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Desert Ranching

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Rancher6969

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Joined
Apr 13, 2006
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8
Location
Washington, DC
I may have left this topic on this board before, but I bought an episode of "The High Chapparal" and had never seen that show before.

The High Chapparal ranch is located in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona.

This fact made me very curious.

How can cattle be raised in the desert. Deserts of course have limited water supply, and a head of cattle can drink thirty gallons of water today.

And, in such an environment, range cattle, what do they eat? There
are shrubs of course, but is that sufficient for cattle to browse?

If anyone has an answer, I would sure appreciate.
 
one might ask also, how can a man live in an environment like Washington DC ?? more killed there in a year than in Iraq !
 
Many strains of Sanga cattle adapted to conditions similar to those you are asking about, as tribes were pushed into the deserts by stronger tribes this was not done out of choice. These cattle are smaller and longer legged than commercial cattle but improved strains exist which with borehole water and rotational grazing utilise these environments and provide an income in areas where only livestock provide a living.
I sold adapted bulls and heifers to farms in Namibia from 1978-1986 where they are still highly sought after.
 
Question should be how much water does the average home owner in Washington DC waste watering their lawn just so they can mow it :wink:
 
Actually, my yard is mulched, but really, nowadays can anyone explain how a modern-day cow/calf operation, actually operate in a terrain such as the Sonoran Desert?
 
Rancher, if you google desert cattle ranching or a particular desert and cattle, you will come up with a lot of information. Much of it by nature groups that are anti-grazing etc. You will also find some interesting history articles on desert ranching. Hope you find your answers.
 
Well let me give it a try. My cattle are well adapted browsers they eat and thrive on allot of shrubs ,trees ,cactus and grass in season. We run a smaller cow than most of our neighbors out of the desert. But when the desert makes we can put out just as nice calves. We have quite a few dirt tanks but pump most of the water the cattle use mostly with wind and solar. I tend to stay mostly with red cattle and black bulls the red cattle are well adapted to our conditions. We just came out of a record setting dry spell for this part of Arizona and the majority of our cattle came through O.K. with a little protien to help with the low forage quality. Some people find it hard to believe but most of these big desert ranches can weather a little drought better than a solid grass country. The feed diversity is such that any little moisture will bring something. Feel free to ask away
 
Rancher6969 said:
Actually, my yard is mulched, but really, nowadays can anyone explain how a modern-day cow/calf operation, actually operate in a terrain such as the Sonoran Desert?
Click to expand...
8) They Cowboy up?
 
Rancher 6969 Was your question of academic interest or are you thinking of ranching in a brittle environment at some time?
Aztumbleweed; what breed or breeds are you using in your herd?
 
I can't speak for Arizona, but west texas is pretty much all desert. And there you only run 1 cow per 100 acres or so. they eat mesquite beans, sage brush, what little grass there is....and believe it or not they are fat n sassy. Desert forage seems to have way more protein in it than grasses in other areas that stay green. For instance here in East texas 1 cow per 3 acres.
 
There's places up here that won't run a cow to a 100 acres other will run a cow/acre-the most productive native pastures are meadows that flood in spring you get those big jackpine sandridges and even the squirrels are thin. The whitetails do winter in them on the tree moss though. Overgrown willows grow absolutely zero grass-they are kind of creepy pplaces to hunt through even.
 
:) Thanks for the input. I do have a question about Ranching in general. FYI, I am a city-slicker. I was born in the Ranch-Country of Oklahoma, but never raised in ranch-country...

Anyway, the trend nowadays is for ranchers to have mixed-breed cattle correct?
 
Many but not all commercial ranchers have crossbreeding programs to match breed traits for adaptability and market requirements, the crossing also benefits the breeder due to the effects of heterosis or 'hybrid vigour'.
 

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