Cattle Ranching in the Upper Gunnison
More than an Economy – A Way of Life
Hannah Cranor-Kersting
Cattle and cattle ranching is what I know and love best. I could talk about it for hours, and when George Sibley approached me about writing for the Gunnison Valley Journal, I instantly knew that is what I needed to write about.
I am a third-generation cattle rancher in Gunnison; cattle and cattle ranching are what I know and love best. Our ranch is located near Cranor Hill (hence the name), and I grew up helping my parents Walt and Margaret Cranor on the ranch. I now get the honor of also working as the Gunnison County CSU Extension County Director and Agriculture Agent.
I wanted to capture the current state of animal agriculture in Gunnison County. I think it is such an important part of our economy, and I hope I can convey that for folks to understand.
Approximately 587 million acres of rangeland, grassland and pasture are primarily used for livestock grazing in the United States. Most of these acres cannot be used for any other type of agriculture or crop production, which allows ranchers to more than double the area of land that can be used for food production. Here in Colorado, The Bureau of Land Management allows livestock grazing on 7.8 million acres. The National Forest Service has 2.6 million acres of grazing just on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests alone. Plus, we must consider the millions of acres of private land being utilized for grazing.
In Gunnison County alone there is 200,000 acres in animal agriculture! More than 64,000 of those acres have been permanently conserved in 120 easements with the Gunnison Ranchland Conservation Legacy. All these grazed lands are what makes Gunnison unique. Without ranching and grazing we would have no tourism.
Cattle and the associated economy also have a huge economic impact in the Gunnison Valley. Gunnison ranchers produce more than 3 million pounds of beef a year, with an economic impact of $46 million. More than 16,200 cows and calves live in Gunnison County, and the local ranchers sell more than $16 million dollars in agriculture products every year!
Not only does the Gunnison’s agricultural sector have a big impact, the State of Colorado also has a significant agricultural impact. Colorado generates approximately $27 billion in agricultural sales. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, Colorado had over 195,000 agriculture jobs. In 2022, Colorado was the country’s 27th largest agriculture exporting state, with the majority of those exports in beef and veal. Colorado shipped over $2.2 billion in agriculture goods outside of the country in 2022.
Ranching is important from an economic standpoint, but maybe even more so of an importance to keep our valley healthy and beautiful – and keep these visitors coming here. Ranching here is very much tied to the seasons.
Spring brings new life to the valley. The cows have carried the calves for 9 and a half months, and its finally time to see our breeding decisions pay off. Most of our cows will have a single calf, however, occasionally we will see twins. The most critical period in the calf’s life is the first twelve hours. After the first twelve hours, the calf isn’t as able to absorb the antibodies he needs from the colostrum. Since there is so much importance to the first couple hours, ranchers strive to breed for cattle that are hardy and up and mobile within the first couple hours.
If we have a calf who just doesn’t quite have the strength to get up on his own, ranchers have an arsenal at their fingertips. We can tube the calf colostrum or energy straight into their stomach, stimulate the calf’s normal functions by rubbing them, administer oxygen, warm the calf, help the calf stand, and even help the calf get milk by holding the cow in a chute while assisting the calf with nursing. That long, run on sentence, just to say that we do everything in our power to assure that the calf has a chance to survive. We love our animals, and all of us will do everything we can to keep them alive and well – even if that means many sleepless nights or frustrating hours spent in the barn. As an added incentive, as cow/calf produces, calving is one of the most important times of the year for us. Our calf crop is our income, so we work our absolute hardest to assure they are healthy.
Summer is arguably are busiest season for us. We spend the early summer and spring irrigating the fields and growing grass hay that will be processed to feed our cattle for the winter. The act of processing this grass is calling “haying”. We cut the grass, let it dry on the ground, and then gather it into rows to be processed by the baler. The baler puts it into either round or square bundles (bales) that we later move into sheds or stack under tarps. The hay typically needs to sit and dry for three days before it is ready to be baled. If it is baled when it’s too wet the hay will mold or can even catch fire. Once it is cut, it is really important that it does not get rained on as it will lose nutrient value. If you ever hear ranchers complain about the rain – this is why! Summer can be extremely stressful for us, as a lot of our winter success relies on bringing in and processing a quality product. Much of it is completely out of our control – like the weather!
Fall is gorgeous here. We are bringing cows in off summer grazing ranges, and we are busy shipping their calves onto the next stage of the production cycle. Most ranchers will be selling their calves into the next stage of the production cycle, but some others are retaining ownership through the entire life cycle, retaining ownership until the calves are a year old, or even pre-conditioning their animals.
At roughly 6-9 months we wean our calves. What does this mean? We wean them off their mother’s milk and onto a strictly solid diet. This is already happening naturally – the cows start to push their calves off them this time of year. It is important that we help with this process so that the cow can recover and be able to focus on their current pregnancy. When they are done lactating their nutritional requirements will drop by 15-20%. This allows the cow to put this extra energy into the young pregnancy that they are carrying right now, which is essential as we head into our brutal Gunnison winters. Producers can use several different methods to wean. We can use what is called fence line weaning, where we place the cows and calves across the fence from each other – so they can see each other but the calves cannot nurse. Producers can also use a device that prevents the calf from sucking on their mothers but allows him to eat and drink while they are still physically with their mothers. Regardless of which method producers use, their priority is on the cow and calf’s comfort, safety, and wellbeing.
As winter hits, things change for ranchers. The summer forage is dries out and loses nutritional value, the snow is begins to fly, and we start to feed our cattle. As winter starts, we are all ensuring that our cattle are still getting the feed they need to maintain a good body condition score. In general, a cow will eat about 2%-2.5% of her body weight in dry matter per day. For the majority of Gunnison ranchers, this feed comes in the form of grass hay.
The way we deliver feed to our cattle varies. I am sure many of you have seen the variety of methods that are used to feed cattle. Some producers like ourselves feed small square bales (think 60 pounds). We either put the truck in 4-low and let it drive itself while someone throws bales off the back or have someone drive for us. If you see our old Ford stuck in the ditch – just wave at us – the dog is terrible at steering… Some ranchers use round bales (about 1000 pounds) and feeders off of their tractors. There is also an option to feed large square bales (1200 pounds) with feeders. Regardless of what type of bale we feed, the goal is to spread it out so that all the cattle can get an even feeding. We want even the more timid cows to be able to get as full of a feeding as the pushier cows.
If you have survived the statistics and made it here, thank you for sticking with it! I hope this gives some insight into ranching, and what it means in the valley. Remember us next time you eat a steak!
Hannah Cranor-Kersting is the Gunnison County CSU Extension Director and Agriculture Agent. She is a third generation rancher, born and raised in Gunnison, and owns and operates Cranor Charolais.