Western (U.S.)

How Three Ranches are Using Horses Today

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:28:37 GMT

The use of horses on the ranch is a tool that continues to be essential on many ranches today. Though it is a time-honored tradition for many, it is also how large ranches with diverse terrain manage daily cattle operations.

Horses are used in a variety of ways depending on the location and size of the ranch. At K4 Ranch, located 35 miles north of Prescott, Ariz., horses are used daily on their nearly 1 million acres where they manage cattle. In business since 1941, horses have been a staple to their functionality resulting in the addition of raising quarter horses.

“We raise a large number of horses to be used primarily for ranch work and secondly our production sale, The Legacy Ranch Horse Sale,” says Sarah Kieckhefer of K4 Ranches. “It is very important to us to raise performance horses that we use first and foremost as ranch horses for a solid foundation before we go into the arena or for breeding.”

Using horses to check and gather cattle is typically their only option with the rugged terrain.

“We use horses for everything involving cattle,” Kieckhefer says. “Our country in Arizona and California is rough terrain with mountains and ravines so motorized vehicles just don’t work.”

Their Diamond A Ranch, a division of K4 Ranch is the largest ranch in Arizona, running their largest number of cows and employs a large crew with seasonal cowboys and eight camps with full-time cowboys. They also have ranches in California and Oklahoma that they run cows and stocker cattle on.

“On our large ranches with rough or brushy terrain, a good horse can go where a pickup, ATV or side-by-side can’t,” Kieckhefer explains. “Horses can cover long distances, cross canyons and handle steep or rocky country, and a horse allows you to move quietly, ease cattle along and reduce stress, which leads to fewer wrecks and better weight retention.”

(Courtesy of Poss Angus)

Gathering and Sorting

Poss Angus, a registered Angus operation in Scotia, Neb., uses horses to gather, sort and pull heats during the breeding season. In the summer months they doctor and gather cattle on grass.

“Most of our pastures are rough clay hills with ponds and trees, so having a horse to get to where the cows are is definitely necessary,” says Nathan Poss, head cowboy. “Ninety percent of the time, if there is cattle work being done of any kind, there is a horse or two being saddled.”

Poss Angus manages roughly 800 head with a bull sale every February and occasionally a female sale in the fall.

“I don’t typically use a horse in the picture pen but always to video bulls,” Poss adds. “By using a horse in the video pen, it is easier to move the bulls back and forth across the pen. Videoing can also turn into a long couple days, so it’s nice to have a young horse putting in the steps instead of me.”

Poss’ main responsibilities are the health and care of the cattle, including feeding, doctoring, calving and processing.

“I enjoy taking the ranch work and utilizing it to make young horses better through the work. Another great benefit in my mind is when working cattle horseback, the cattle gain respect for you and your horse, over time I feel like those cattle work and handle much easier,” Poss explains. “In my opinion, if it comes down to catching a single animal, a horse must be used. By using a horse instead of a four-wheeler, it keeps the environment quiet, and you can always go the same pace as the animal to help steer them in the direction you need to go. Four wheelers and rangers are also used very heavily on our ranch. Quickly moving a group to another pasture, tagging, putting out salt and mineral, those are all equivalent times to use a four-wheeler or ranger.”

(Courtesy of The Pitchfork Ranch)

Branding and Moving

The Pitchfork Ranch in Meeteetse, Wyo., uses horses heavily during branding seasons and moving cattle on and off mountain pasture. Primarily a commercial cow-calf operation focused on pounds of beef produced per acre, they also retain some cattle every year for their beef program that sells directly to consumers.

Their cattle have to thrive at elevation and harsh winters, then range calve in the spring. The Pitchfork Ranch also hosts an annual ranch horse sale in the spring.

“We use horses in all of our cattle work. In the spring we calve in an 8,000-acre pasture where we then pair cattle out into our branding groups,” says Lindsey Anson, who manages The Pitchfork Ranch. “We head and heel calves at branding and then start working our way up country where cattle summer at 10,000' elevation in the Absaroka range. In the fall as cattle come off the mountain, they are then paired out again horseback into contemporary sex groups until we ship in the first half of November.”

Similar to K4 Ranch and Poss Angus, using horses is often because of the terrain.

“Our terrain also doesn’t allow for the use of motorized vehicles very often so the work has to be done on a horse. Part of our summer range is also in a wilderness area where we still have to pack in salt and mineral horseback,” Anson explains. “Our cattle seem to handle better horseback. In the subtleties of reading cattle, you can make minor adjustments on horseback that you aren’t able to do with something motorized.”

The Foundation of the Cattle Industry Is Grass

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:28:19 GMT

The last 90 days have been a definite reminder of how quickly conditions in the cattle industry can change and remind us that while record-high cattle prices can generate optimism for cattlemen, the outlook is still largely driven by grazing. While their financial well-being is a function of the market, it is also a function of the availability of grass. Both define the cattle cycle. Furthermore, grazing is critical for rangeland health.

For cattlemen losing a large share of their grazing capacity as the result of wildfires or drought, the rosiest outlook generated by record-high prices can quickly become one of uncertainty. Western states ranchers dependent on Federal lands grazing (BLM and Forest Service), will not just feel the impact of a season of severe wildfires in 2024, but beyond, as restoration of these rangelands could last a period of 4 to 5 years.

Obviously, that period does not include grazing. Record-high prices or otherwise, this is a significant challenge – to say the least. While there was an immediate need for grazing or hay to replace the loss, that loss of grazing capacity must be replaced over the longer term — 2025 and beyond — particularly if it represented a large share of the ranch’s total grazing. Furthermore, it has been expressed that Federal grazing on selected allotments could be sharply reduced or discontinued on selected allotments following the wildfires. I believe this to be a strong possibility.

Beyond the wildfires in the West, the industry is also faced with serious drought conditions across both the West and the Midwest. This situation ranges from a continuation of the problem in selected areas to one that is just beginning in other areas and these drought conditions are one factor leading to wildfires. There are cattlemen who have already liquidated part of their herd or their entire herd. For others, that decision may still be yet to come. The situation poses the same challenge as that of wildfires — replacing forage. The drought situation can still improve over the next several months with good winter and spring moisture conditions. That is not the situation on Federal grazing lands or private lands grazing where wildfire occurred. The cards have been laid on the table and range restoration will include spraying for weeds, seeding, and plant establishment.

I am expressing the conditions related to grazing capacity following this summer’s wildfires and the drought situation to really bring to the forefront the importance of grazing to the cattle industry and rangeland health and its impact on the outlook for the cattle numbers going forward. Record-high prices are certainly a crucial factor in the assessing the direction of the industry, but grass is still the priority for the individual cattleman and the outlook for the cattle inventory.

Oregon Ranchers Are Continuing to Battle Grueling Wildfires as Financial Losses Mount

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:10:08 GMT

As of Friday, more than 1.1 million acres has burned in Oregon. Lightning continues to spark new fires and with the flames still not under control, it will go down as one of the most devastating wildfire fires in the state’s history.

Clint Sexson ranches in eastern Oregon. He says between cattle lost and grazing areas burned, it’s been a grueling summer. The exact livestock losses are unknown at this time.

“I don’t even want to speculate,” Sexson says. “I mean, the one that’s pretty public is that the 300 head in the Durkee Fire that were lost,” Sexson says. “I know one producer who has lost probably hundreds.”

That particular fire, the Durkee Fire, has been a monster. At 86% contained, it’s already scorched 295,000 acres.

Plenty of Fuel for Fires

Just this week, lightning sparked more fires. Sexson says the reason the fires have been so bad is the amount of grass available to fuel the fires.

“There’s more fuel on the ground,” Sexson says. “Some of these areas have burned before. There hasn’t necessarily been a clean up after a burn, so there’s just a lot of fuel.”

A Devastating Loss of Grass to Graze

The livestock losses are heartbreaking and severe, but the amount of grass burned is causing concern in the state. As the fires rage, the losses of valuable grazing ground are mounting, which impacts livestock producers across the state.

“This part of the world is different,” Sexson says. “A lot of people don’t feed cows, but maybe 30, 60 days a year. The rest of the year, we are grazing cattle. It’s a budgetary thing and a management thing that they will have to work through. Emotionally, it’s tough on those people, especially those generational ranches.”

Sexson was fortunate. On July 20, as the fires raged and closed in on his land, he was able to get cattle out thanks to fellow ranchers who showed up with trucks and trailers.

“I work for Select Sires and every one of those trucks that showed up, they were all customers,” he says, as his voice cracks and tears fill his eyes. “We got the cattle out and right back to a customer’s feedlot. They were ready for them, and we were pretty fortunate.”

An Emotional Sale of Support

That emotion was felt late last week as Superior Livestock Auction sold special benefit lots as part of their video sale in Winnemucca, Nev. This was an example of ranchers helping ranchers. That money went to the Oregon Fire Relief Fund, which will help those producers in need.

“These are primarily purebred breeders who have made donations in sale credit or semen credit,” Sexson says. “They’re not directly focused on their customers alone. They’re just focused on the general beef industry in Oregon and the devastation some of these people are dealing with. I know two or three people who had their entire ranches burned by the fires. They may not have lost a cow, but it burnt all their private grazing ground.”

The special sale was a touching gesture, as the ranching community comes together at a time of need and the fires continue to burn. Emotions are high, losses are mounting and cattle producers impacted are feeling the financial pain.

Research Shows Benefits of Grazing Livestock in Sagebrush Environments

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 12:59:31 GMT

While a cow grazing in a field isn’t typically remarkable, United States Department of Agriculture scientists have identified potential ecological benefits of strategically applied livestock grazing in sagebrush communities across U.S. western rangelands.

As recently published in the scientific journal Ecosphere , the collaborative research effort among Agricultural Research Service (ARS) rangeland scientists at Burns, Ore., and Fort Collins, Colo., challenged the outdated dogma that livestock grazing in the sagebrush steppe always negatively impacts these ecosystems and, in fact, can convey desirable outcomes, particularly in regard to limiting both wildfire risk and invasive annual grasses.

In addressing these ecological challenges, ARS scientists discovered that strategically applying livestock grazing prior to the occurrence of climate-induced wildfires can modify sagebrush steppe characteristics in ways that decrease fire probability and severity in the communities, promote biodiversity while reducing postfire annual grass invasion, fire-induced loss of native bunchgrasses, and fire damage to soil biocrusts, the collection of bacteria, fungi and mosses on the soil surface.

The ARS team compared moderately grazed and ungrazed sagebrush steppe and observed the grazing induced shorter flame lengths, slower rates of fire spread, and smaller burning fronts.

Similarly, strategic grazing in annual grass-dominated rangelands reduced flame length and rate of spread — modifications that resulted in safer and more effective fire suppression. Still another benefit of modified fire characteristics, the scientists reported, is a decrease in the area burned and overall mosaic of burned and unburned patches.

Grazing by non-native livestock such as sheep, cattle and horses dates back to the mid-to-late 1800s by Europeans, these early practices were not ecologically sustainable and led to widespread overuse and degradation to include loss of perennial grasses and forbs, reduced biodiversity, erosion, overabundant unpalatable species, and non-native plant invasions.

“There were concerns about the negative consequences of non-native livestock grazing in sagebrush communities, especially since these communities are experiencing unpreceded threats from invasive annual grasses, altered fire regimes, and climate change,” said Kirk Davies, ARS rangeland scientist. “But strategically applied grazing can spur desirable social-ecological outcomes such as reduced non-native annual grass invasion, decreased wildfire probability and spread, reduced fire suppression cost, and prevent undesirable ecological transformation post-fire.”

Davies’ findings also indicated that grazing can modify competitive relationships in introduced bunchgrass seeding to favor native species recruitment. This can be particularly valuable for reestablishing sagebrush, a critical shrub for many native wildlife species.

With careful attention to the timing, duration, frequency, and intensity of use needed to meet vegetation objectives, strategic grazing has the potential to reduce the detrimental impacts of invasive annual grasses, promote native species in introduced grasslands, and encourage native shrub recovery.

“Recognizing livestock grazing as a tool that can achieve desired outcomes could improve our ability to achieve meaningful rangeland management outcomes in sagebrush and likely other rangeland communities,” Davies said.

John Phipps: Why Water is the New Oil for Landowners

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 13:38:50 GMT

There are signs that water is the new oil.

This is a question sent in by U.S. Farm Report viewer David Marshall of Lafayette, Indiana: “You’ve covered the subject of foreign land ownership and rightly noted that it’s a very small percentage. I think the issue that we really need to address, especially in the southwestern states, is the purchasing of farmland by corporate entities that have nothing to do with farming but who solely want to obtain the water rights that the purchase of the ground includes. Their main reason for purchasing the land is to have a resource that they can sell to the highest bidder. How long before hedge funds and corporations own all the water rights and the farmer and the public are left to be the highest bidder or do without the needed resource?”

As Mark Twain said, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting”. While our arguably arcane water rights laws have provided thousands of billable hours for water lawyers in the West, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.

“First in time, first in line” may have seemed like a good idea centuries ago when rivers and groundwater appeared inexhaustible, the enormous use by modern agriculture - about 80% of our nation’s resources - is testing the practicality of those laws. I can’t imagine modern lawmakers reforming our laws with the needed speed, so the backup method of acquisition for water consumers is to buy the water needed from agriculture.

Bluntly put, there is a price for every gallon, and many farmers are just now realizing how extremely valuable those gallons are.

As I have argued in every land-use debate -from solar panels to suburban development - with rare exceptions due to location or unique qualities, the rights of landowners should be preeminent to allow the market to redistribute those assets.

Consider the rapidly growing cities of the Southwest, like Phoenix. Spending millions to buy water rights from nearby farmers currently growing alfalfa in the desert to feed dairy cows, when milk is being dumped in Wisconsin, looks to me like an inefficient market hampered by regulation and unable to rationally allocate assets.

Between our outdated milk pricing programs and water laws, the outcome you describe is capitalism’s way of solving a problem. Farming may always be the optimal use for our ever-scarcer water.

I think not, but I think this is a problem being solved by accountants, not lawyers.