How Varnan Waterers were Invented

 

“Simplicity is the result of profound thought.”

 

When Hubert “Hube” Johnston and Mindy Cook bought Hawkeye farm, they had to deal with four different kinds of horse waterers that required seemingly endless repairs. He would incessantly complain that the parts were hard to reach, or they would leak or freeze up… on and on. Finally one day Mindy said: “Okay, buddy, make your own!”

 

Not to be deterred by the challenge, Hube, a former college football player (Iowa Hawkeyes) and NFL standout, applied his gridiron will and discipline to the task. He set out to design the perfect waterer, one that was virtually maintenance free and did not present the design flaws inherent in the other waterers he had to battle with daily. The process took over five years and went through innumerable stages, such as insulating a concrete tank, putting a muff basket in a barrel, struggling to create the right sizes and thickness of insulation. Then a heating system needed to be added for colder climates, along with ancillary parts such as stainless steel valve cover plates, rings and plastic covers.

 

Once they had a good working prototype, they had to find the right shops to make the molds from the optimal type of plastic, then work through stages of mold designs until everything fit and worked perfectly. The final decisions involved finding readily available plumbing parts anyone could find at a hardware store so replacement was simplified by anyone with good basic skills and common sense. However, once installed properly, Varnan waterers are virtually maintenance free.

 

Initially, only the horses and cattle on Hawkeye Farm were able to benefit from Hube’s waterers. Clients who visited the farm were curious and once they studied the elegance and efficiency of the design, they asked if Hube could make waterers for their farms too. So the Cooks decided to patent their invention before selling to the general public. They quickly found that they didn’t have to do any advertising as word-of-mouth from satisfied users created the demand.

 

Then they had to decide on a name for the waterers. Mindy thought about her great aunt, Varnan Northcutt, who had sponsored her riding efforts in saddle bred competitions where Mindy rode as a champion. And Varnan Waterers was named in her honor. Today Varnan waterers are working hard providing liquid sustenance to livestock in over 30 states and in countries such as Canada and Japan.