Morales Brothers Continue
What Grandfather Started

By Colleen Schreiber

AGUA PRIETA, Sonora, Mexico — Brothers Juan Pedro and Hector Octavio Morales are third generation ranchers. Their grandfather, Alfonso Morales, put together about 65,000 acres of deeded country here and the two brothers continue to operate the same land today.

Like young ranchers in the U.S., the Morales brothers struggle to find ways to squeeze a profit out of the ranch business, to produce quality cattle and get paid for that quality, and to improve their rangeland resources while dealing with increasing government regulation and as well as an ever-increasing environmental movement. But like so many, love of their heritage keeps them plugging along even under the toughest of drouth conditions and low cattle prices.

"If you inherit a ranch debt-free and maintain it, you can make a pretty good living," Juan Pedro says. "We inherited ours debt-free, but with no cattle."

A side business of renting out factory buildings to businesses that come to Mexico to take advantage of cheaper labor has helped the brothers to retain their ranching interests.

Their father died in a plane crash many years ago when the brothers were quite young. Rather than sell the land, they leased it out. Today good land in that area of Mexico, Juan Pedro says, is selling for about $150 a hectare or $61 an acre.

Both Juan and Hector were educated in the States and are graduates of the University of Arizona. When Juan Pedro finished his degree in animal science he returned home to the ranch, and he and his brother began restocking with cows. Their grandfather had traditionally run a cow-calf operation, but when their father took over he sold the cows and switched strictly to steers. The brothers went back to cows, Juan Pedro says, mainly because they consider cows less risky.

They started restocking the southern-most ranch first, the 15,000 acre Rancho Batana, which lies about 90 kilometers to the south of Agua Prieta. La Morita encompasses some 50,000 acres and lies between Naco and Agua Prieta.

Both ranches are fairly well watered with a variety of stock tanks, windmills, and submersible pumps, but if the rains don’t come, Morales says, water sometimes has to be hauled to various parts of La Morita.

Waiting for the rains, he notes, is the most difficult thing about ranching in Mexico. For the last couple of years much of Northern Mexico has suffered through a long dry spell. This spring shows great promise, however. This winter most of Sonora has been blessed with bountiful rains. Rains generally come beginning in mid-July, but from October to date, Morales has already received on average 11 inches on both ranches. That is a considerable amount in an area where the average annual rainfall is only 10 to 14 inches. The south ranch, which goes up to 4500 feet in elevation, has a slightly higher annual precipitation. The one drawback to winter rains, he notes, is that it can bring a surge of poisonous plants like locoweed.

The young ranchers learned early on that being conservatively stocked paid bigger dividends in the end. At La Morita, which is about 4200 feet in elevation and typical Sonoran desert vegetation, they run about a cow to 50 acres though the country could probably carry more. Rancho Batana they can carry a cow to about 30 acres.

Like the Morales country, most of the land in Mexico is deeded, and because there’s not much money to be made on livestock, Morales says, the government stays out of their business for the most part. He fears, however, that in time more and more government regulation sparked by the environmental movement will impact their way of life.

Ranchers are already running into problems clearing mesquite, which now requires a government permit. A specialist, Morales says, has to evaluate the land to see if clearing the land is really a necessity. Mostly they’re worried about the bigger mesquite trees, he says, because environmental activists claim they are becoming endangered.

The mesquite is dozed first, followed by a "ripper" to remove the roots. By owning their own dozer, cost is kept to a minimum, Morales says.

Both ranches have a wide variety of forage, ranging from good browse species like guajillo to good grama grasses, decent love grasses, tobosa and alkali sacaton, among others. The south ranch, which has a predominance of a variety of oak species, tends to green up a little earlier and has a greater variety of winter weeds, Morales says.

They run a crossbred cow, but the base is still English breeds, predominantly Hereford. Currently, they’re using Hereford, Angus and Brangus bulls in their herd. They buy most all their bulls out of the U.S. Bulls are turned out between April 1 and April 15. Generally they run about 10 to 12 cows to a bull.

Heifers are bred to lightweight Red Angus bulls and calve as coming twos. At Rancho Batana, they tend to pamper their heifers more, growing them out on flood irrigated pasture, generally oats, rye or alfalfa, before putting them in with the bulls.

Calving begins in early spring, generally March through May. Their calf crop ranges from the high 80s to about 92 percent.

"We can’t get into a real strict breeding season because we operate in rough country, plus it’s the desert," Morales remarks.

At weaning, calves will average between 380 and 420 pounds, depending on the year and how quickly they get on the ground. Calves at their south ranch generally weigh up a little better, Morales says, because the feed is better.

The cattle are given the standard vaccinations and the cows are dipped in vats, but pour-ons are used as well.

Calves are shipped the end of October or early November, though late calves are held over until the following year. The Moraleses have always depended on the U.S. market as an outlet for their calves. For the last several years, Gilford Nolan out of Tucumcari, New Mexico, has been buying them. Though he doesn’t have the data in hand, Morales believes their cattle must perform well in the feedyard because Nolan has been a repeat buyer for many years.

Morales says they’re paid a premium for their No. 1 crosses over and above what they would ever receive for them in Mexico. The Mexican market is not based on supply and demand, he points out, but rather follows the U.S. market.

Currently it costs about three to four cents a pound to cross cattle, and only 1000 head of cattle can cross the border on any given day. Recent crossings at Agua Prieta, Morales says, have been averaging between 500 and 800 a week, but at Nogales they’ve been crossing the full 1000 head most every day.

Before crossing, cattle have to have the standard TB test, which must be approved by an accredited Mexican veterinarian. Ranchers get their permits from the Mexican Cattle Ranchers Union, but the permits are actually issued through the State Department of Agriculture.

There has been a big push over the years to improve the quality of cattle in Mexico. The state government has funded various projects to help improve genetics, and the efforts have made tremendous improvement, he remarks.

Morales, as well, continually strives to improve the quality of his herd. He looks for a cow that raises a decent calf and will rebreed every year. He also wants a cow with a good udder and with no pigment around the eye.

Morales figures it costs their operation about $175 to raise a calf. Because grain is extremely expensive in Mexico, supplementation is kept to a minimum. They feed a concentrate ration containing about 20 percent salt at a cost of about $200 per ton.