Flagstaff Featured Business: Opend Range Ltd.
The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press.
Opend Range Ltd.
Box 83, Daysland
403-741-8982
Longtime livestock hauler Doug Green poignantly remembers hauling cattle one fall several years ago in Saskatchewan, from community pastures to the stubble fields for fall pasture.
He can laugh about it now, but he wasn’t laughing at the time.
Green’s recollections of that fateful fall revolve around the problematic loading chutes the ranchers were using.
The chutes were “breaking down and cows were falling through them,” he recalls.
“I thought, ‘There’s got to be an easier and safer way.’”
That’s when ideas for a custom-made solution first came to him and germinated in his mind for a period of time until about 2015, when Green says he “got really serious” about it.
“I started working on an idea that I had, to see if it was even going to work,” he adds. “Yeah, I guess it turned out.”
Fast-forward to today and Green is the creator of the COWGO Chute, an aluminum livestock hauling chute that is custom fitted to your cattle liner.
“The COWGO is one-of-a-kind,” explains the Daysland-area owner of Opend Range Ltd. “Nobody else has a design like it; it mounts right to the trailer and it allows for loading and unloading. We designed it so that anybody can operate it. It takes about a minute to slide out the ramp and swing the side panels into place. One person can handle it with ease. You can also back into an ordinary loading chute or a loading dock at an auction mart because it’s stored out of the way and doesn’t hinder you at all.”
Green, a livestock hauler since 1993, emphasizes that the COWGO is convenient, safe, economical, and efficient. It cuts down on manpower and fuel expenses.
“I grew up on a farm and the easier you can make life and the simpler you can make it, the better it is for you.”
Green notes that his clients prefer his COWGO because it allows for loading and unloading.
“In the spring, I load and haul approximately 35 cow-calf pairs to the pasture for clients who either own or rent land that can be 80 to 100 miles or more away from home. The COWGO eliminates the need to hire an extra person; the expense to drive and operate a second truck; and the cost to buy a portable chute to take to the pasture to load and unload the cattle. A lot of people are hauling cattle a long way nowadays and the COWGO simplifies everything. When you go back in the fall, you just back up to their portable panels, load the cows and take them home again.
“I guess you could say it’s environmentally friendly. You only have to send one truck instead of two,” he adds.
The COWGO Chute is manufactured at Todds Welding in the Donalda area. The original concept for the COWGO came together in 2018.
“We started playing around with some prototypes just out of salvage material,” Green says. “Everything we tried seemed to work the way we wanted to, and we just kept elaborating on it.”
Along the way, Green also enlisted the help of the Flagstaff County REACH Program.
“The Flagstaff County REACH Program was a great help with the basic ins and outs of starting a business and how to deal with accounting, lawyers, forming a company, getting into patents, drafting and marketing,” he explains. “It was a big learning curve for an old guy like me.”
Green is grateful for all the help he’s received in bringing his idea to fruition. Green’s partner, Shelley Stewart, also played an integral role.
“If it wasn’t for her skills in bookkeeping and keeping us on the straight and narrow, we wouldn’t be where we’re at,” he says. “We both worked hard on this project and with the help of Lorne and Tim at Todds Welding, we have a great team of people to work with.
“We would like to make a special thank you to Rodger Cole who was our mentor in the REACH Program. He was an integral part of our success as he provided guidance, suggestions and advice on all aspects of the program from the prototype to the finished product and beyond. He was our anchor. Thank you Rodger!”
Green’s goal is to be distributing the COWGO across Canada and the U.S. within the next two to five years. They have already been in touch with interested buyers from B.C. to Ontario.
“We’ve had a great deal of positive response from everybody we’ve talked to. They like the idea. They like the concept and how handy it is.”
To anyone who has an idea or who wants to start up their own business, Green offers the following advice.
“Find the right people to talk to, like the REACH Program, that can give you advice and send you in the right direction to help make something that looked like it wasn’t going to happen into what we have now which is a product we can market.” Green advises.
“Don’t give up! Even though we’re in this COVID thing and we just keep battling on, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m quite sure we’re going to come through this OK.”
For more information, visit opendrange.com.
Also check out the feature in the March 3 edition of The Community Press – available for digital purchase anytime. Never miss an issue, become a SUBSCRIBER today!
The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press. For more information, contact Jenalee Waring, Economic Development Coordinator, at 780-384-4152.
