Who Owns the Water in the West?

The original meaning of the word “rancho” in Spanish is “a group of people who eat together,” and that’s exactly how ranches first came about in western North America during the Spanish colonization of the 1600s. The land was “open range,” meaning that cattle owners let their cows loose on the prairie. The land was forcibly taken, then redistributed by the government and eventually privately owned. While there is still some open range land today, agricultural land is now largely privatized. Ranchers in the 21st century find themselves contending with wildlife reintroduction programs, tourist traffic and sky-high property costs and taxes. Is all that prompting ranchers to go back to their communal roots? Some believe that’s exactly what should happen. Guido Frosini, owner of True Grass Farms in Tomales Bay, California, tells OZY the “future of ranching is creating spaces where food production and community overlap.” He also feels that the job of a rancher is to be a steward of the land, not just someone who manages cattle.

In Italy, moving herds from one location to another, also known as transhumance, happens in early summer and fall. Cattle are taken up into mountain meadows for the summer and back down to the rolling hills and valleys for winter. The migration, an ancient tradition, is celebrated to this day with music, feasts and bells. Transhumance is a timeworn and yet still relevant practice across Europe and the Mediterranean that sees sheep, goats and cattle herded many miles, linking ecological areas and sometimes making really phenomenal cheese on the way. A 21st-century twist? Tourists can now tag along on horseback. And while in the past vehicles and cows have battled for the right of way on roads, after transhumance was designated a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tradition in 2019, motorists now know to stay off the roads on the days when cows are coming through.

Ranchers are turning to drones to keep watch over their herds and using biometric-sensing ear tags to monitor health. Some technologists are examining the potential of virtual fences that would see tracking collars placed on cattle, which could then be allowed to roam widely. Others are going back to basics, deploying guardian dogs to protect their livestock and scare off predators. Are these hands-off approaches the future?

Keeping track of your cows can be a seriously challenging pursuit. From branding to ID tagging, as the herd grows, so does the workload. Several ranches in Wyoming are now using blockchain to record their livestocks’ daily activities in the hope that it will increase the animals’ eventual market value by up to 30%. Campstool Ranch owner Ogden Driskill explains that the digital ledger also includes details such as pedigree, which in turn helps make his livestock more competitive with other ranchers’ products. Digitally guaranteeing the pedigree of beef is important for ranchers who are competing with lower-quality, mass-produced beef. Happy cows really do turn a higher profit.

The severe drought raging across much of the Western U.S. is already starting to have a major impact on communities of all stripes. In recent years, wildfire season has begun earlier in Arizona and New Mexico. Ranchers in North Dakota are selling off stock due to a shortage of feed. California is bracing for another severe fire season. If the ongoing drought leads to more fires breaking out earlier in the year, evacuations and burns may affect farmers even more than in recent years.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced its intent to restore clean-water protections that the Trump administration had rolled back in a bid to win over ranchers and farmers dissatisfied with Obama-era restrictions. With the nation’s farmers and ranchers overwhelmingly backing Trump in the past two presidential elections and supporting conservative political candidates at the local level, protecting waterways is not a cut-and-dried issue.

In Arizona’s Willcox Basin, Big Dairy is at war with residents over water. Water was already a scarce resource when Riverview, a major dairy corporation, moved its operations to the area in 2015, buying out private owners and nearby dairy farms before draining the aquifer beneath the basin. The state has not placed any restrictions on how much water can be drawn from the aquifer, making it an easy target for large-scale companies.

Further afield, Brazil is facing its worst drought in nearly a century. Farming and agribusiness account for 21% of the country’s GDP, and without water readily available for irrigation, the industry and its farmers are set to take a massive hit. Brazil is also heavily reliant on hydroelectric power, and lower water levels in the country’s reservoirs, lakes and rivers will hinder electricity generation. That means blackouts are likely to accompany the severe drought.

on The Carlos Watson Show, season 4!

While the image of a hunk might come to mind when you think “cowboy,” real life on ranches and farms is far less glamorous. The range has always had its dangers, not just because of a prevailing honor-based, gunslinging tendency among cattle hands but also due to disease, wild animals and harsh weather conditions like floods and freezing temperatures. Cattle are also temperamental and can cause cowgirls and cowboys to suffer nasty injuries.

Though rodeos are often associated with white males, millennials from minority backgrounds are increasingly finding success at these venues. In 2018, Keyshawn Whitehorse became the first Native American to claim the Professional Bull Riders’ Rookie of the Year title. A host of other Native American bull riders are winning big. “Young Native Americans see other Native Americans succeed and this inspires them to work, train and take their chance,” Wiley Petersen of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes told OZY. Ezekiel Mitchell, the top African American bull rider in the U.S. at just 24, is also lighting up the sport while driving change.

Speaking from personal experience, I never felt more connected to a community than when I was living on my family’s ranch, even though the closest people physically were at least a mile and a half away. The ferocious wildfires of 2020 solidified our community chain as I had never seen before. My dad and our ranch manager were forced to move cows away from the pasture closest to the fire as plumes of ash drew near. A neighboring rancher permitted us to cut the property fence and move our stock onto his land as the fire approached. Livestock owners who were closer to the fire then brought their animals out to our ranch so they would be safe. Text messages about weather evolved into a network to share advice and updates. And when I finally drove away from our ranch, too nervous to wait for the formal evacuation order to come, I found myself in a line of cars doing the very same, belongings strapped to their roofs.

What idea, innovation, person or topic would you love to see on OZY?

Share your thoughts with us at [email protected].