| It
doesn’t take long to visit with Steve Lambert to recognize that
he’s an up-beat kind of guy with a “can do” attitude. Much of
the Oroville, California cattleman’s positive energy stems from
the fact that he enjoys raising cattle and appreciates being
able to share his zeal for ranching with his wife Cindy and
their three children (Nathan 17, Clayton 15, and Meghan 12)
Their family operation, known as
Lambert Ranch, includes about 85 Hereford cows and 50 Angus cows
on 700 acres with 250 acres used to grow hay. They also run a
retail store – Lambert Feed and Garden – in nearby Oroville, and
lease land for a pheasant hunting club that they coordinate.
Steve credits the success of
Lambert Ranch and his other ventures to his instincts to “do
what feels good.” He says, “If you go through life and don’t get
closed minded, opportunities often find you. It’s not rosy all
the time, but I feel fortunate to do what I enjoy.”
Early Start With Herefords
Raised on a California ranch, Steve describes his lifelong
affinity for cattle as a “4-H project gone wild.” He tells that
his father began raising Polled Herefords in 1974 under the name
Creekside Ranch for Steve and his brother to show through 4-H
and FFA. After graduating from high school in the early 80’s,
Steve took time to attend Chico State – where he met his wife
Cindy who was raised around horses in Southern California.
After college, they returned to
Creekside Ranch where Steve worked with his father in managing
the cattle into the early 90’s. They grew the herd to about 300
mother cows and during that time Steve and Cindy also started
the Feed & Garden store in Oroville.
As they expanded the store into
four locations and added a seed mill for manufacturing bird
seed, Steve says managing his father’s ranch got to be too much.
So he and Cindy kept about 100 head to manage on their own while
also running the four stores.
Things went well, but in 2001
when Steve’s dad Stu passed away suddenly, Steve says he felt
the need to make some changes. He says, “I went back to the
ranch to help my mom get ready to sell things, and I felt like I
was on a similar pattern that my dad had been of owning several
businesses and spreading myself too thin.”
Steve describes it as a turning
point and he recognized that he wanted to spend more time
raising cattle and enjoying his family. So, he and Cindy sold
all but their Oroville retail store in order to buy his dad’s
nearby ranch.
In the four years since, Cindy
oversees much of the retail store while Steve has focused on
building up their ranch facilities and continuing to improve the
genetics of their herd.
Steve explains that he likes to keep things efficient. He’s
designed his facilities so he can work the cattle by himself if
he needs to. Likewise, he’s quick to cull cows with any
indication of a problem – be it calving difficulty or a bad eye.
“I’ve got things to do, and I don’t want to babysit. So I have a
strict philosophy that my cows have to make it on their own,” he
says.
The Lambert’s calve about 85 head
in the spring and 50 in the fall. Regarding their genetic goals,
Steve says he’s always had a vision of the perfect cow in his
head – she’s got to be functional with a lot of capacity. He
aims for about a frame score 6 and doesn’t mind if cows are in
the 1,500 lb. range. He says, “Cows have to fit the environment,
but we’re still getting paid for pounds so they have to produce
that too.” |
