Douglas Lake

[grassfarmer]

I was amazed to read the story about Douglas Lake and their cattle operation in Cattleman magazine. I always looked with envy at the calf prices they get each fall on the satellite but I now wonder at what price are they achieved? Average age of the cowherd is 4 years and they use a bull ratio of 1 to 18 cows!! How could you possibly cull heavily enough to have a cowherd as young as that?

[PureCountry]

Seems a little ridiculous that's for sure. 1 bull for every 18 cows, their bloody conception rates should be 98% calving in the 1st cycle.

[wd40]

Must be an mis-print. The heifer replacment level would over time reduce the productive value of the cow herd because they would have to keep too many poor under average heifers.
If the average age is 4 that means some only get to have 1 calf before their culled. Thats nuts.

[cswilson]

I'm pretty sure that isn't the facts there-I don't think they even styart using Chars on cows till they're four-Stan's a pretty good cowman I'm sure he runs a pretty tight ship-I'll ask him next time I see him what they're cull age is-I know they age cull bulls at eight.

[farmers_son]

I have not seen the article in the Cattleman, maybe my subscription has run out. There is a bit of information at:

http://www.douglaslake.com/cattle.htm

I have had some dealings with the Douglas Lake Ranch people and I agree with cswilson that they run a pretty tight ship. Very impressive outfit.

[grassfarmer]

The information given in the article is quite detailed so I would be surprised if it is being misquoted. It says they run 4500 herefords and 2500 black baldy cows and a 450 head bull battery.(this is actually 15.5 cows per bull)
It states "while it's not unusual to have 8 and 10 year old females, the average age of the cowherd is 4 years, while no bulls are kept past seven" Baldie cows go to the Charolais bull after two angus calves - I assume that would be at 3 years old.
The punchline of the article is "the one thing we can't have is a lazy bull. They can't lie around. They have to work for a living"
I guess that depends on your definition of "lazy" and "work"!

[cattleman2]

grassfarmer - Bred to char bulls after the 2nd angus calf - makes them 4 when calving with the charX calf.
- have to look at the country the bulls are working in and the range they will have to travel to cover the cows. I don't know the ranch personally but I can imagine that the cows and bulls may need to be walking quite a bit to get those mouthfuls of grass to eat in some of the pastures. Others may be better than ours in Central AB but the leases could be a little thin pickings...

[cattleman2]

average age of the cowherd is 4, which translates into average of 3 calves {ranging from 2 to 6 using even distribution}. If you believe the gov't numbers (with all our effective BSE programs) saying the average cull rate is 15% for beef cows that average age doesn't seem that bad.
15% X 6 years is 90% of the cows are gone by age 6 starting out as heifers on the ranch. Harder terain, etc and the cows may breakdown a little quicker.
If I recall they also breed alot of heifers each year, and have sold the opens and lates. That would also bring down the average age number depending on what animals the calculation includes...

[farmers_son]

The average age of my cow herd is 4.18 years. I am a little surprised by that but I have been increasing the size of my herd by keeping heifers and that does make the average younger.

[cswilson]

It's big country for sure-run as well s time,labor and terrain permit I'd think.