeo scholarship prior to working for the Johnsons. He holds a degree in Equine Science and is married with two daughters. He, too, dreams of having a ranch one day.
It is especially helpful to have an extra set of hands around come winter, when the unpredictable Panhandle weather can mean more work for ranchers. More than anything, water is the biggest threat during winter.
“It seems like more work in the winter because it’s ten times colder outside,” laughs Janie. “We have lots of family time at Christmas, though. Mom and Dad do more work than anybody.”
“If it gets really cold and tanks freeze up, then you’re chopping ice. Some tanks have heaters in them and a little wind helps to keep the water running,” says Clint. “But if not, then someone has to break ice. Too much wet makes for a muddy ranch. Plus, a calf can be born in the cold, but if there’s a cold rain, it can kill them.”
The business of calving usually takes place in January and February when it’s the coldest, and that means Clint is getting up every couple of hours throughout the night – regardless of weather – to check on his heifers. Calving can be an intense process, going on for weeks.
Then there’s stockpiling feed and keeping hay on hand. Bulls need hay all the time to stay on their gaining program (they need to be fat and ready to sell in spring), and if it snows enough to cover the grass, the horses will need hay as well.
“One Christmas we had 18 inches of snow and lost power for five days. If you don’t get the wind, it’s not too bad,” says Clint. “Actually, the north wind isn’t as bad, but if it’s an east wind, it’s usually bad news.”
It may sound a little superstitious, but there is something to keeping up with weather patterns. Specifically, there’s something about that Farmers Almanac, and if it’s forecasting a colder, wetter winter, the Johnson’s are paying attention.
“I’ve heard the Farmers Almanac is more reliable than the Weather Channel,” says Mindy, grabbing 2009’s edition from her kitchen counter. “It tells you all kinds of things, when it’s a good time to cut your hair or mow your grass, when it’s a good time to quit smoking or start a diet. It’s a little bizarre.”
“I even weaned my kids according to it,” she laughs.
While they don’t follow it to the extreme, they do consider the almanac’s suggestions when its time to castrate or wean. Decades of experience has proven it to be worthwhile.
The business of ranching is probably most lucrative when there isn’t an emotional connection between the ranchers and their animals but such isn’t the case with the Johnsons. Their business has done well in spite of having his and her favorites, and when it comes right down to it, their affection for their simple, organic lifestyle has translated to success on all levels.
“There are horses here that I’d never sell. If you really want to be successful, you probably shouldn’t be that way. And Clint has his favorite cow,” she says, looking adoringly at her husband. “She gets a little extra feed everyday.”
“She’s more than carried her weight,” he adds modestly. “All of her calves have been good. She’s been a good cow and has tried hard.”
The Johnsons feel a deep connection not just to the animals they raise but also to the land itself. They talk about the Golden Hour, when the winter sun begins to set and the sky is painted in brilliant shades of yellow and orange. When it rains enough to fill their backyard basin the temporary lake shows off a reflection of the Tierra Blanca canyon. This is the life they choose, and while some would see life on a working ranch to be grueling hard labor from sunrise to sunset, the Johnsons consider it a blessing.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with my dad on Christmas morning. It’s so pretty here in the winter, especially if it snows,” says Ben. “No matter what I do with my life, I’m never gonna be on my butt. Just like Dad, I can’t sit for too long or I get annoyed with myself.”
There is something to this life, the slower pace, the physical work, and the pride from seeing the fruits of a long endeavor. This life built a strong, bonded family and a sustainable, satisfying livelihood. While the days may be long and there is almost never a day off, the Johnson’s are thankful and content.
“I personally believe we’re here for a reason. God put us here. Our livelihood comes from the earth, what God created,” says Clint. “I would hope that we take Christmas time to appreciate that a little more.”
by Jennie Treadway-Miller
Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.Sowing a Seed and Sharing the Benefits: The Randall Master Gardeners
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