Bull Tour 2021

By Tom Peterson

North Central Livestock Association President Jerod Warnock ranches near Madras and close to Bakeoven. His family has been on the ranch since the 1980s. Warnock and his Border Collies will work cattle this year at the Bull Tour.

The North Central Livestock Association is gearing up for its 2021 Bull Tour, which will focus on ranches in the Wamic and Tygh Valley area on Friday, April 16.

New North Central President Jerod Warnock said the traveling event has morphed some since it started decades ago. Warnock works outside of Maupin near Bakeoven on the family ranch, which he grew up on. 

“We move around to different ranches and see how ranchers are doing things and the new things they have implemented,” the 31-year-old said. “Different sponsors are on-site detailing information such as food supplements or latest machinery.”

This year the Tour will be focused at the Wasco County Fairgrounds, with several demonstrations, including team branding and demonstrations of how to best use dogs in moving cattle.  

“I think it is going to be a blast,” said Kyle Fields, who works on the Fields Ranch near Wasco. “People can learn something to help them ranch or farm, and it will be good to have everybody together. People are itching to see each other.” Fields was recently elected the North Central Livestock Association vice president.

 Warnock agreed that the tour was kind of a display of unique and best uses of natural resources when it comes to ranching and farming. Moving cattle from pasture to pasture, eliminating juniper to improve the watershed. “There’s never a best one,” Warnock said, noting ranches and practices vary depending on geography and terrain. “There’s no one size that fits all.”

“That’s what makes it interesting, all the different approaches,” he said. 

The tour will kick off at 9 a.m. at the Wasco County Fairgrounds in Tygh Valley and then move onto ranch tours before returning. Warnock said he and his Border Collies will working stock in the arena of the Fairgrounds. And all-new for 2021, is the action-packed Team Branding. Teams made up of four will brand from the ground as well as from their horses.

Fields, who raises feeder stock in registered Angus and SimAngus, on a ranch near Scappoose, said his work was his passion and the Tour was a great way to keep in touch with others in the same trade.

File photo of past Bull Tour - Credit Condon Chamber of Commerce and my personal favorite K’Lynn Lane.

“Getting to work with both farmers and ranchers, there is nothing else I would rather be doing. I care about the cattle industry and the people in the community running cattle. It’s a passion of mine.” 

North Central’s Breanna Wimber said she was excited for this year’s tour. 

“Once again you can expect a day jammed packed with tours, vendor engagement, amazing lunch and dinner, and various industry speakers,” she said. “We encourage people to bring a friend and invite new people. This annual event is always an amazing look inside the farms and ranches our beautiful region has to offer.” 

Tickets are $45 pre-purchased or $50 day of the event. Or buy 10 tickets for $400. 

For more information, call: 

Amy McNamee at 541- 325-2121

Breanna Wimber 541-806-3209 

Click here for their Facebook page.

Please Watch the Facebook for Additional Information and Ranch Branding Entry Info. 

The nicest man in Maryhill

Pepper the farm dog takes in a little sun while Ron Gunkel digs holes for some new peach trees on his orchard in Maryhill, Wash., just upriver of the I- 97 bridge at Biggs Junction this morning, Wednesday, Feb. 3.  

Gunkel said he was planting a variety called  Zee Prides.

He also took the occasion to say that Maryhill was not always Maryhill. In fact, it was Columbus Landing, a busy shipping port where wheat and sheep were loaded in the 1800s and early 1900s. It was later renamed Maryhill in 1909 when Sam Hill moved in, and he named the property after his wife and daughter, both named Mary.

Throughout our conversation, I came to a pretty good conclusion. Ron Gunkel seems like the nicest guy I had met all day. He’s the nicest guy in Maryhill.

Just a tad more on Maryhill - it’s kinda personal.

Just further down the road, stands the Maryhill Church, est. October 1888. And this is where it gets personal.

My wife, Peggy, from Hillsboro, inherited a print of a drawing of a church from her grandmother, and it has hung in our house for years. I had always wondered if the church still existed.

Guess what?

It does.

I ran into the church in Maryhill this morning, I knew I had seen it before. Just not in color. Check out the drawing and the real church below. 

This drawing of Maryhill Church was done by John Waddingham in 1971. It has hung on our walls for decades.

Here is the real church in Maryhill, Wash., this morning.