KNOWN affectionately as “Dan” by old-time cattlemen in Shasta and Tehama Counties in northern California is D. L. Gover who, with his son “Buck” Gover, operates one of the large cattle spreads and an outstanding registered Polled Hereford herd with headquarters at Anderson, Calif.
Dan Gover was born back in 1863 in Iowa. He left the Midwest as a baby with his parents and came across the plains in a covered wagon, first arriving in Oregon where the family settled for a short time. They then moved to California, arriving in the Millville area about 1869 when Mr. Gover was only 6 years old.
For more than 80 years the Gover name has been associated with the livestock industry in Shasta, Tehama and Lassen Counties in northern California.
When a young man, Dan Gover learned the blacksmith trade as an apprentice to an uncle in the town of Anderson. Later on he operated his own blacksmith shop at Anderson. In 1891 he was united in marriage to Margaret Wilcox, a resident of the Balls Ferry area near Anderson. Shortly after his marriage, Dan Gover moved to the Wilcox ranch upon the death of his father-in-law and operated a partnership with his brother-in-law for a number of years.
Later the ranch was divided and the present Gover ranch established. For about 28 years the ranch has operated as a partnership between Dan Gover and his son, W. C. “Buck” Gover.
Through the early day work of Mr. Gover and the present partnership, the Gover ranch has been expanded from 500 acres to 14,000 acres plus the addition of several thousand acres of leased land in the Lassen County area.
The present cattle operations run in Lassen, Shasta and Tehama Counties. As a matter of fact, Gover cattle have been running on the Lassen County portion of the ranch holdings for about 57 years.
Dan Gover has always been a hard worker and has devoted his lifetime to the improvement of livestock and improvement in ranch management methods.
At the age of 86, he still carries this same driving interest in improved livestock and improved ranch and farm methods. He believes that one of the great advances in Hereford cattle production has been carried on by those breeders who through selection are breeding off the horns of Hereford cattle. The Gover Polled Hereford cattle measure up to the best in the country.
