Douglas Lake Ranch in British Columbia: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Douglas Lake Ranch is the working cattle operation of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company in British Columbia's Thompson-Nicola region, south of Kamloops. The ranch describes itself as the largest privately held cattle ranch in Canada and one of the largest in North America, and its own operations page cites a herd of up to 20,000 head. It is also a Quarter Horse breeding program recognized by the American Quarter Horse Association.
| Location | Douglas Lake, Thompson-Nicola region, British Columbia |
|---|---|
| Founded | Douglas Lake Cattle Company formed June 30, 1886 |
| Sectors | beef cattle; Quarter Horses; irrigated feed crops; fishing and recreation |
| Scale | Herd of up to 20,000 head; over 7,000 acres of irrigated cropland (ranch website) |
| Why it is elite | Described as Canada's largest privately held cattle ranch; AQHA Best Remuda (2004) and Legacy Award (2013) |
| Ownership | Privately held; later acquisitions include Alkali Lake, Quilchena, Riske Creek and Gang Ranch |
| Official website | Douglas Lake Ranch official site (ranch operations page) |
History of Douglas Lake Ranch
The ranch grew out of land that John Douglas Sr. sold to Charles Beak in 1884. On June 30, 1886, Beak, Joseph Greaves, Charles Thomson and William Ward founded the Douglas Lake Cattle Company. By 1910 Ward had bought out two partners and the ranch exceeded 110,000 deeded acres, and the ranch history page reports that deeded acreage passed 145,000 acres in the early 1950s.
Ownership has changed several times. The Ward family held the ranch until 1940, Colonel Victor Spencer and partners took over in 1950, and Charles Woodward and John West bought it in 1959, with Woodward becoming sole owner in 1968. Bernard Ebbers bought it in 1998 and it was sold again in 2003. Since 2008 the company has added Alkali Lake Ranch, the James Cattle Company, Quilchena Cattle Company, Riske Creek Ranching and, most recently, the historic Gang Ranch, which the ranch publishes its own page about.
What Douglas Lake Ranch Grows and Raises
Cattle are the primary business. The ranch says its herd is grazed on Crown grazing land from May to mid-October and then on ranch-owned grassland from autumn through early spring. Owning grassland lets it start grazing earlier, finish later and shorten the winter feeding period, which the ranch says brings significant cost savings. It also notes that its grasslands include native bluebunch wheatgrass.
A farming division supports the herd. The ranch reports growing grass, alfalfa, barley, oats and corn, producing over 45,000 metric tonnes of feed a year, mostly silage, on over 7,000 acres of irrigated cropland. Pivot irrigation has been a major investment to reduce water and labour needs. The ranch states that the only feed purchases are mineral and protein supplements. About 18 to 20 cowboys work on horseback, and the ranch maintains roughly 350 Quarter Horses, including 5 stallions and 30 broodmares.
How Douglas Lake Ranch Makes Money
Beef cattle
The core revenue stream is raising cattle at scale. The ranch says it aims to be among the lowest-cost producers in Canada while producing cattle of high quality and uniformity. The operations page does not describe specific buyers or sale channels, so none are stated here.
Horses and feed
The Quarter Horse program is a long-running part of the ranch and has earned industry recognition. The farm division makes feed for the ranch's own winter needs, which keeps input purchases limited to supplements.
Fishing, recreation and lodging
The ranch website lists fishing and recreation on private lakes, camping and yurts, rental properties and the Quilchena Resort. These ancillary businesses use the same land base as the cattle operation.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Douglas Lake Ranch
Control of seasonal grass is a cost strategy. By pairing Crown summer range with deeded fall and spring grassland, the ranch says it shortens the time cattle must be fed hay. Operators of any size can ask the same question about which seasonal gaps in their grazing calendar are most expensive.
Growth by adjoining or complementary ranch purchases has been the ranch's pattern since 2008, as its history page lists. Pairing feed production with the herd, and using the land for recreation as well as grazing, spreads fixed costs across more than one use.
Few ranches in Canada can say their cowboys ride out on strings of ten horses each, rotating them so none works two days running, which is more careful scheduling than most of us manage with a coffee pot. Readers who enjoy farm.FM will find that Douglas Lake's 18 to 20 riders and 350 horses are rich material for farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about whose horse got the good day off. The ranch itself keeps the work serious and the grass well managed.
Readers who want the full experience can pair the jokes with Tractor Tunes, the country music for farmers that farm.FM, the nation's first satirical farm site, plays between stories. This author page is a fine starting point.
How to Contact Douglas Lake Ranch
Website: https://douglaslake.com/ranch-operations
Address: Douglas Lake Ranch, Douglas Lake Road, Douglas Lake, BC V0E 1S0, Canada
Phone: (250) 350-3344
Email: info@douglaslake.com
Contact details as published on the operation's own website, November 2026. Reservations, recreation and employment have their own pages on the ranch site; confirm before traveling.
Douglas Lake Ranch Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Douglas Lake Ranch operations - Official description of cattle, horses, farming and ranch lands
- Douglas Lake Ranch history - Official timeline of owners and acquisitions
- Douglas Lake Cattle Company on Wikipedia - Independent overview of the company, size and awards
- BC Ag in Brief 2021 - Provincial ministry census summary for British Columbia
- Statistics Canada 2021 Census of Agriculture - National release on Canadian farms and ranches
Douglas Lake Ranch FAQ
Where is Douglas Lake Ranch?
The ranch is at Douglas Lake in British Columbia's Thompson-Nicola region, about 57 km south of Kamloops according to Wikipedia.
How many cattle does Douglas Lake Ranch run?
The ranch's operations page cites a herd of up to 20,000 head.
What is the Gang Ranch connection?
The Douglas Lake Cattle Company's history page lists the historic Gang Ranch among its acquisitions, and Douglas Lake publishes a Gang Ranch page on its site.
How can I contact Douglas Lake Ranch?
The ranch website lists a phone number of (250) 350-3344, an email of info@douglaslake.com and a mailing address at Douglas Lake Road, Douglas Lake, BC.
Douglas Lake Ranch shows how scale, controlled grazing and a long land history can combine in the BC interior. For the wider picture of cattle, fruit, greenhouse and berry production in the province, see the British Columbia farms guide and the other profiled operations.