College of Agriculture, University of Arizona,
Arizona Land and People, Vol. 47, Number 2
The R-100 Cattle HerdThe R-100 is a registered herd of Hereford beef cattle managed by the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The project was formally initiated in 1956 as a cooperative agreement among the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the University of Arizona, and the USDA. It is the longest-term and most extensive cooperative range beef cattle project involving American Indians and a university in the United States. Under the agreement, the tribe handles general management and marketing, while the UA College of Agriculture provides technical guidance and maintains a database of research findings. Open grassland covers the nearly 100,000 acres on the ranch, with perennial warm and cool season grasses predominating; there are few trees or shrubs. The short breeding season--only May, June and July--helps keep the cattle population in balance with range resources. The entire herd lives off the forage on the range, without supplemental feeding. As a complement to the low stocking rate, the Apache tribe has controlled the grazing on the ranch. They rotate the cattle through separate pastures according to a grazing plan that allows certain pastures to lie undisturbed at different times of the year. This gives the grasses a chance to rest and grow for several weeks or months before the next grazing period. The conservative stocking rate and proper range management have provided a reserve of forage to help carry the animals through periods of drought. UA researchers have been able to document the health and productivity of the herd through periodic testing. "What I like about it is that the tribe actively participates in and supports the program by supplying livestock, labor and financial help," says Richard Rice, a UA animal specialist who has worked with the R-100 since 1978. "Over time, the herd has improved markedly." The tribe originally asked for assistance in increasing the calf-crop percentage, in eliminating the dwarfism that had developed in their cattle, and in improving the genetic merit and adaptability of their herd. Those goals have been met, and research projects have changed during the last four decades to meet other production goals as well. "We have complete pedigree information on individual animals," says Don Ray, a UA professor who has worked with the herd since 1965. "We follow them up to their being sold or throughout their life in the breeding herd. This is unique: no other selection program has this data anywhere in the world. It covers the performance of animals on rangeland from birth to 20 months old, and until death or culling for the ones that are kept on the ranch." Herd sires and replacement heifers have been productive, and in demand among other producers nationally. In particular, a female genotype developed on the ranch has been highly sought after by breeders in the Southwest, according to the researchers. "This is a genetic resource we believe is important not just to the Apache tribe, but also to producers throughout the West," Rice says. Document part of 1999 Native American Programs in the College of Agriculture |