After breaking his back in a terrible horse wreck, Doug Johnson needed to find another way to make a living. Ever since he was a kid, Doug had dreamed of working on a huge ranch. The day after he graduated from Marsh Valley High School, he bundled up his saddle and bedroll and set out for Nevada. For several years he was able to live his dream, working on ranches in Nevada, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. But after the horse wreck, Doug needed to find something easier on his back.

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“I was still running cows and doing some welding,” Doug says, “when I visited with Doug Guthrie at a family event. He told me about what I thought was a livestock and crop adjuster job. I thought I could handle that.”

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A few days later, Doug remembers, “I got a call from the regional manager.” The manager asked Doug if he could come in for an interview. During the interview, the manager talked about a lot of things that were foreign to Doug, but Doug listened politely and acted like he knew what the manager was talking about. At the end of the interview, Doug asked the manager why he hadn’t asked him about crops or cattle. The manager asked Doug, “Why would I?” Doug said he thought he was interviewing for an adjuster job, and the manager told him no, he was interviewing to be an agent. “Me being me,” Doug says, “I asked him which paid more.”

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The manager explained that if he was willing to work hard, the agent position would pay more. Doug replied, “Well, I already know how to work hard, so I guess I’ll be an agent.” They laughed, and Doug saddled up for a new career as a Farm Bureau agent.

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On his first day, June 1, 2007, the manager told Doug to email Peggy Sorenson to get him set up. “I asked the manager, ‘How do you send an email?’ I think the manager was wondering what he’d got himself into.” Doug learned how to send an email and after that, he says, “things went well.” Things went so well that in 2008, Doug was named Rookie of the Year. Ever since then, Doug says, “things have continued to work out for me. I feel greatly blessed for this opportunity and have really enjoyed my job and being a part of the Farm Bureau family.”

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Doug was born in Downey and raised “mostly in southeast Idaho.” He has three brothers and a sister. “I probably don’t see them as much as I should.” Doug and his wife Lexie have been married for 18 years. They have four daughters - Jaycee Sage, 14; Shylee Jo, 12; Oakley Cheyenne, four; and Cassidy Jayne, two. “We live on our ranch west of McCammon. We’ve been there for 12 years. It’s been a great place to raise the girls. They’re a lot of help with the work.” Lexie says that when Doug’s not working, he’s working. “If he’s not selling insurance,” she says, “he’s selling bulls or building fences.”

 

"I would say my greatest enjoyment,” Doug adds, “is spending time on the ranch with my girls. We have a herd of purebred foundation Beefmaster cows and we market around 40-50 bulls per year. I have loved cattle ranching since I was a kid and owning my own place is a dream come true. Every day out there is a kind of vacation even though it’s a ton of work. I really enjoy roping and messing around with my horses. In the late spring, I try to slip off to Nevada and help my oldest and best friend brand calves. It’s brings several days of fun and great memories.” Doug also enjoys hunting. “My favorite big game is mule deer. They get me wound up!”

 

Doug is also a baseball fan who loved to play when he was a kid. His favorite player was baseball legend Nolan Ryan. In 2015, Doug’s friend Dale Lasater invited Doug and Nolan Ryan out to his ranch to help with their annual herd sire selection and grading their bulls for sale. “I got to spend three days with one of my childhood idols and that was awesome.” In October of 2016, Dale died in a tragic horse accident. “We lost 
Dale, but I’m grateful for the many trips to his ranch. I will greatly miss my friend and one of my mentors.”

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Doug also credits Lexie for helping him become the person he is today. “She has always supported me and believed in me when I wanted to try something new. She stood beside me and went without when it took everything we had to start the ranch and when I quit welding to be an agent with a new baby and lots of bills. She never doubted me. Or at least she didn’t let me know that.”

 

Doug works out of the Alameda Road office in Pocatello.

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