Social, cultural, and economic aspects of livestock ranching on the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests

Abstract

We examined the cultural, social, and economic aspects of livestock operations of ranchers who have Federal grazing permits (called permittees) on the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests of northern New Mexico. This study was an expansion of the 2003 pilot study and was designed to provide much-needed information concerning the culture and economic practices of the northern New Mexico region for USDA employees, policy makers, social science researchers, and the general public. The research focused on both the economic and noneconomic contributions of livestock ownership to local families and communities, and we explored ways in which ranching maintains traditional values and connects families to ancestral lands and heritage. Sense of place, attachment to land, and the value of preserving open space were common themes throughout the interviews. The importance of land and animals as means of maintaining culture and way of life figured repeatedly in permittee responses, as did the subjects of responsibility and respect for land, animals, family, and community. This report will assist agency land managers in the effective administration of forest lands by promoting greater cultural understanding of the local ranching community. It will also serve as an educational tool for the public, as many visitors and residents of New Mexico are unfamiliar with the primarily Hispanic culture and traditions of the region. Due to the history of land ownership in the region, many ranching operations rely on public lands for livestock grazing. Recognizing the importance of these small livestock operations to area communities and families is crucial to comprehending and resolving disputes over public land and resource use.

Linkages Between acequia Farming and Rangeland Grazing in Traditional Agropastoral Communities of the Southwestern USA

“…As in the early days of Spanish colonial settlement, contemporary acequia communities continue to rely on agricultural endeavors that involve strategic integration of upland and valley natural systems. Current day small-scale pastoral enterprises (52% of respondents owned less than 50 head of cattle) appear to not only provide a means of connecting the use of these two types of land, but also of maintaining family traditions and fostering community cohesiveness, both of which emerged as important cultural values among survey participants in this and in previous studies [26,27,30,32].…”

Assessing the contribution of nonmarket factors to the market value generated by cow-calf operations in rangelands of the western USA: A true cost accounting approach

“…For example, a family farm may not always consider alternative uses for their labor and the labor opportunity costs may not be subtracted from gross revenues. In fact, non-market interests such as lifestyle, identity, or family concerns among ranchers for their continuing involvement in cattle production have been well documented (e.g., [25,51,52]).…”

“…This result is consistent with the view that unpaid labor mainly involves family labor because as Reinhardt and Barlett [50] have argued, family labor responds to a different set of incentives than paid labor, reflecting contributions to family livelihood that involve considerations other than profit-making, and are subject to a different accounting method than commercial operations. These non-market incentives and willingness to accept lower returns on investment in ranching because of non-market interests such as lifestyle, identity, or family concerns, are well documented in the literature (e.g., [25,51,52]. Therefore, the loss in market value associated with unpaid labor can be seen as an implied subsidy that ranchers provide to society due to the cultural and personal benefits ranching generates.…”

Tracing the causality between Livestock and poverty alleviation in the rural economy of Gilgit Baltistan-Pakistan

“…So the production of livestock not only serve as the source of earning income but a major contributing factor to economic and food security and can be considered as cover/insurance in case of any hazard [19,3]. For diversifying sources of income some of the farmers are reported to rear livestock as a tactic to lessen the chance of risks associated to climate, marketing conditions and other issues [34,31].There are studies which also highlighted the social importance (besides economic value) of livestock in developing economies with rural poverty areas and is not restricted to nomadic or country side cultures only [1,2].Even in developed nations rearing animals are crucial in maintaining the cultural values and connections of people to forefather's land and animals and so to whole community and it has been accepted even at low rate of return from ranching [6,10,46].…”