Bob Simpson
On average, cows are kept on the range 10 years. Each year about 10 of every 100 cows are replaced by 10 of the best heifers born in that year’s crop. Unlike other ranchers in less arid parts of the country, Goff does not remove his bulls from his cows seasonally in order to have all calves born at about the same time. His view is, “It’s better to have a calf than not to have a calf.” So his spring calving season can run from December into June or July. It’s important that during this time his cows are well-fed and that the calves are well cared for upon birth. Goff would benefit from a calf creep feeder for easy feeding of his cows.
Goff’s cows are crosses of Charolais and other breeds. One he uses is Beefmaster, developed in Texas with about 50% Brahma blood and 25% Hereford and 25% Shorthorn. They are very hardy and heat tolerant. Whereas European breeds, like dogs, cool themselves by panting through their mouths, Brahmas do so by sweating through their skins, a great advantage in Arizona heat. Crossbred cows need to have at least 50% Brahma in order to retain the sweating ability.
Goff characterizes a cow’s desert range diet as “a little bit of everything.” They eat prickly pear cactus pads, cholla fruit, mesquite leaves and beans and a variety of shrubs (they do not eat Palo Verde). Following rainy periods they feast on wildflower plants and grass. Although Goff has occasionally bought calves in years of exceptionally good conditions (including one year calves from Hawaii), it is generally true that they must be born locally to learn how to survive. On the other hand, he calls desert vegetation “strong feed” because animals grow well and stay in good condition even in very dry years.
To Goff a critically important factor in ranching with widely scattered cattle is having a “gentle” herd. By this he means, “cowboy gentle,” – animals that do not panic and run, but can be handled in or out of a corral by a man on horseback. Only in this way can large herds be handled by a few cowboys, keeping costs down. His primary technique for gentling an animal is to transport it from its birth range to different ones. Goff says this disorients the animal and creates a “change in attitude” as it adapts to a new herd and new conditions.
Goff uses a rotation system for grazing his cattle. Stock is usually on his Samaniego lease from November to April 31. Cows and calves are then rounded up by horseback, sometimes with the aid of a small helicopter. On May 3, 2012, I joined Joe on a morning when a helicopter, operated by a man from New Mexico, was flushing calves out of almost inaccessible areas along the base of the Ridge. A group of eight to ten cowboys worked at intercepting the cattle and driving them into a corral just above Sutherland Wash. Temperatures were headed for the low 90s but Joe said that the men and their horses (with periodic watering) could go all day long as they had already been toughened by working roundup for several weeks. The same afternoon the calves were loaded on trucks and taken to ranch headquarters in Oracle where some would be branded, weaned and vaccinated for dust pneumonia, Blackleg and Anthrax. Others had already been branded and would be big enough to ship off for finishing at a feed lot. Needed replacement heifers would be returned to the range. Goff has difficulty finding cowboys for these annual operations. Today, construction and other occupations are more appealing, so Goff is lucky there is now an array of cattle equipment that can help him farm his cattle all year round, especially now people are looking for different occupations.