Cattle Operation

The ranch has run up to 500 pairs as a commercial cow/calf operation but has recently cut back and is shifting into purebred Black Angus seedstock and bulls. Starting 5 years ago, Wayne has been slowly building the Angus with select cows and heifers purchased from the best female seedstock outfits in the West.

In British Columbia, Wayne acquired select foundation heifers from Tafika Angus and Willow Springs Angus. He also purchased the UBAR herd from Jim Urquhart of Trail. Jim is a butcher by trade and a master Angus carcass breeder.

From Alberta, Wayne bought about a dozen Hirsche heifers and several drafts of choice heifers from Deone and Val Townsend's Lone Star Angus at Sylvan Lake. Most recently Buck Lake acquired some top females from Hamilton Farms and extensively used semen from their famous HF TIGER 5T.

Peak Dot Ranch of Saskatchewan supplied some heifers a few years ago that are great producers. From Manitoba, the dispersal of the Mountain View Farms herd provided an opportunity for additional well bred cattle.

Wayne bought several drafts of bred heifers from Stevenson Basin in Montana and a few cows by Predestined and SS Objective at a dispersal of Blevin's Angus. He added a top herd bull from Sitz Angus. From Nebraska, the dispersal of Larry Rice's SCR herd provided another dozen top EPD cows. At a production sale of Dubas Cattle in Nebraska, Wayne bought a top drawer Predestined daughter.

In building the cow herd all the animals bought are performance rated with high EPD numbers for weaning weight, yearling weight, milk, rib eye area and marbling. Cattle tend to be thicker, deeper and heavier. Most are direct daughters of top AI sires, including: GAR PREDESTINED, S S OBJECTIVE, WOODHILL FORESIGHT, S A NEUTRON 377, VERMILLION PAYWEIGHT, CONNEALY RIGHT DIRECTION, FAR KRUGGERAND 410H and his son FAR SUPERIOR 210M, RIVERBEND BLUEPRINT, BASIN YELLOWSTONE, MYTTY IN FOCUS, B/R NEW DESIGN 036, N BAR EMULATION EXT, HARB PENDLETON, SAV PREDOMINANT, BOYD NEW DAY, TC FREEDOM 104, the Canadian legend FV 20K KING 308M and others that would delight any master breeder. About 20% of the best cows were flushed at least once to provide embryos to transplant to commercial cows. Take a look at the COWS section for yourself.

Buck Lake Ranch does not have a Show herd. It’s cattle must not just survive, they must thrive without pampering in rugged remote mountain country. This actually means more attention to genetics, not less. Our business is delivering BEEF.

From it’s toughest Angus cows with EPD profiles in the top 1%, Buck Lake has been flushing embryo transplants from AI sires to grow a first class genetically superior herd. Buck Lake has concentrated on lower birth weight calving ease and maximum weaning and yearling weight production. Our cows and the bulls we use have the best marbling and rib eye EPDs to provide our customers with superior carcass benefits.

Buck Lake Ranch believes in the science of genetics and all the tools available to measure and predict the most desirable traits in Angus cattle..  We want to rank with the very best practical Angus in the world.