Performance Genetics: Doug Booth Family Angus offers top-tier genetics to producers across the West

Doug Booth Family Angus is a multigenerational farm and ranch located northwest of Torrington in the heart of cow/calf country, raising registered Angus cattle.

The ranch is presently run by Dudley Booth and his wife Jennifer, with help from Dudley’s parents Doug and Carolyn Booth. 

“They are still involved, and they help when they can,” Dudley says.

The Booth family’s Angus heritage goes back to 1938 when Doug’s grandfather bought his first two registered Angus females.

Today, the ranch sells about 100 Angus bulls each spring in their annual production sale held on the fourth Monday of January in Torrington. 

The cow herd

The Booth family’s cow herd is made up of about 300 head of registered and commercial females with some crossbred cows used to raise club calves for 4-H and FFA kids to show. 

Dudley says, “We sell a handful of show steers and heifers across the U.S. There is always good demand for high-quality show calves. We raise about 40 to 50 of them each year.”

The commercial cow herd is utilized to raise good steers, and they progeny test their top-registered bulls. Finishing out the steer calves each year enables the ranch to gather feedlot data which has become very beneficial to the program.

For instance, steer calves gained 3.95 average daily gain from start to finish and converted 4.1 pounds of dry matter for one pound of gain. At the same time, they graded 100 percent Choice and Prime and 89.4 percent Certified Angus Beef.

Dudley notes the cows start calving in late January and calve through March, so bull calves will be old enough to sell as yearlings the following year. 

“Phenotype is very important, along with docility, foot structure and quality. I think these factors, along with pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) testing, will be some of the main driving forces in the Angus breed in the next few years,” Dudley notes. 

“We also want calves to have small to moderate birth weights and excel in growth and muscle. They can be born easy but grow fast,” he continues. “It’s important to have growth because every animal we raise gets sold by the pound sooner or later.”

The genetics

In addition to the commercial herd, the Booth family offers top-tier genetics to producers across the West.

“The bulls we sell are backed by a cow herd that is easy-keeping, highly fertile and low maintenance, excelling in terms of performance,” Dudley states. “Our bulls have been widely accepted by both commercial and registered cowmen across the country.”

Additionally, Dudley notes the ranch started PAP testing bulls two years ago to help ranchers avoid brisket disease at higher elevations. 

Some of the Booth family’s bulls were displayed at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) in Denver to illustrate the kind, type and genetics produced at the ranch. Bulls displayed at NWSS are brought home to be sold in the family’s annual bull sale.

Dudley explains most of their bulls are sold to repeat customers – many of which are commercial producers – who have had continued success with them. 

The Booth family’s bulls can be found on cattle operations across Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, Utah and Idaho, among a few other states.

Dudley adds, “A few years ago, we sold the DB Iconic bull to Genex, which has become one of the leading bulls in the Angus breed.”

Last year, Iconic reported the fourth highest number of registrations for the entire Angus breed.

The ranch also sells commercial and registered bred heifers every fall. 

“This year we sold them in mid-November,” Dudley says. “We sell between 50 and 70 bred heifers each year, and we usually sell them via private treaty. Sometimes we’ve taken them to the sale barn for a special sale, but I don’t like doing this because you never know what they are going to bring.”

“There has been high demand for our bred heifers because people know their quality and what they will do,” he adds.

Dudley continues, “With the use of a complete artificial insemination and an embryo transplant program, the Angus bulls and heifers we produce are low birth, high growth, have excellent maternal traits and excel in carcass traits.”

The farming operation

Cattle aren’t the only focus at Doug Booth Family Angus. Most years, the ranch also grows all of the feed for their cattle, in an area that usually gets about 14 inches of annual rainfall. 

“We raise corn, wheat for grain and straw, alfalfa and grass hay on nearly 500 acres of irrigated farmland. Almost everything we raise is used to feed our own cattle,” Dudley notes. “The cattle also utilize cornstalks, hayfields and other crop aftermaths for fall grazing, and we also put up corn silage each year to feed.”

“Sometimes we buy hay if it’s been a dry year and we don’t think we have enough, but most of the time we grow enough feed,” he adds. “We have some irrigated acres but the water still didn’t stretch far enough this past summer since it was so dry in our area. We don’t know how well it will go next year, but if we don’t get a lot of snow this winter and some rain next spring, it could be a bad year again for irrigation water.”

The family

Dudley and Jennifer have two sons – Connor and Kaleb. 

Connor is 19 and a freshman at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan., where he competes on the livestock judging team. 

Kaleb is a 17-year-old junior in high school and plays basketball and football. 

Dudley notes Connor and Kaleb have been active in 4-H and FFA, showing both cattle and pigs. 

“They have been really good help on the ranch, but now they are starting college and will be gone for nine months out of the year and we will miss them,” Dudley says. “If they would like to come back to the ranch after college, there should be an opportunity here for both of them.”

In addition to running the family operation and supporting his boys in every stage of life, Dudley also works for Genex, selling semen and helping other producers AI their cattle.

Doug Booth Family Angus will host their annual bull sale on Jan. 27 at Torrington Livestock Markets in Torrington starting at 1 p.m. and everyone is invited to attend. For more information, visit boothfamilyangus.com/.

Heather Smith Thomas is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.