Mexican Cattle Head to Greener Pastures

DEMING, N.M. —  As things dry up in Mexico, more Mexican cattle head north in search of greener pastures.

Farmer Kirk Zachek said Mexican ranchers either deliberately lead cattle across the border or the cattle cross the nonexistent fence line in search of food and water.

U.S. ranchers fear Mexican cattle will spread disease to their own livestock. They also complain about damage from the strays.

Lawmakers have promised a fence for two years, along with someone to patrol and maintain it, but nothing ever materialized, Zachek said.

Jim McCormick, assistant field manager for the Las Cruces office of the Bureau of Land Management, doesn’t believe stray cattle are that big a problem.

“Sometimes a gate will be left open, sometimes it’s a broken fence,” he said. “It’s not a significant problem.”

Zachek said Mexican cattle caused thousands of dollars in damage to his onion crops last year.

“They got into an onion crop and damaged about $12,000 worth of seed in one day,” he said.

He and other ranchers gather up stray cattle and truck them to Columbus on the border in Luna County.

“First, I’ll try to get a hold of whoever’s cattle they are and get them to round them up, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll do it myself,” he said.

Rancher and farmer Ralph Johnson said the problem stops each time cattle are rounded up.

He’s had trouble with Mexican cattle this year.

“They were just coming in here, grazing our onion fields, causing considerable damage,” Johnson said.

There are remnants of a border fence in the area, along with evidence of tracks, both cattle and human. Signs of erosion already mark a ditch built for drainage and to deter cattle next to a road constructed for the Border Patrol.

The project, Zachek said, “messed things up more than what good they did.”

McCormick said money has been appropriated for a new fence, but it cannot be built until the paperwork and government procurement process are complete. He said the agency hopes to get started on the fence this fall.

Zachek said the cattle crossing problem wasn’t as severe this year as last year because drought has forced Mexican ranchers to cut back herds.

The land on the U.S. side also is dry but still has more vegetation than the Mexican side, which is considered overgrazed.

American ranchers along the border aren’t required by the BLM to rotate pastures to allow the land to recover.

McCormick said people who graze cattle on common areas on the Mexican side of the border tend to overgraze. There are more animals on common areas, and the land is overgrazed year-round, he said.