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 125 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 26 years of AI breeding and quiet cattle handling methods.

This breeding season (for the 2010 calf crop), we have used the following AI sires:

  • Red Gelbvieh: Moderator, D17G, and Independence which are calving ease bulls with good all-around EPDs.
  • Black Gelbvieh: Natural – calving ease and good all-around EPDs, COV Mr. 2008 and Mr. Bow K 703T – good all around numbers, and Early 3197C good calving ease.
  • Red Angus: Cherokee Canyon – calving ease, good growth, and a good carcass trait bull.
  • Black Angus: Corona, Connection, In Focus, New Design, and GAR Integrity 8804 which all have good calving ease, performance, carcass, and maternal traits.
Most of our cattle are run above Gunnison, Colorado in the summer at an altitude of 8,500 to 10,500 feet.  These must be functional cattle with good legs and feet and are definitely not pampered.