Every ranch in this series of ranch tours has had a distinguishing feature and the U-Bar Ranch of Grant and Hidalgo counties is no different. While a large percentage of Western ranches have been owned generationally, the U-Bar Ranch has had three owners since it was homesteaded. The third (and present) owners are Dave and Tamara Ogilvie. The Arizona natives bought the ranch in 1988 and started operating it as the U-Bar in 1992. The 225-section ranch is made up of private land, four Gila National Forest allotments, state BLM lands and leased land from Freeport-McMoRan. If you're one of the recreationalists who take advantage of the Bill Evans Lake, chances are you'll see U-Bar Ranch cattle and cowboys, depending on the time of the year. My visit to the U-Bar Ranch was in the middle of calving season. Dave took me from the ranch headquarters on U.S. Highway 180, west to the Gila National Forest allotments where we saw a sprinkling of cows and their calves. There are about 1,500 commercial cows in the U-Bar herd, including 150 adult registered Angus bulls and a herd of 350 registered Angus (pampered) cows who reside in the Gila River Valley. The registered herd is a trademark of the U-Bar Ranch with scientific data and information playing a big role in the production of these calves. The pastures are irrigated and farmed for optimum pasture grazing. One cowboy is in charge of this herd and four of the ranch's seven full-time hands are based at the river, Dave said...Silver City Sun-NewsA great big thanks to Holly Wise for this excellent series.
Let's hope at a future date she'll start a new series, possibly focusing on ranching in the regional wilderness areas, or the impact the wolf introduction program is having on ranching, or whatever she feels is important.
It's nice to have an objective journalist with ranching knowledge reporting on the industry.
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