- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Eye doctor-turned-rancher brings science background to his second career
Siskiyou County rancher Jack Cowley, 91, joyfully recalled the special Christmas gift that delighted his seven children in the 1960s. Cowley, then a practicing eye doctor in Sacramento, and his late wife Barbara surprised the children with a white quarterhorse, which they named Silver.
“That's how it all started!” exclaimed Cowley, reflecting on the gift horse that would eventually lead to a 40-year collaboration with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Silver was the impetus for his family's involvement with the 4-H Youth Development Program, a part of UC ANR. Cowley also would later transition to a second career in cattle ranching, and collaborate with UC Cooperative Extension on research projects ranging from weed control to cow genetics.
“Jack has been an extremely committed supporter of UCCE,” said Grace Woodmansee, who became the UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor for Siskiyou County in 2021. “He has worked with UCCE extensively and contributed a lot of time and resources to supporting local and statewide projects.”
Lately Cowley and his son David have been working with Woodmansee and Gabriele Maier, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, on a cow deworming study.
Not only has Cowley allowed UCCE scientists to study his cattle over the years, he has been willing to personally share information with scientists and cattle producers across the country and internationally.
“It is important to foster exchange and linkages, said Dan Drake, UCCE farm advisor emeritus in Siskiyou County, who collaborated with Cowley for 30 years. “He went to so many meetings, especially with the early and uncharted areas of cattle genetics. Jack was on a first-name basis with the leaders from other states and the relationships were important in both directions. Frankly, I think many of those folks were jealous of the great cooperator we had in California.”
Breeding for better beef
After retiring from his Sacramento ophthalmology practice in the 1990s, Cowley settled in Montague in Siskiyou County, 246 miles north of the closest UC campus. There he met then-UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Steve Orloff and Drake. Orloff advised him on alfalfa production and pasture management while Drake offered counsel on animal health records, organizing breeding, animal nutrition and water issues.
Drake explained to ranchers that by selectively breeding cows based on genetics, they could improve the production and quality of beef so that it's healthier for humans.
“My medical background helped me understand animal genetics,” Cowley said. “We can modify the genetics to improve the quality of the beef to make it more heart-healthy.”
In 2009, Drake introduced Cowley to UC Cooperative Extension specialist Alison Van Eenennaam, who studies animal genetics at UC Davis.
“I was looking to set up a research trial where we would follow cattle from the ranch all the way through to the Harris Ranch processing plant in the Central Valley,” said Van Eenennaam, who worked with Cowley on a three-year project.
Using DNA samples from Cowley's cattle, they evaluated the data they received from processor Harris Ranch of the beef characteristics – such as tenderness -- to compare the different breeds.
“I really thought I knew what I was doing and my cattle graded terribly,” Cowley said.
Since beginning the genetics project, his beef quality steadily improved.
“We're now up to where all of our animals are graded anywhere from 20% to 40% Prime and the rest Choice,” said Cowley, adding that he stopped striving for higher grades because the buyer said there was a limited market for the more expensive meat.
Cowley takes pride in knowing breeding practices developed from the research he and UC Cooperative Extension conducted have been adopted globally by dairy producers and beef producers.
“The type of research we were doing there has eventually evolved to now we have these genomic tests that you can use that genetically predict the performance of animals,” Van Eenennaam said. “Nowadays people just take an ear tag and send it in and get their genetic prediction.”
Van Eenennaam credits Cowley for allowing research on his large herd. “Jack was very patient with things that take a long time. When researchers come onto your ranch, that could slow you down.”
She added, “Genetic improvement, of course, is a huge component of sustainability because the more efficient cattle are, the less feed they consume and the less time they take to finish, which ultimately lessens their environmental footprint.”
Growing up in Utah
Looking back, Cowley marvels that he has been fortunate to do what he wanted to do in life.
“I was interested in ranching when I was probably seven or eight years of age,” said Cowley, who delivered the local Deseret Newspaper on horseback as a boy. “I grew up in Utah, you know, a little town in Utah called Holladay. It was not a ranching community.”
After serving four years in the Air Force during the Korean War, he returned to Utah to find the cute girl he met in first grade had graduated from college and was still single. He married Barbara in 1956. When he was accepted at George Washington University medical school, they drove with their three-week-old baby from Utah to Washington, D.C. He got a job in the Senate office building as an elevator operator working from 5 to 11 p.m., which enabled him to study, meet influential people and finish medical school without debt.
“I actually got to meet Khrushchev,” he said, recalling his encounter with the Soviet leader..
After finishing his ophthalmology residency at UCLA, Cowley established his practice in Sacramento and later taught a few classes at UC Davis Medical School.
Becoming a cattleman
One Saturday afternoon, after Silver the horse joined the family, Cowley and his oldest daughter, Kathryn, were driving in Placerville and saw a ranch for sale. He bought the 90 acres. For two summers, Barbara and the children lived at the ranch and Cowley joined them on weekends.
“Of course, I had to have a few cows to play with,” he said with a chuckle. “Basically, I thought I could make some money off of 50 cows.”
As his herd grew, he moved it to Corning, 50 miles south of Redding, and finally to the site in Montague that could accommodate several hundred head of cattle. “That's when I really became interested in animal genetics,” Cowley said. “That was back when we had slide rules to do our calculations. It was pretty crude, but it was a start.”
In 1990, Cowley was honored as the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association's Seedstock Producer of the year and, in 2007, was named Siskiyou County's Cattleman of the Year. He has served as president of the Siskiyou County Cattlemen's Association, on the Cattlemen's Beef Board, as well as on committees for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
“Jack spent countless hours traveling to the Midwest and other beef research institutions to share knowledge, learn more and plan for needed information,” said Drake, emeritus UCCE livestock advisor. This made for better Extension work, better research and recognition of UC Cooperative Extension work nationwide.”
In 2011, when Van Eenennaam and Drake presented their research at an international genomics conference, he joined them in Australia to learn from other researchers. They also visited Australian producers to learn their practices.
“We really rely on cooperators like Jack to enable our research to have translation to farmers and ranchers,” Van Eenennaam said.
In recent years, Cowley has handed the ranch reins over to his children David, Brian, Brent and Kathryn, who live in Siskiyou County.
David, who retired from a nearly 40-year career as a software engineer, plans to continue working with UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists.
“Any time you have questions, you can call and they're more than happy to help you,” he said.
/h3>/h3>- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
“Dan is the epitome of a farm advisor,” said Jack Cowley, president of the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association. “He advised us on all kinds of issues.”
Cowley has worked with Drake for nearly 30 years. After 29 years of practice as an ophthalmologist in Sacramento, Cowley pursued his dream of becoming a cattle rancher and has consulted Drake on many occasions.
“He helped us with animal health records, organizing breeding, animal nutrition and water issues,” said Cowley. “He helped everybody with farm issues and never turned us down.”
Back in the 1980s, before computers were in every home, Drake co-authored a UC Cooperative Extension publication on how to use computers.
“He was a computer wiz,” Cowley said. “Most of us older farmers and ranchers didn't know much about computers so he helped us navigate computer issues.”
Drake earned a bachelor's degree in zoology at California State University, Long Beach, in 1974 and a master's in animal science at UC Davis in 1977 before starting his career with UC Cooperative Extension in 1978. He later earned a Ph.D. in animal science from Oregon State University in 1988.
Early in his career, Drake helped introduce to Siskiyou County no-till planting methods, intensive grazing management and triticale forage systems. He identified a new rangeland plant, Monte Frio rose clover, an annual clover suited for cold, mountainous areas such as Siskiyou County.
White muscle disease, a disease cattle get from insufficient selenium in their diet, was well known but he further defined its implications on growth and championed alternative and multiple selenium supplementation methods. He also began testing animal and plant tissue and soil at ranches to identify where adding selenium might pose environmental problems.
“When he started, I was 17 and a 4-H exhibitor at the fair,” said Cliff Munson, now CEO of the Siskiyou Golden Fair.
“He led efforts that improved beef production,” said Munson, who is also president of the Siskiyou County Cattlemen's Association. “Carcass data continues to get better and better. For example, he was instrumental to moving the fair to ultrasound data.”
With Jim Oltjen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, Drake developed procedures for using ultrasound in youth beef carcass contests. The practice is used statewide nowadays. Using an ultrasound device, like those used on pregnant women to view unborn babies, Drake showed ranchers and 4-H youth how to evaluate the quality of meat on a live animal. They can determine the size of the ribeye, fat thickness and marbling.
4-H members dramatically improved their results using ultrasound data. In 2010, 93 percent of the 45 carcasses entered by 4-H members in the Siskiyou Golden Fair were graded Choice minus or better, compared to 36 percent to 68 percent in previous years.
“This aspect is very important as it is part of the transition that has occurred with producers from raising cattle to raising beef,” Drake said. “It ties in with all of the special niche markets as well.”
For further refinement in breeding beef cattle, Drake studied DNA with Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, testing national DNA prediction equations in local commercial beef ranches.
“In the last few years, he's helped us understand genetics of the animals,” said Cowley. “We can select our animals to improve the production and quality of the product so that it's healthier for humans.”
Cowley explained, “My medical background helped me understand animal genetics. We can modify the genetics to improve the quality of the beef to make it more heart healthy.”
Throughout his career, Drake wrote a monthly newsletter called the Siskiyou Stockman to keep ranchers apprised of the latest research. He served as co-editor of the UC beef publication “Fundamentals of Beef Management.”
Recently Drake and Van Eenennaam finished on a three-year project studying the parentage and animal genetics of Cowley's and two other Siskiyou County ranch animals. With the data, they will evaluate DNA prediction equations and hope to develop economic models to identify which animals are likely to be worth more money based on their genetics.
The American Society of Animal Science honored Drake with their Western Section Extension award in 2007. UC Cooperative Extension recognized his teaching accomplishments with a Distinguished Service Award.
Drake has also volunteered to help producers in other countries. He visited cattle producers in Kazakhstan three times, showing them how to keep records on a computer and update their artificial insemination practices. In Mali, he advised a women's cooperative on accounting and other business practices.
“They used animals as a bank account. When they needed funds they would sell the animals,” Drake said. He advised the women to sell their sheep and goats when they were ready for harvest and to invest their resources in raising another animal for optimal economic return and better use of their scarce natural resources.
In retirement, Drake looks forward to doing more international consulting. “I have particularly enjoyed international volunteer work for animal producers and will do more,” he said.
He also intends to spend time playing baseball (hardball not softball), dog training, duck hunting and traveling for pleasure.