Taking Stock of Indian Ranching
Ranching Economy and Community

Indian Subsistence and Ranching Economics

     Many Indian communities have acquired some of their subsistence through ranching, either as owners or as cowboys. The economy of the ranch is unique and affects all aspects of life. Ranchers follow an annual agricultural cycle in which different activities are done at different times of the year. Labor needs fluctuate according to this agricultural cycle, reaching a peak during times of intense activity, such as calving and branding. There is generally a lull in the winter. The timing of various seasonal ranch activities, such as branding, depends on the timing of the local climate, but all ranchers in the same community and in a wider environmental area will typically follow a similar agricultural cycle. There is much more to a rancher’s job than rounding up cattle. Ranchers must constantly evaluate the condition of the land and make decisions about when to move cattle to a new location. They must decide how to improve their stock and often spend both time and money searching for bulls to improve their herd. As ranching is both a business and a lifestyle, it encompasses both the hard physical work with cattle and the office work of managing an enterprise.

     The most important times in the year are typically the calving season, branding, and the round up. During calving season many ranchers try to keep first-time heifers in pastures closer to their homes, as the first-time cows sometimes need help to ensure a healthy delivery. Older, more experienced cows can typically handle calving with little difficulty. After calving season is over, it is time for branding. Branding has always been a crucial time on ranches, as it is how cows’ owners are identified. A hot iron in a design unique to the ranch is placed on the calf’s hide, singing the hair off and burning the design onto the hide. Later, the hair in the design will grow in white, allowing the cow’s rightful owner to be easily identified, even at some distance. The calf may also have an earmark created to further ensure a mark of ownership. An earmark is a small cut in a certain shape on a particular spot on the ear(s). Each calf will be marked the same way, and the combination of the design and placement of the brand and the design and placement of the earmark provides a unique signature of the ranch, signaling its ownership of each cow. In the past, branding and earmarking was the only way to prove ownership, and even today it is the most widespread form of proof of ownership. Brand inspectors are responsible for inspecting herds’ brands and catching anyone who attempts to steal cattle by altering brands. Most ranchers still consider branding essential to the functioning of the ranch, and it is widely considered one of the most important times of year.

     The round up happens when the calves are weanlings. In a cow-calf operation the herd is made up of many cows and one to several bulls. Each year the calves are sold to feedlots or packing houses. Some of the female calves may be kept for replacement heifers in the herd, but generally all the male calves and most of the females are sent to market. Before they can be sold, they must be rounded up from their pastures and sorted. In-calf heifers are separated from barren ones, and heifers that have not recently had a calf are generally culled from the herd. A few female calves may be kept as replacement heifers, but typically all the calves will be sold. Many ranchers will have already separated the bulls from the rest of the herd prior to the round up to ensure that the following year’s calves are all born at the optimal time.

     Labor is essential to every ranch, and cowboys are employed throughout the year. The amount of labor demand, however, is seasonal. A ranch may only need one or two cowboys during winter or summer to mend fences, check on cattle, and feed supplemental hay due to snow or drought. During the busier times of the year, such as branding and the round up, many cowboys are needed. The demand for labor has changed over time as well. During the open range period cowboys were not only necessary for moving cattle, but also protecting them from thieves. Now that the range has been fenced in as a series of very large pastures, and with the advent of trucks and trailers for driving cattle to and from these pastures and the market, the need for labor has somewhat declined. However, the realization that range health depends on frequently monitoring and moving cattle does mean that cowboys are still necessary. Because of this labor necessity, Indians were frequently employed as cowboys on ranches, and many Indians families and reservations also had herds.

Indian Ranching Communities:
The Importance of Culture and Cooperation

     Cattle ranching is expensive, both in labor and in capital. Today, a single family may need between two and five hundred head of cattle (depending on the cost of living in their location) to make ends meet for the household budget. Because of high inflation, the present economic circumstances in this regard are quite different from the past. In the past, many ranchers had much smaller herds, but were able to provide for their families by supplementing the ranch with subsistence farming. Ranching on missions, and then later on reservations, was economically integrated with other forms of enterprise. Cattle were often an important part of the overall mission or reservation economy, but were not its only source of income.

     One of the highest costs in cattle ranching is labor- the employment of cowboys. Communally owned ranches, such as missions and reservations, do not face such high labor costs, as many of those who benefit from the income from the ranch can contribute their own labor. On family ranches, the entire family generally contributes labor to the ranch, including women (often by managing the household, cooking for everyone, and so forth, but also sometimes being called to work cattle) and children, who often learn to ride before they are school age. Additionally, many family ranches exchange labor within the community. During times of peak labor demand, such as branding, a ranch will often have a large barbeque and invite many ranching neighbors, who will all pitch in and work for the day. This allows family ranches to have access to the necessary labor during the most important and labor-consuming seasons of the agricultural cycle without the cost of hiring year-round or temporary employees. Such labor-sharing is generally also a way to form community bonds and social ties with neighbors, and takes on a fun and celebratory nature despite the hard work.
     Some Indian reservations and ranches also skillfully lowered costs by sharing another essential item- the bull. In terms of livestock, the bulls of a ranch are the most costly item. Quality bulls that will improve the herd are expensive to buy and then must be maintained. The bull does relatively little throughout the year except during breeding season, and so is very cost-inefficient, but nevertheless necessary. By creatively networking with several reservations or ranches, Indian ranchers could lower their costs and improve efficiency by communally buying a high-quality bull that could be circulated through the ranches, thereby improving everyone’s herd with minimal cost. Additionally, the cost of maintaining the bull would be spread over a number of ranches, lessening the annual costs of keeping a bull. Both sharing labor and livestock testifies to the strength of the community and the creative management of ranching enterprises, as well as ensuring a strong social bond between neighbors.

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