Clint grew up at the base of the Sierra Foothills in Loma Rica, California. His family has been involved in the cattle industry for five generations, so Clint got his start with cattle from a young age. He grew up showing steers at the local county fair, first through 4-H and then FFA. Aside from livestock showing, Clint was also very active in high school rodeo, competing in calf roping and team roping.
Clint attended Feather River College in Quincy, California where he competed on their collegiate rodeo team before transferring to California State University, Chico. Clint graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Animal Science and a focus in Beef Cattle. After graduation Clint went to work as an Assistant Cattle Manager for JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding Co. out of their Grant County Feeders operation in Ulysses, Kansas. He spent 2 years there where he gained a variety of experience including riding pens, receiving and shipping of cattle, as well as managing one of the crews. Clint also gained extensive knowledge in animal health and cattle doctoring skills while working in the hospital pen crew; a crew that he later came to manage.
When asked what his goals are as the new herdsman, Clint stated that in addition to managing the cattle herd, it is just as important to him to familiarize himself with the local rangeland and grass species found at SFREC. The more he knows about the grasses, the better he can evaluate and understand the nutritional and supplementation needs of the cattle.
Another goal for Clint is to become familiar with the current beef cattle research projects being conducted at SFREC so he can best help the lead researchers, as well as properly manage the cattle herds being used in the projects. Some of the current beef cattle research projects that Clint will be involved with focus on production & nutrition, such as ionophore supplementation to yearling steers on annual rangeland, supplementation of brewer's grain to cows on native rangeland, the nutritional benefits of feeding rice straw to cattle, and the effects of medusahead on cattle gains. Other projects are focused on cattle health and welfare like the field testing of a foothill abortion candidate vaccine for cattle and the testing of intranasal moraxella bovis vaccine to prevent pinkeye in cattle.
Even though SFREC is primarily a research facility, Clint stresses the importance of staying in tune with the current trends of the beef industry in order to understand the research needs for beef cattle production. He is also looking forward to continuously learning as he goes. Clint's beef cattle background and his dedication to his work will be an asset to SFREC. He is looking forward to the job at hand, and we are very excited to welcome him to our team.