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Show A Perspective of the Agriculture and Livestock Industry in San Juan County, 1959-1982 Preston G. Nielson The story is told of a farmer who recently won a lottery with a prize of a million dollars. When interviewed by the media as to how he was going to spend it he replied, "I guess I'll just keep on farming until it is all gone." This illustrates the present state of agriculture in this county and country. Few farms or ranches are making a profit. Most are being run on borrowed money from the equity they have in the land. While the expenses of running a farm or ranch operation continue to rise, the prices received for goods produced are less or the same as years ago. The principal crops raised in southern San Juan County are wheat and beans. They are raised on dry farms with many more acres being used for wheat than beans. There are also several thousand acres of irrigated ground used for raising alfalfa hay. Up to this point there has been much effort and expense put into clearing new land for farming. Most of it has now been cleared and is in production. The government is not selling any more land to farmers. There are no more homesteads to be acquired; therefore, most of the land that could be used for farming in this area is in production. 217 San Juan County Few young people used to go into farming. However, now there is a new generation beginning to run the local farming operations. Most of these are family farm situations. The old generation is being replaced by their offspring. There are more hobby farmers now than twenty-three years ago. They farm small acreages and hold down a full-time job. A full-time job permits them to farm after work and on weekends and holidays. There are few farming operations in the southern part of the county that derive all their income from farming. Most have some additional source of income. Perhaps the increase in size and efficiency of farm machinery has kept the farmer in business. He can farm larger acreage in less time and do it better. Too much cannot be said about this fact. Irrigation farming has become more efficient over the last few years. Many farmers are using sprinklers. Wells are much more abundant. Land has been leveled and pipelines laid. Many of these irrigation projects would not have been possible without technical assistance from the Soil Conservation Service and financial assistance from the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service. Many of the farm improvements would not have been made without these two organizations. They provide a great service and assistance to the county farming and ranching industry. Farmers continue to have the same problems and challenges with insects, wheat smut and other plant diseases, and noxious weeds. Clisbee Lyman, a prominent local farmer, says the biggest problem facing our farms here today are the noxious weeds. They have increased tremendously over the last twenty-three years. The Recapture Dam Project, now in its initial construction stages, will provide for more acres to be irrigated and will supply a consistent source of water throughout the growing season. Heretofore, the farmers had to depend on the runoff from Blue Mountain as their only source of water. After the runoff was finished so was all irrigating. 218 Agriculture and Livestock Blanding ditch with Walter C. Lyman, developer of the ditch, in the center of the photograph. Copyright 1979 Steve Lacy Wild Bunch Photos. 219 San Juan County The County Master Plan calls for many thousand acres of government land to be added to the farming acreage. If this ever occurs it will greatly affect the farming industry in this area. Local farmers hope and believe that there is a better financial position for them in the years ahead. They feel that fertilizer will have to be used more extensively to keep up the yields of their product. Plant scientists are continuing to improve varieties of wheat and alfalfa which will be of great help. It appears that commercial farms will increase in size in the future and that there will be more hobby farmers. Now for a quick look at ranching. In the mid-1870s this county was a rendezvous for outlaws. It was estimated that 35,000 head of cattle roamed from the Blue Mountain to Dolores, Colorado, seventy miles away. Southeastern Utah was too remote for natural expansion and colonization; therefore, people had to be called to come and settle here. This they began to do in 1880. The 1959 census of agriculture for San Juan County listed the total number of cattle (cows and calves) at 16,272. The 1981 agriculture statistics show total numbers at 27,100 cows and calves. Perhaps as dramatic as the change in the number is the change in the kind and size of these cattle. In the late 1950s almost all herds were comprised of straight Herefords. Now there are few, if any, straight Hereford cattle herds. Crossbreeding is a common practice, yielding bigger calves that bring more money. The most common cross widi the Hereford is the Angus. The exotic cattle from Europe such as the Senfmental, Charolais, Limousin, and others have been used extensively with mixed results. Nevertheless, these cattle have left offspring that are bigger in every way, have increased milking ability, and generally bring a greater net return. I believe we have much better cattle today. This has come about through using better bulls and also through much better management of available resources. The sheep industry used to be a viable part of the ranching business in this area. Today there is not a single herd of 220 Agriculture and Livestock sheep left that is owned by an Anglo. The Navajo people continue to run lots of sheep on the reservation, which are made up of many bands owned by individual families. Most of the cattle in this area are run on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land. Private lands supplement these permits with smaller herds of cattle run entirely on private land. We have not begun to tap the rich potential of these government lands for grazing. There are literally hundreds of thousands of acres that could be reseeded and improved for cattle grazing. Many restrictions, multiple-use policies, and environmentalists, along with a lack of funds, keep this from taking place. The BLM put a moritorium on any re-seeding projects in the 1960s, which will continue to be in effect until the environmental impact studies are done. The Forest Service continues with some projects for range rehabilitation as funds permit. Many of the projects completed in the late 1950s and early 1960s are in bad need of maintenance. However, because of a lack of funds and many environmental restrictions, even basic maintenance of existing projects is nearly impossible. This has been very discouraging to the rancher. There are few things that could be done that would benefit him more than reseeding lands and then being able to maintain them. Reseeding and range rehabilitation projects pay many dividends. Over the last twenty-three years they have helped to increase fertility, significantly increased weaning weights, increased cow size, permitted more cattle to be run, and made the calf crops much more uniform. It is significant to note that the four-wheel drive vehicle has opened up many areas previously closed to proper use by the cattlemen. These areas can now be reached in the wintertime, making it possible to take in feed and supplements to the livestock. The improvements in roads have also helped a great deal in getting to and from the ranges. Water trucks and tanks have opened grazing areas that had little or no use in times past because of the unavailability of water. This has been so critical in reseeded areas. The development 221 San Juan County of springs, reservoirs, windmills, and wells has helped the rancher use the land more effectively, thus guarding from overgrazing. The availability of veterinarians has really increased the health of our cattle. Through better management and nutrition, heifers calve at the age of two and then serve in the herd for ten to twelve years. The feeding of grain and protein supplements on the winter ranges has greatly increased the vigor and fertility of the cattle. We have much more winter range than summer range in this part of the county. Many cattlemen truck their cattle to Colorado to spend the summer and fall months. In years past they drove them over and back and did not take nearly as many. Because of the inability to develop government land for grazing, many ranchers have turned to reseeding state school sections. All revenue generated from the lease of these school sections is given to the state uniform school fund. This amounts to millions of dollars each year coming mainly from mineral and gas and oil leases along with grazing fees and other uses. Ranchers must do this development themselves, but it greatly benefits their operations. Much technical assistance is given the cattle industry here by the Soil Conservation Service and the Extension Service of Utah State University. Financial assistance on some development projects is given by the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service. The cattle industry can have a very good future in this county if more development and maintenance of livestock projects can take place on government land. With increased cooperation with government agencies and an improvement in the economy the livestock industry will continue to make a great contribution to this area. Any discussion of San Juan County livestock must include mention of the Utah Strip. This is an area of the Navajo Reservation stretching from Lake Powell to the Four Corners area, covering about a million acres. It is estimated that there are forty thousand cattle, sheep, horses and goat units running in this area. There are no grazing boards or co-ops. The 222 Agriculture and Livestock Barn and pasture at Verdure, 1979- Photograph by G B. Peterson. Granary at Verdure, 1979- Photograph by G B. Peterson, © 1983. 223 San Juan County livestock is run by family or extended family units. It is evident that the quality of the animals is increasing due to better management and seedstock. Many improvements have been made in the last twenty years. Most grazing areas have been fenced off from the major highways. Wells and windmills have been established in many areas, thus dispersing the livestock over a wider area. Irrigated hay farms have been developed in the Aneth and Montezuma Creek area. Four farms are in this area with one being privately owned and three operated by co-ops. They provide much needed supplemental feed for the wintertime plus a cash crop. The operators in this area seem to be raising more cattle and less sheep. Also there is more emphasis on raising goats for their mohair than sheep for their wool. Through the Utah Navajo Development Council there are several range rehabilitation projects planned. In the Navajo Mountain area they plan to do chaining, burning, and reseeding projects in the pinyon-juniper stands. On Macraken Mesa sagebrush removal and reseeding projects are planned for the future. There is much potential for development of this kind on the Utah Strip. Many family organizations may start fencing off their grazing allotment, thus making way for even more improvements. 224 |
