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Tohono O'odham Tribal Herd Ranch
Erwin Juan 1
The Tohono O'odham Tribal Herd Ranch is located about 40 miles west of Tucson, Arizona in the Upper
Sonoran Desert Shrub resource area. The ranch is approximately 20,000 acres with 21 paddocks for the
grazing rotation. The ranch is a cow/calf operation with Barzona/Hereford crosses.
The Tribal Herd was established in 1933-34 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Then it was known as
the Papago Tribal Herd. Primarily it was started as a demonstration project to show the accepted methods
of proper animal husbandry, geared to the O'odham stockmen. The Herd Ranch also had a bull rental
program available for ranchers wishing to upgrade their herds through breeding bulls or replacement heifers.
The bull rental program was phased out in 1985, but the replacement heifer program is still in place today.
The only difference is that now the stockbulls are sold to the individuals to be used at their discretion and
then disposed of at no loss to the tribe.
The Tribal Herd Ranch still utilized the services that are offered by the Branch of Natural Resources
formerly the Land Operations of the BIA. Technical assistance is provided by the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service with monitoring transects to measure forage use and species changes over time.
Grasses and Livestock on
Native American Lands
Homer Marks1
The Tohono 0 1odham-Nation is the second largest reservation in Arizona, with 2.8 million acres plus
divided into 11 districts. The problems encountered within the boundaries of the Nation, in reference to the
livestock business are many, but to me the one main thing is ... management. Without proper management
of our land and its resources our livestock, wildlife, and all other things dependent on these resources will
suffer. The type of management needed at this point is different to the 0 1odham and therefore resistance
will be encountered. Traditional management of livestock is still being applied on our Nation 1S lands, but
times have changed and the 0 1odham ranchers need to change also. A change in the type of management
being applied on the Nationls lands is needed. With the decline in numbers of cowboys, we as livestock
owners need to re-evaluate our mental outlook as far as the livestock business is concerned. As time goes
on the older generation of cowboys is dwindling and new breed of livestock owners is coming in with a
different outlook on life.
The time is right to try new approaches and methods of range management. Different areas of our
Nation 1S lands have applied newer forms of management such as Holistic Resource Management or
Rotational Grazing and it has improved their land as well as their resources. Even now, other ranchers are
trying new methods and approaches to proper range management and the upcoming years will see a positive
direction for the livestock owners on the Tohono 0 1odham Nation.
1
Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells AZ.
272