Camp Cooley Ranch - one hot operation

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Ken Hughes, cow herd manager at Camp Cooley Ranch, speaks about the Charolais cattle, saying, "These first-calf heifers can outdo some of the older cows. And, that's a hell of a statement to make." Hughes job is to give the ranch the best cows possible. -- Photo by Mindy Poehl

April 14, 2005 - Nestled far back among the rolling hills and towering trees, between the towns of Franklin and Marquez, is an 11,750-acre ranch that is home to 3,500 Brangus, Angus and Charolais cattle. Camp Cooley Ranch is an advanced beef operation that includes registered cows as well as embryo-recipient cows.

In October of 1991, Klaus Birkel (owner of the ranch) purchased Camp Cooley Ranch. In 1993, he purchased the Brinks Brangus cow herd, which is the premium cattle breed that the ranch is known for. Later, Birkel added purebred Angus and Charolais herds to offer his customers the option of crossbreeding.

Camp Cooley is one of the leading cattle operations in the country and was named the 2004 Beef Improvement Federation Seedstock Producer of the Year. In fact, Camp Cooley Ranch is the largest seedstock operation in the world. The ranch has one of the nation's largest embryo transfer (ET) programs in the United States and in 2004, over 3,700 embryos were implanted. The ranch is also one of the largest Coastal hay producers in the United States.

Besides providing ET and hay, the ranch also provides genetic and breeding consultations, cattle management and herd health programs as well as marketing assistance to its customers. And Camp Cooley Ranch has established foreign joint cattle ventures in Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina.

"It takes a great team to raise and market a bull," said Joe Fuller, vice president of marketing and customer care at Camp Cooley. "And, that is what we have here. Everyone works their hardest to produce the best cattle."

In 2003, Birkel and the Camp Cooley team received the Brangus Breeder of the Year award from the International Brangus Breeders Association.

"We decided we wanted to be the best in the Brangus business," Birkel said. "We did that by using cutting-edge genetics to improve the quality and profit potential of the cows."

The Camp Cooley staff helps improve and maintain the quality of the cattle on the ranch by using ultrasound and DNA testing technology. One of Birkel's other businesses that is an embryo-transfer and sire-services firm, Ultimate Genetics, successfully created the world's first cloned calves.

Camp Cooley Ranch has taken incremental steps to support ultrasound use by funding and participating in ample research projects across the nation. Today, Camp Cooley is leading the industry with carcass research and the collection and analysis of carcass data.

"I believe carcass quality is more important than it ever has been," said Camp Cooley president, Mark Cowan. "But you must keep that trait in balance with other important traits."

Carcass data, collected by ultrasound, is an important part of the recorded data at Camp Cooley. An ultrasound allows breeders to accurately measure ribeye size, rump and rib fat and the intramuscular fat in the living cattle. And, while looking at those measurements, a lot can be told about the quality of the meat and the quality of the offspring.

"If you identify a high-marbling bull and breed it with a daughter of a bull with genetic marbling, the next generation will have extra marbling," Cowan said.

While observing Charolais cattle on the ranch, cow herd manager Ken Hughes said, "These first-calf heifers can outdo some of the older cows. And, that's a hell of a statement to make. We don't use any outside bulls. We're a large enough operation to not have to do that."

Although Camp Cooley does not use electronic identification, their records are immaculate. The cows are tagged according to family and Cowan said,"We use a system that lets us go onto the computer and find out everything about a cow. We can find out what pasture a cow is in, every bull she has been exposed to, all her health records and her embryo-production. When we do switch to electronic i.d., it will simplify our system."

Not only are the records accurate, but the importance of herd health is so important to the staff at Camp Cooley, that all of the utensils and facilities are cleaned extremely well.

"Cleanliness is next to godliness," Hughes said. "Everything is cleaned and washed very well, and goes into a septic system."

While Camp Cooley Ranch provides the highest customer service available in the the industry and combines the leading edge of beef cattle genetics, its main goal is to help its customers reach the highest level of profitability.

"I dictate what is sold out of here. My job is to give Mr. Birkel the best cow herd he can have," Hughes said. "And, I try to breed the cattle that will fit the industry's demands."