Testimonials from Lazy S Ranch bull customers.
Thank you to Brady Ranch, Coldstream Ranch and Sunnybend Colony. We appreciate our loyal customers who come back annually
to attend our bull sale and fill their herd sire orders. |
Lazy S Ranch Salutes Coldstream Ranch
Coldstream Ranch is owned and operated by Keith
and Chelsea Balcaen and their young family. Their terrific crew of 15 full time employees
help keep the ranch running smoothly.
Established in 1863, Coldstream includes 8000
acres of deeded land, 5000 rented acres and a crown lease
of 180,000 acres of range land.
The ranch grows all of its' own feed on home land with
the exception of a small amount of grain purchased for the
feedlot. We grow 400 acres of grass and 700 acres of alfalfa
which we get three to four crops annually, and 700 acres of
corn at 25 to 30 ton per acre. We also put up 15,000 bales
of grass/alfalfa hay each year.
Cow-calf pair :: Fall
Aside from our cow herd we feed up to 5,000 head
in our backgrounding feedlot each year. All of our calves
go into our feedlot with the exception of the replacement
heifers. Our calves are finished at Western Feedlot in Strathmore,
Alberta. The following is a breakdown of our calves performance
in the Feedlot: feed conversion was outstanding at 5.6, with an Average Daily Gain of 3.95 lbs. Our calves sell to Cargill on the Grid Value-Based
marketing program, as you can see below from the premiums
we received, the results were outstanding. Premiums per head
equated to $34.59 per head on the steers, totaling $46,785.04.
|
avg.
feed
conv. |
avg.
D.O.F. |
avg.
carcass wt. |
avg.
yield |
premium
range/lb. |
$ hd
premium |
total
premiums
received |
|
5.6 |
140 days |
814.03 |
61.79% |
$.03-.06/lb. |
$34.59/hd |
$33,282.08 |
|
6.6 |
131 days |
828 |
62.69% |
$.03/lb. |
$24.84/hd |
$13,512.96 |
 |
About The Coldstream Ranch
We run a commercial herd of 2400 mother cows which
are British based Hereford and Red and Black Angus. We began
introducing Lazy S Bulls seven years ago; our goal was to bring
more length, hip, udder and foot into our cow herd. We have
had great success with the Lazy S Bulls. Our cows now each have
25% to 50% Simmental influence, all from the Lazy S program.
We have approximately 1000 solid black and black baldy cows,
and 1400 solid red, red neck and Hereford cows. Our cows run
from 1250 pounds to 1400 pounds on average - we like our cows
to bring home half their weight or better in their calf. Our
heifers begin calving in February and the cows in March each
year.
Our calves are vigorous at birth and we get
tremendous growth without becoming "extreme". Our weaning
weights have increased steadily with our current weaning weight
averaging 625 lbs. in heifers and 675 lbs. in the steer calves.
These weights include our first calvers which are bred to
Red and Black Angus bulls, many of which came from Lazy S
as well.
Our purchases total over 120 bulls from the Ainsworth
family and we can tell you that the Lazy S Bulls are exceptional
performers, not just in getting their breeding job done but
in their ability to travel our extensive types of range land
and stay healthy. We have never had a foot problem with any
of our Lazy S Bulls.
The Ainsworth family is a pleasure to deal with
and we have thoroughly enjoyed reaping the rewards of their
dedication to the breeding of Simmental and Angus bulls.
Keith, Chelsea & Emily Balcaen
Coldstream Ranch
|
Saluting Our Longtime Customers...
Special Thanks To
Sunnybend Colony
Established in 1991, Sunnybend Colony farms 5,000 acres in total. 2,000 acres are utilized for pasture for the cowherd. We have 550 cows and readily increase that by 20% every year. We also run 550 sows farrow to finish. At Sunnybend we run a 1,500 head feedlot as well. All our calves, except the replacement heifers, are finished out in our feedlot, and we purchase calves to keep the feedlot full. Our calves are sold to the highest bid – Cargill, Lakeside and Ranchers Beef.
click to enlarge
Sunnyvale Steers
click to enlarge
We introduced Lazy S Bulls into our program seven years ago. We tried herd sires from others, but had trouble with too many spotted calves. The Red Simmental bulls from Lazy S took care of the spotted calves. Our heifers are now solid red, red brockle face or black brockle face, all out of Lazy S bulls. 75% of our cows are now red and red white faced cows. The past few years we used the Lazy S Purebred Black Simmental Bulls.
We run 30 herd bulls in total and ¾ of them are Lazy S bulls. Our cows weigh from 1,250 to 1,400 lbs and the calves weaning weights have been steadily increasing every year without creep. Our 2005 steer calves averaged 3.38 ADG on grass with no creep. We have been purchasing red and black Lazy S two star calving ease bulls for our red and black Heifers. In 2005, we purchased the SimAngus Beefmaker bulls and can't wait for the 2006 calf crop.
The Ainsworth Family are a pleasure to deal with. Their guarantee on the bulls is 100% and we are looking forward to their future Bull Power Bull Sales.
John, Marvin & Herb
Sunnybend Colony
|
Brady Ranches Testimony to Lazy S Ranch Bulls
After the urging of a friend in the livestock
marketing business, I purchased 5 bulls from the 2003 Lazy S Ranch production sale.
Unable to attend your sale in person, I had a friend purchase these bulls
and waited in anticipation to see them, as I had never done this type of purchase
before. This was a dramatic move away from my usual bull source, and
into an unknown herd. I had been watching the Lazy S production sales
and something told me I should attend a sale and see what was on
offer.
Now I was invested in your bulls, never having met you,
nor seen your cattle but I was impressed by the bulls when they
were delivered in April of that year, and also now being able to
meet Stewart and visit. I liked the bulls, and after having an accident
with one, he was replaced without question, while I awaited the
insurance. I was also more than impressed with the replacement. I
also thought it prudent that I see some of the bulls that had been
used, so visited the Coldstream Ranch near Vernon to see what mature
bulls, and their offspring looked like. I was so very impressed.
I attended your sale in 2004 and purchased 5 more bulls. By the time I received them I had calves on the ground, and
they were super looking. Now to await for the results at sale time.
All summer I could see calves from a distance that were
longer, thicker and of a different type than I had produced before.
They were always Lazy S calves when I read their tag. When the auction
company came to list my calves, they were so impressed with my calves,
they also could pick out these "new" calves and told me
they had never seen such a change in a herd of cattle. 90 of my
steers averaged 705#, and 60 averaged 603# on Oct.7, 2004.
I am very excited to see the offspring from the Black
Simmental, as well as the Red bulls I purchased from you when I
start calving in 2005. I am very impressed with your service, support,
the genetics and uniformity of your cattle and will be attending
more of your sales to enhance my weaning weights, quality and uniformity
of my herd. At a time when things are tough, it is so important
to have quality and weight in a product that gets sold by the pound.
In one group of calves I share crop, the value of product on 48
calves was only $500 less in 2004 than in 2003, even though the
price was $.20 per pound less.
I am pleased to be linked to your program and will see
you in 2005.
Thanks,
Barry Brady
Brady Ranches, Barriere B.C. |
