This beautiful ranch is filled with history, beginning as a working cattle ranch of 40,000 acres in the late 1800's. The headquarters located here were built in 1916. The original headquarters were located two miles North on Road 4. The ranch was originally called the Chowchilla Land and Cattle Company, belonging to Swift Cattle Company, one of the largest cattle companies in the nation.

The large trees you will find around the ranch were planted in 1916. The tank house was one of the tallest in the area, tall enough to provide water pressure for the upstairs bunk-house, which was one of the first in the Valley to have indoor plumbing. The eight beams that support the 65 foot tank house are 12" x 12" redwood that reach all the way from the ground to the roof and were probably brought in by barge on the San Joaquin River. The horse barn was used to house the horses in tie stalls.

The ranch had to be sold in 1948 to satisfy estate taxes when some of the principals of Swift & Co. died. At that time Ray Flanagan bought this headquarters site and about 10,000 acres of the original ranch, Allan Clark has owned the headquarters since 1982.

Clark’s Red Top Shires began with Allan Clark and a team of Shires. Allan has had his Shires in the Rose Parade three times and continues to enjoy public rides at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA every year, a trek through history with fifth graders from Dos Palos, and several weddings, demonstrations and displays. Allan has a collection of road building equipment which he occasionally demonstrates utilizing three teams. Allan began a breeding program in the early nineties and was joined by Susan in the late nineties with her imported mare Molly.

Over more than a decade, the herd has improved, beautiful babies have been produced and our beautiful stallion was imported in 2004. This stallion, affectionately called Cruiser, has made his mark on our program and produced six beautiful foals out of our mares and outside mares.