Horse Training & Boarding

 

Bow K Ranch is family-owned and operated by Dave and Dawn Bowman and their son and his wife, Andrew and Sarah Bowman. The ranch is located near Olathe, Colorado (a one and one-half hour drive from Grand Junction, Colorado). Dave and Dawn have been running Gelbvieh cattle since 1983 and currently run 115 head of Gelbvieh and Black Angus, along with Gelbvieh x Black Angus and Gelbvieh x Red Angus (referred to as Balancers).

The emphasis at Bow K Ranch is to produce moderate-sized (1,100 to 1,300 pound) cows that excel in maternal qualities – birth weight, calving ease, good udders, and adequate milk – not to mention their docility. (See Female Page).  Our foundation is built on 28 years of AI breeding and quiet cattle handling methods.

This breeding season (for the 2012 calf crop), we have used the following AI sires:

  • Red Gelbvieh:  Independence which is a calving ease bull with good all-around EPD’s and Moderator which is a calving ease bull.
  • Black Gelbvieh:  Natural, Mr. Bow K 904W, and KHR 08W– calving ease and good all-around EPDs. Lazy TV Sam U451 calving ease, thickness, good all-around EPD’s with added weaning weight.
  • Black Balancer®: Mr. Bow K 922W a Black Balancer® out of In Focus with good calving ease numbers and carcass traits was used as a clean-up bull after A.I.
  • Red Angus:  Fat Tony – calving ease and good phenotype. Lancer – low E needs, excellent stability, and excellent REA. Cherokee Canyon - calving ease, good growth, thickness, and a good carcass trait bull.
  • Black Angus: Hoover Dam and In Focus are thick calving ease bulls with good carcass and maternal traits, and excellent EPD’s for docility. Mr. Bow K New Standard W902 a long-bodied bull (calving ease) was used primarily for clean- up on our Angus cows.
Most of our cattle are run above Gunnison, Colorado in the summer and fall at an altitude of 8,500 to 10,000 feet. These must be functional cattle with good feet and legs and are definitely not pampered.