Although it had been a dry spring, Paul Bruchez knew the summer rains would help Reeder Creek Ranch play catchup. Bruchez’s family has ranched in the Centennial State for five generations: first along the Front Range north of Denver and, more recently, not far from the headwaters of the Colorado River west of Rocky Mountain National Park. In his family, peaks and valleys were as much about precipitation as they were the lay of the land.

But the rains never came in 2020. Between June and September, a paltry 2.5 inches sputtered on Reeder Creek Ranch. Precipitation levels dropped by more than 30 percent throughout the region. The trying conditions were ­further exacerbated by noticeably higher temperatures.

“It was awful,” Bruchez says. “If we want to run a cattle ranch, how do we survive these kinds of situations? That’s not a policy conversation. That’s survival.”

Reeder Creek Ranch

Bruchez was better off than many. His family’s 5,452-acre cattle operation is one of the largest private landholdings in Grand County and enjoys extensive water rights, including historic pre-­compact rights from the Colorado River, 4 miles of Reeder Creek, and a unique agreement with the Denver Water Board.

“I’ve seen it my entire life: You have a dry winter or dry summer, and these small tributaries dry up, and there’s just no water,” Bruchez says. Then he poses the $64,000 question: “Why wouldn’t you want to grow stuff that is much more drought-resilient?”

Relying on The Land Institute

To tackle this challenge, ­Bruchez enlisted the expertise of The Land ­Institute on a project to replace ­traditional alfalfa with an alternative ­forage on a test plot. Based in Salina, Kansas, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization is dedicated to advancing perennial grain crops and polyculture farming solutions. So far, the results have been nothing short of astonishing.

On Reeder Creek Ranch, it takes nearly 30 inches of water to grow 5 tons of alfalfa. But by using alternative forages suggested by The Land Institute, Bruchez can produce those same 5 tons with just 18 inches of water.

“We’re still in the experimental phase. We’re not getting full-yield production yet,” Bruchez says. “But we take the stand of being proactive. We have an opportunity to participate in conservation programs while enhancing our bottom line long-term.”

Western States Ranches

It’s a concept that Mike Higuera has also taken to heart. As the agricultural operations manager of Western States Ranches, Higuera also operates in the Colorado River Basin, only much farther downstream. Headquartered in Delta County, Colorado, the Western States Ranches’ portfolio includes 6,000 deeded acres and more than 200,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service leases. 

“We’re trying to make smart improvements with a long-term investment horizon that will bring value, whether it’s next year or five years from now,” Higuera says.

“Traditionally, there is about a 6 ­percent appreciation rate for land in the West. We’d like to have our property ­perform better than that. The investments in our fields are where we have the most potential to create value.”

That begins, Higuera says, with water conservation and regenerative agriculture. He notes that the best way for a ranch to conserve water is to have forage plants that require less water.

“One of the ways we’ve been experimenting with this is through federal programs like the System Conservation Pilot Program,” Higuera says. “We’re bringing in folks from Colorado State University to track both the science side and the economic side of what we call deficit irrigation. That’s when you irrigate a field but just not as much as you would in a normal irrigation season.”

Under this program, Western States Ranches curtailed irrigation on eight of its fields for the month of June, then did the same thing on eight other fields in July. The ranch was paid for not using the water it would have otherwise consumed during that time frame.

“One of the things we’re looking into is how stressing a field like that can cause the plants to grow their roots deeper into the soil, which from a ­regenerative-­agriculture standpoint is beneficial,” Higuera says. “Those roots are really at the forefront of what creates good soil health. Having longer roots and healthier plants ultimately increases your forage.

“And having those roots go down deeper allows for your field to fare better in dry years, because the soil dries out from top to bottom. As it dries, those roots can access water deeper in the soil. That ultimately creates the conditions for a more resilient plant, which will produce more forage and allow us to weather drought better.”

Western States Ranches is also experimenting with using sainfoin as a forage mix. Last fall, the ranch planted 20 acres of a grass-sainfoin mixture. The results mirror those at Reeder Creek Ranch. Higuera says the grass-sainfoin mix requires significantly less water than ­traditional alfalfa.

“There is a lot of interest in sainfoin as a potential crop to replace alfalfa,” Higuera says. He cites several factors.

“Sainfoin doesn’t have the same bloating characteristics for cattle and animals like alfalfa does. So, the planting of sainfoin could reduce water consumption and also produce a benefit for the cattle operation,” Higuera says.

Like many agricultural operators nationwide, Western States Ranches is moving toward regenerative ­agriculture. Higuera says the ranch recently began pursuing certification from Regenified, an ­organization that certifies producers who adopt regenerative practices.

“Getting into regenerative ag and hiring someone to come out and do monitoring is a cost that goes on top of our regular operations,” Higuera says. “But the idea is if we can distinguish our beef in the marketplace as being certified regenerative, we can also garner a ­premium for it.

“It also helps us track our ground. If we’re able to manage the grazing and the irrigation of those lands in a way that increases that ground cover, we can ­create a lot more forage and have a higher carrying capacity with the same basic costs. That’s one of the ways to try to drive value.”

Technology is another financial ­catalyst. Higuera says Western States is now using Halter, a virtual fencing app developed in New Zealand that enables cattle to be managed and moved with solar-powered collars. Higuera says that Halter has greatly reduced the amount of labor required from his team’s 10 ­full-time employees and its crew of ­seasonal workers.

“We’re excited to use these collars for high-intensity grazing. This goes back to the regenerative-grazing principle and building the best possible forage base by making those plants healthy,” Higuera says. “Currently, we put hot wire out, graze the animals in an area for three days, and then move them. But with these collars, we can create smaller ­paddocks that they might be in for a day. Then, with a click on a cell phone or a computer, the virtual fence opens up and they move to the next area for a day or so. We can get much higher intensity grazing without the associated labor costs.”

DECREASING LABOR COSTS. Western States Ranches has begun to use Halter to rotate paddocks.

Published in The Land Report Summer 2025.