An Overview of Utah's Cattle Industry

AN OVERVIEW OF UTAH'S CATTLE INDUSTRY

BY EVERETT L. COOLEY

The cattle industry has always been an important segment in the economy of the Territory and State of Utah, and yet little is known about it and still less published.

When white men first penetrated into the region which is now Utah, they undoubtedly brought cattle along to provide subsistence for the expedition. As the Pacific-bound immigrants crossed Utah from east to west, they drove oxen hitched to wagons and herded beef and milch cattle along to provide breeding herds once they were established in California.

The Mormon pioneers, coming to make their homes, brought with them the foundation stock which would reproduce animals for draft purposes, for dairy purposes, and for beef.

Each successive wave of migration brought with it cattle as a means of transportation and for breeding purposes with which to make a start when once settled in Utah. By 1850 there were as many as 7,350 head of cattle in the Utah communities.

But the traffic in cattle was not a one way route. For shortly after Utah's first settlers arrived, cattle were being driven from Utah to supply the needs of miners in surrounding areas.

However, there seems to have been many more cattle coming into the territory than there were leaving. In fact, by the time the railroad entered the area, the cattle needs were being met by numerous herds being driven in from Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

It is perhaps at this time that the economic possibilities of a Utahbased cattle industry were envisioned. Texas cattle were being driven onto the Utah ranges — into Brown's Hole and along the Green and Colorado rivers. Some of these were fattened for export to market; others were the breeding stock for some of the herds which soon overran Utah ranges. Some of these herds grew to enormous proportions—a single owner claiming herds which numbered 25,000 head. Perhaps no other single Utah cattleman owned a number reaching any where near that figure; nevertheless, Utah could boast cattle operations of a sizeable nature. Even so, they could not compare to the King Ranches of Texas or the Swan Land & Cattle Company, of Wyoming. In fact, Utah is a state consisting of relatively small cattle operations. "In 1959 only 150 Utah farms or ranches had over 500 head of cattle. On the other hand, nearly one-half of the total 14,000 [cattle] producers had few than 19 head each."

Nevertheless, the cattle industry of Utah, though not surrounded with as much of the glamour, the Hollywood trappings, the cowboy image, and the colorful tradition as in the "cattle states," is important to the economy of Utah. "Cash receipts from marketing of cattle are greater than from any other segment of Utah Agriculture." Furthermore, the cattle industry is of greater proportional value in Utah than in all but 17 states of the Union. In other words, Utah ranks 18 among the states when the value of cattle production is compared with total personal income.

Besides supplying the domestic market, beef provides one of Utah's major exports. In 1959 exports of cattle and dressed beef were worth $34.5 million to the state. This amounts to the most important single economic income to some counties of the state. Such is the case in Rich, Piute, and Wayne counties. But the cattle industry is important to all counties, for all counties produce some cattle.

Because of the economic significance of the cattle industry to Utah, and because the history of cattle in Utah has never been adequately dealt with, the Utah State Historical Society presents an issue of the Utah Historical Quarterly devoted to a very colorful and important chapter of Utah's past. It does not purport to be a comprehensive history of the cattle industry of the state, but merely episodes in that history. It is a phase of history which should be told, thereby providing a stimulus for others to research and write on this interesting subject.

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